News from Timmerlah and Braunschweig in 2017: Meeting under the Horse´s Tail for a Visit to the Herrenhausen Gardens in Hanover.

Duke Ernst-August right, rides his horse into the city from the railway station, the place where I met my friends from Hamburg on Saturday, underneath the horse`s tail! The city was full of football fans as Hanover was playing Wolfsburg, (final score 2-0,) and the station was full of flag waving fans! Meanwhile Braunschweig United was playing Werder Bremen and lost 0-1. The big police presence in both cities was very conspicuous! The walkway down to the trams was cordoned off, so we walked along the mall to the underground tram station. A short ride took us out past Hanover's "Gottfried Leibniz University" to the Gardens, where, after buying an all day entrance ticket, our first stop was at the nearest cafe selling beer. See the full glasses of beer below, which didn´t stay that way for long!

In the nearest cafe selling German beer.

The Grosser Garden.

This garden is at the heart of the 135 hectare grounds. Begun in 1666, it is the only Baroque Garden in Germany to have retained its original lines and features. Electress Sophie of Hanover, who established the gardens wrote that, "The Garden is my life."

The Baroque Garden.

Off the Grosser Garden were many other smaller ones, enclosed within hedges. I particularly liked this one and also the Rose Garden with its blue garden furniture.

The Great Fountain.

Thirty cascades and fountains murmur around the gardens, and the most spectacular is the "Great Fountain," with a height of 72 metres on a calm day. Many experts tried and failed to create enough water pressure to produce this height, but it was solved by English technicians sent here by King George 1, the son of Electress Sophie. In 1721 a height of 35 metres was achieved, but with the help of an electric pump from 1956 onwards, the present height of 72 metres is achieved.

The Bell Fountain.

Fine jets of water from 164 spouts form this bell shaped fountain. In the background is the recently completed Royal Summer Palace of Herrenhausen. The original building was destroyed in the war, and it has taken many years of discussion to eventually decided to rebuild its original facade. Inside is a modern building with offices, function rooms, a University research areas and a library. The Palace is now the centre piece for the surrounding gardens.

One visit here was not enough, as there was so much to see, and after several hours of wandering, sitting and drinking beer, we were all tired. We have decided to visit again next year, and my diary for German visits in 2014 is rapidly filling up. A visit to Lübeck is already pencilled in, and I need to find time for Eisenach, Weimar, Köthen, Celle, Freiburg, Lüneburg and.........................