Having a look at the map the next morning showed that there were about 150 new ice cubes in the Georgengarten, so very bravely we decided to get them first thing. We normally pack and get the train, so this was very different, lol They kept appearing as we walked, and even though we cleared the gardens, by the time we got the main train to Bremen there were still more appearing. Back to the hotel, the last bit of packing and then on to the Bremen train. Luggage into lockers then a wander around a park and a very large cobbled car park. Back to the station for the train to Hamburg which was running 30 minutes late, and then finally an hour later Hamburg once again. Helen had booked us into the same hotel as last year as we knew the rooms where a reasonable size for 3 of us. It was a bit odd really as we stayed in the same branch of hotel in Hannover, and we walked through the door in Hamburg and it looked exactly like the room we had just left. From there we headed out to a very large lake that is fed off a branch of the river Elbe. Lots of sailing boats, people walking, jogging, cycling, sunbathing, etc. etc. Once we got to the next lake under the bridge, we discovered a festival was on. The entire lake was surrounded by food vendors, drink sellers and all sorts of other things. Lots and lots of people and very loud music. It’s a 3 day event celebrating the river and they have fireworks every night of it at 23.15!! Caught the underground back to the hotel, but stopped at a supermarket for a few supplies before heading up to our room and a not so early night, lol.
OK, let’s get yesterday done, lol. We bought breakfast to eat out and caught the underground out to another part of Hannover. This was actually a fair ground that wasn’t currently being used, so we wandered around it for a couple of hours capping the sea of virtuals it contained. From there we caught another train back to the Georgengarten and carried on there. Overnight we had a special fund raising munzee created (they will only last a month), so bought a few and deployed some, however the Georgengarten has been turned into a giant ice field, so we capped lots of ice cubes amongst the others we still had to do. Helen and I met McRon last year in Hannover and he met us again this time. Ron took us for a little walk to get some physical munzees, which was like having a guided munzee tour, lol. Then in the car, and that was rather weird sitting as a passenger on the wrong side of the road! Ron and Carine live in Celle which is 30 minutes northeastish of Hannover. Some of it was autobahn so my speed app hit 153 km/h, faster than some of the trains we’ve been on!!! After a great afternoon tea of home made cake and cupcakes (Carine’s effort not Ron’s), Ron took us on another guided munzee/sightseeing tour around Celle. Amazing place, buildings dating from the 15 & 1600s and even a castle in the middle, moat and all. Lots of munzees as well so we had a great time. Back at the house Carine had prepared a lovely French meal of cous-cous with a vegetable dish and chicken, followed by cheeses and spaghetti ice-cream! A meal to remember indeed, and the conversation didn’t quite revolve around munzees the whole time, LOL. Ron then drove us back to Hannover, wouldn’t let us train it back and dropped us back at our hotel about 11ish. It was a truly wonderful day.
This is about all there will be for today, will write a long account tomorrow as it’s now 2330 after a long day and a lovely evening with McRon and Plueschi (Ron and Carine) so will catch you then. L 🙂
LOL, another breakfast and finish packing and once again off to the train station, this time for a 3 hour ride to Hannover. Sadly it was wet and a bit gloomy all the way so didn’t get to see much. Found the hotel and did some planning on where to go and which trains to take, and headed out yet again. Got off the train before expectations to tackle a largish area pf virtuals, wandering through what in England we would have called a Common. A very large grassed/shrubby area that is almost wilderness. Lots of tracks through it, people walking dogs and exercising horses. From there we got back onto the train and found our way around a sports field and then onto a giant car park for a stadium. It was rather attractive, rows of rose bushes, and the parking lots were actually grassed, with hard roads up and down. Back on the train again and back past our original embarkation point to the Georgengarten. This had a fantastic avenue of trees that seemed to stretch forever and was lovely to walk through. Sitting on a bench sorting out rovers and HBRB found us for a munzee chat. Nice to meet up with another munzee hunter, lol. Back to the main train station and had dinner at the NordSee restaurant for a lovely fish meal again.
