Jason’s Visit!

Last Thursday, Jason arrived for a five day visit. Since this was a shorter trip, we decided to stay around and explore Hannover. On Friday, we visited the Herrenhauser Gardens and Berggarten. We walked to the gardens via the Georgengarten, which is more like a public park. Jason will be giving a presentation on the Herrenhauser/Berggarten when he returns to work, so he was busy getting various pictures around these landscapes. It was beautiful to see the sculptures and fall colors…and there was a surprisingly large number of plants still in bloom outside. Many trees had already dropped their leaves, but some were still holding on. The architecture of the trees also provided unique visual interest, along with bark texture and color. I was slightly disappointed as I wanted Jason to see the NIKI grotto at Herrenhauser, but it apparently closes during the winter season. We were able to look at it and get some pictures through the windows. A very exciting (and slightly dumb) moment for me was Jason showing me that my camera COULD do macro (close-up) photos. This is exciting for me as I love taking close shots…but wish I would have figured it out earlier when more flowers were in bloom…oh well, at least now I know. Thanks Jason! The Berggarten had a wonderful winter display with diverse plant materials. It was also nice to get out of the cold for a bit and go into the conservatories! The sun starts to go down fairly early over here…so we weren’t able to make it all the way around this garden with good light for photos the first day, so we ended up traveling back on Monday. It was too much fun exploring these gardens with a fellow plant enthusiast.

The rest of the trip consisted of various things, but overall it was very relaxing. Jason was exposed to the Mensa Food which I eat during the week…and it met his approval! We ate at the cafeteria twice as the food is decent and pricing is great…especially with my student discount! We also sampled a variety of street food around Hannover, including Bratwurst, Currywurst, and some Tai. Some nights were spent preparing and eating dinner in the dormitory kitchen. I had stocked up on noodles and sauce as a reliable back-up for dinner meals.

On Saturday night we went out to a party event and were out into the early morning hours. At first I was disappointed as I was hoping for some dance mixes similar to American clubs…but ended up having a wonderful time with Jason and exploring the event. It consisted of 3 different dance rooms, a big crowd of people, high energy, and overall great fun!

We also spent time walking around the Kröpcke and exploring various shops and stores. On Monday night, the last night, we had some Cider from Jack the Rippers London Pub. It is a fun place located downtown and is a good place to escape from the busy streets.

Overall, it was a great time with Jason and I am so freaking excited he was able to come over! I also cannot wait for his second trip in December when we will travel to some towns around Germany and explore various Christmas Markets!!! Can you believe it is already that time of year?

Here are four picture links:
Herrenhauser: http://www.pikiwiki.com/ews/editor.jsp?2RsCw1ZTAFlgMk97mr9UVdg
Berggarten 1: http://www.pikiwiki.com/ews/editor.jsp?2RsCw1ZTAFlh5YUXM_rLI1Q
Berggarten 2: http://www.pikiwiki.com/ews/editor.jsp?2RsCw1ZTAFlhfgRXblU1sBQ
Here are a collection of my favorite pictures Jason took: http://www.pikiwiki.com/ews/editor.jsp?2RsCw1ZTAFljqRRFellzx-Q

I hope everyone has a great week!
Auf Wiedersehen!
Dustin