28 Days later...a month in Germany day 21

Got back to the hotel about ten last night where two police vans were parked outside.Grabbed a beer and started chatting to a Dutch couple.They told me the Irish family had lasted one night before being kicked out but the police were there because of the camper van site over the road.Apparently they‘d been coming in using the showers etc...so there we are all sorted.Wish i‘d been there when the twenty odd strong family had been booted out cos‘ that would’ve been a sweary fest to rival Malcom Tucker in the Thick Of It...

Waiting on the train to Hannover at the moment.Takes about four & half hours.Turns out i‘m on a double decker train so of course i‘m straight upstairs cos‘ why wouldn’t you be?

Unless you’re on a train journey going down to the Black Forest or down south around the Alps there‘s really not a lot to see out of a train window in Germany no matter how high you are.Basically it‘s flat plains from the British Midlands to the Ural Mountains in Russia and it can get a bit tedious...I still find it fascinating in a boring kind of way. Stopping at cities you‘ve heard of  but know nothing about can be interesting.We have just stopped at Dessau and if you had images of towering Rathaus & fairy tale timbered houses you‘d be sadly mistaken.Abandoned factories & shops certainly around hbf.The place looks rough as fuck...next stop Magdeburg which I believe has a long established history...

Sorry i‘m rambling to fill in time.Something my friends are used to by now...next is Braunschweig which unfortunately sounds like the industrial hand cleaner we used in the factory  then it‘s Hannover in about an hours time...actually the view‘s Getting slightly more interesting,out in the distance about ten miles away i can see something that could,if you‘re feeling generous,be described as a hillock...one thing you do tend to see approaching any station is allotments.They love them here and they seem to be the only place you regularly see a German flag...apart from AfD rallies that is.

First impression of Hannover is good.Seems a bustling working class city.Had a straight walk from hbf to hotel and these places always seem further away when you have no idea where you’re going...thanks again google maps( I really need to link up a lucrative sponsorship)

Hotel seems fine.Nothing fancy of course.Very basic but it is en suite...I also seem to be in the middle of an industrial area so that’s an interesting development.Had a wee bit of a heart stopping moment when the receptionist asked if I was sure i‘d reserved a room but turns out he was checking out the wrong page!  Man alive don’t do that to me...

I am sort of in need of another laundrette session but could,at a push,Last out to Düsseldorf in four days time where I know there’s one round the corner from where i‘m staying.If there‘s one close by here however...i‘m not smelling too bad , he said immodestly.

At first glance Hannover appears to have a distinct lack of bar life which,as you can appreciate,is of grave concern.I strarted back where I came in at the hbf but there’s nothing here.Hopefully Just in the wrong area...found one!  That’s a blessed relief I can tell you.Also lack of sparrows so far

 

Well knock me dahn wiv a fevvah! So I moan about lack of bars and bump into Jack The Rippers London Tavern...wonder if in a hundred years time there will be a Bin Laden‘s Twin Towers bar & grill?

Despite the dodgy name it’s a really nice celler bar.Very dark & atmospheric.They also do all day English breakfasts...no Cockney Sparrahs though...

That’s me done for today.Laters...