Hanover; Sunday, 07 November, 2004

Sunday in the end proved to be a bit of a disappointing day.

The plan was to go out to Braunschweig (Brunswick) about 60k from Hanover. I got there no problem, however at this point the normally reliable & dependable German transport system let me down.

The local transport in Braunschweig makes the UK's systems look the model of reliability, dependability & integration. The tram that goes to the centre of town leaves exactly 5 minutes before the train from Hanover arrives!!!

After negotiating the public transport to the city centre I got there only to find out that most of it is shut on a Sunday in autumn!! The only things that weren't shut were the churches, and they all had services on!

After spending about 90 minutes wandering round what on the face of it is an architecturally beautiful city (until you remember that it has all been completely rebuilt since it was destroyed in WWII) I waited another age for a tram back to the Hauptbahnhof & on to plan B.

Plan B involved going to Hildesheim, so I got the InterCity train which, thankfully, runs between Braunschweig & Hildesheim.

I got to Hildesheim and walked the 700m or so into the heart of the old town. Unfortunately (and I am sure you can already guess what happened) most of the city was closed because it was a Sunday!

Thankfully the Dom (cathedral) was open, along with the cloister which houses a climbing rose which is over 1000 years old!

After having all my plans for Hildesheim ruined as well I walked back to the Hauptbahnhof & caught the train back to Hanover.

As there was still a little time left before sunset, I decided to go out to the Herrenhaüser Garten a set of large formal gardens about 3Km from the city centre and spent a relaxing 45 minutes in there before they closed then I headed back to the hotel.