Head and Tails (or Stomach and Tails)

When people here are trying to meet up in the middle of the city, a standard meet-up location is "unter dem Schwanz," shortened to "unterm Schwanz," which means under the tail. Outside the main train station, which is also where all the underground lines cross, there is a statue of Ernst Augustus astride a horse. Any time, day or night, there will be people with cell phones waiting for friends right under the tail of the statue.

Unter dem Schwanz, Ernst August Statue

 

Luckily, it isn't a real horse. The funny thing is that apparently this particular Ernst August (king of Hannover in the 19th century) was against rail travel, because it democratized travel, allowing people who couldn't afford coaches and horses or the many tolls on the roads to travel.

 

Another Hannover institution is the Markthalle, the market hall, a big building full of stalls selling food and drink. It's also called the "Der Bauch von Hannover," the stomach of Hannover. There are fruit, vegetable, cheese, meat, fish, bakery, and flower stalls + lots of places to buy prepared food and drink a glass of beer or a cup of coffee. Rich's favorite bakery is there, and sometimes I almost have to elbow my way through the crowd. Fridays after work and Saturday mornings the crowd is especially thick. Germans have these small, high tables to stand around or, if lucky, lean on a high uncomfortable stool, and these are packed with people talking, so it's noisy, but great to listen in on complaints about the local football team, politics, and the weather. An acquaintance here said that Germans begin each discussion with "the problem is" when they really don't have any problems.



Markthalle, the stomach of Hannover