All that and Some Strudel

Day 163
I woke up feeling refreshed and not the least bit sick. I guess all I needed was a really good nights sleep. After stuffing myself with the fabulous hotel breakfast I packed up my stuff and headed out.

The first thing I visited were some odd statues. They were really pretty ugly. I have no idea what they were about. After checking out some half-timbered houses I went to the Hanover History Museum.

About 100 years ago a medieval world map was discovered here. Jerusalem was thought to be the center of the world. The unknown areas were filled with crazy looking humans and fantastic animals. The original was destroyed during WWII, all that remains are a few copies.

The free audio guide was extremely detailed. It was also a bit funny. At one point the voice said ‘you might think that the object in front of you is no more than a hollowed out tree stump, that is in fact what it is.’ It had been used to strengthen a well.

Hanover was part of the Hansiatic League and was quite a rich city back in the day. Often torture was used to draw out confessions. However, for a confession to be valid it would have to be repeated after the torture was over. I would think that just the thought of being tortured again was a form of torture itself. There were 27 witch trials in Hanover, apparently this was much less than in other German cities.

Clocks didn’t have minute hands and the length of an hour varied by the sun. I just thought that was interesting.

After learning a bit about the Hanoverian British kings my notes grow sketchy. I guess I got a bit bored. In the 20^th century Hanover became known as a car making town. After the WWII section there was a bit on toys and farming. I was a bit bored at this point though and decided to call it a day.

I sat in the market square for some time reading and eating apple strudel. It was good! Next store there was a Bobs Big Boy statue. Weird.

I had to pick up my bags from the hotel hours before my train. There wasn’t much I could do besides sit and read. I did chat with a friendly bartender for a bit. She had lived in California for some time.

By the time my train came I was pretty tired and definitely ready to get to my bed.