City Explo[it | r]ation: Hannover List | Terence S Jones

I had some time today and so I walked a bit around Hannover List. Interestingly Hannover is somewhat similar to Nürnberg in many aspects, however it differs in many others. Hannover List (here is a link to the German wikipedia entry) looks also similar to Berlin in several ways. Long alleys with long rows of uninterrupted houses, cobblestone streets, etc (you will find several shots of the alleys in the gallery). Below you can see the area I walked in which is essentially everything below the “A” marker.

Hannover itself has quite some art subculture which can be seen on many different occasions.

“Leben verboten” – living prohitbited. Half joke, half reality. Statements like this and many others and graffiti can be found throughout the city. This is quite different from Nürnberg where there is almost no graffiti – I heard a couple of weeks ago that the reason for this is that in Nürnberg the fine for graffiti spraying is draconian.

Below you can see one of the tunnels at the main station. I liked the strong lines creating several layers of structure – only to be disturbed and broken by the three posters and the two lamps.

“… die Seele baumeln lassen” – one of this stupid German sayings or proverbs which essentially means to relax and leave all the sorrows behind. This is nicely complemented here with the white shirt over the rail that somebody left behind…

A hand holding a key – the key to the city? It is not clear whether it is handed over or taken away.

I loved this small antique store close to the main station. The place looked pretty old-school and it was not clear when the windows were cleaned the last time.

When you walk the streets of List you will find long alleys with houses packed tightly to each other creating infinite rows and trenches…

… and some of them feature a slightly receded entry for, e.g., parking a bike. In fact, you will see many more bikes in Hannover than you will see in Nürnberg. Hannover is very “bike-able” whereas Nürnberg is not.

The next one caught my attention because of its irony. Right now is the time when Germany would be the hottest however it is freaking cold and raining all the time, so that many motorcycles are wrapped up in their winter protection.

Sunset over Hannover, taken close to the main station. In the background you can see the VW tower which has the ridiculous nickname “Telemoritz”. The tower was constructed in 1958/59, however the planned café in the tower was never opened. In 2000 the tower was bought by VW and I just love this statement from wikipedia: “Aufgrund eines defekten Motors dreht sich das VW-Logo schon seit mehreren Jahren nicht mehr. Eine Reparatur scheint nicht geplant zu sein.” – translation: Because of an engine that broke several years ago the VW logo is not spinning anymore. Repairing the engine is not planned… typically German – just not caring and letting things fall apart.

Birds on the roof watching the sunset.

One of my personal favorites – a hand-drawn 17 as street number. Now this has some serious mojo.

A typical german backyard. As the houses are pressed against each other there is no street access to the backyard and in many cases you have to go through the basement. A typical backyard setup includes at least one bbq grill, tables, stairs, and “something” for the kids (here a small set of chairs and a table). You have to think of these backyards as pretty confined spaces and not too many have a lawn.