After another lovely breakfast, I particularly like the smoked salmon and dill mustard, lol, we once again headed out to the Stadt Wald and the rest of the munzees, well most of them. There are 2500+ virtual munzees in the area, so we were at it all day, wandering around the forest, the lake and the sports grounds. We even saw some local wildlife, a tiny, tiny shrew. We think it must have been a young one it was so small, just a little bundle of fluff running around, it was very fast. Around 16.30 it started raining and now at 22.15 it hasn’t stopped. Apparently it’s been a very wet summer here. We finished off the day very pleasantly, having a meal with Karin and Andreas (Seal and Travelling Jack), who we had met up with in Munich at the giga event. We had dinner in a gourmet hamburger place, very popular indeed, with hay milk cheese (an Austrian speciality) and all sorts of other goodies. Very nice meal, great company and conversation. No photos tonight, too late, lol.
Had breakfast again at the hotel, as today it was a ‘free’ one. Then we had to wait for Gary. He didn’t manage to send through a message as to which train he was catching , so we had to guess at the likely amount of time to land, clear customs, collect luggage and catch train. We got to the station, checked the arrivals for the platform number, walked up and there he was coming down the escalator, what brilliant timing. Back to the hotel so he could settle his gear and have a shower then off we trooped, munzee hunting yet again, lol. Didn’t walk too far today, only 12.5 kms as we started late and Gary will need a good sleep tonight after all that travel. We headed over to the Stadt Wald (state forest), really lovely walking through the beech woods. Everything is such a different green from home, a real green green, lol. It did threaten to rain once, but by the time the brollies came out of the bag it had stopped. It did get rather cool though, so that was an incentive to come back to the hotel as well. We had a meal at the railway station and then back here to sort ourselves out for tomorrow.
We were quite decadent this morning and stayed in bed a little while longer. Now that both of us are in the top 10 and have our million+ points, the urgency has dissipated a little bit. Mind you it rained last night, and did get a little spitty when we were out, but now we are back having a rest it is raining quite heavily. Had breakfast in the hotel and then we found a cache just around the corner. Next the Telekom shop for a sim for Gary’s phone (he arrives tomorrow morning) and as it will be Sunday, nothing will be open. The shope here don’t open until 10, so as we were earlier than that we walked up to the bus/train transfer point at Neumarkt and capped the munzees in the open area there. After ‘shopping’ we wandered the streets and then walked along the Rhein, up as far as the Lindt Chocolate Museum (can’t get away from them, lol), then back down the river and over the main rail bridge to the other side. Had lunch at the railway station on the other side and then back over the bridge and carried on up the Rhein. Back through town, we were fascinated with some building works. The outside of the building with it’s original brickwork had been shored up and hollowed out, and quite obviously they are giving it a complete new insides. The work it must have taken to get it to that point must have been enormous. Now back at the hotel, we were planning on going out again, we will just have to wait and see what the weather does.
P.S. For the stop we made in Dresden. We were both entertained whilst waiting by sniffer dogs being ‘tested’ on the lockers in the corridor. One at a time, they sniffed a tiny corner of the luggage lockers until they found the ‘right’ one. Then they were allowed a play with their handler. So clever.
Well 20.5 kms later we are back at the hotel. Left just before 8 am and caught the train to Aachen. We had stayed there for a couple of nights last year, but not enough munzees there to justify it again this time, so an hour on the train was much more sensible. We literally walked around the city centre. There is a ring road and the clusters of mystery virtuals were off that, so we did a lot of walking. There were also lots of physical scaning to do, so we visited most lamp posts in those areas as well. The Lindt chocolate works were surrounded by munzees, which was very unfair as the smell of chocolate pervaded the whole area, lol.
We spent most of today on trains, travelling across Germany to our next destination of Cologne. Caught our first train at 8.33 and off the final one at 16.05. From Chemnitz we went to Leipzig and had been going to wait an hour for the next train, however we discovered another train leaving in the right direction and dashed up one platform, across the station, down another platform, along the train looking for the 1st class carriage, but hopped on at a 2nd class one to have the whistle blown just as my behind got through the door, lol. We did find our carriage though and then changed at Frankfurt Airport to the Cologne train. This one wasn’t quite the one we were going to catch, as it took longer to get there, but it turned out to be a fortunate choice as it followed the Rhein River all the way, so we had lovely views, of jigsaw perfect pictures for most of the way. Once in Cologne we found our hotel and have a room on the 7th floor, the top floor. The next chore was laundry, so we found a laundromat and had a quick bite whilst waiting for it to finish. Back to the hotel and now it’s started raining, so hoping it will be fine tomorrow.
