Communicator

36 COMMUNICATOR left ©luciof; top ©Max Whittaker; centre ©Paul Body; bottom courtesy Stone Brewing Co. 1. …offers a great quality of life? Hannover philosopher and sociologist Oskar Negt opines: "Hannover is one of the most enjoy- able places to live in Germany: a leafy city with its own natural rhythm." 2. ...is a very liveable place? It's widely appre- ciated as a green city with short travel distan- ces, cultural diversity, culturally thriving district-level communities and affordable prices. 3. …is a very lovable place? Eighty-nine per cent of Hanoverians like or love living in their city. 4. …and its 20 surrounding municipalities have, since 2001, formed the Hannover Region, which has 1.1 million people in an area almost the size of Luxembourg? 5. ...is a city where everything's within easy reach and with good transport links? An excellent public-transport system connects the region's 21 municipalities. And it's very quick to get from A to B in the city centre. 6. …is a high-flying place? As demonstrated by more than 5.2 million air passengers a year. 7. …hosts one of the largest public events in northern Germany, the Maschsee Lake Festi- val, every summer? It draws two million people who revel in that holiday feeling – for 19 days non-stop! 8. …is, with 11.36 per cent of green space, Germany's greenest metropolis? The city forest, the Eilenriede, is – at 642 hectares – around twice the size of Central Park in New York, and Europe's largest continuous urban woodland. 9. …has about 45,000 roadside trees that help preserve the healthy climate, with 500 new ones added each year and 600 "adopted"? 10. …has as many as 530 km of cycle paths, 170 km of which pass through lush green spaces? The total for the entire region is 1,000 km! 1 1 . …has, since 1529, staged the world's lar- gest Marksmen's Fair every year? 12. …ruled the kingdom of Great Britain for 123 years? Hannover's rulers sat on the Brit- ish throne from 1714 to 1837. 13. …was, for 40 years, home to polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz? 14. …did in July 2015 reopen the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library after its successful renovation, and that the Golden Letter from the Burmese king to King George II will be exhibited there? 15. …is in the middle of Germany – in terms of its convenient location transport-wise, with the important north-south and east- west motorways converging here? 16. …has a mysterious Cookie Monster? In the summer of 2013, it stole a 20-kilogram gold-plated ornamental sign in the form of the iconic Leibniz biscuit from the façade of Han- nover bakery firm Bahlsen's office on Lister Platz square – demanding free cookies for children and a donation to an animal shelter – before hanging it around the neck of an equine statue in front of Leibniz University? 17. …has one of the most attractive train sta- tions in Germany? 18. …is, with 26 exhibition halls, five pavil- ions, almost five million square feet of exhib- ition space and over 624,000 square feet of open space, the location of the world's largest trade fair grounds – and that it all started in 1947 with the inaugural Export Trade Fair? 19. …is home to more than 2,000 animals at the city's Adventure Zoo? The zoo, five times voted Germany's best, turns 150 this year. 20. …hosts Germany's oldest flea market? First held in 1967, it has, every Saturday morning since 1972, been a great place for browsing and haggling by the banks of the Leine in the Old Town. 21. …is the place where the purest form of High German is spoken, and that this area has produced more celebrated German newsreaders than any other? 22. …is the country's unofficial "kiosk cap- ital"? It has 340 of these miniature corner shops – more than any other German city. 23. …waltzes away the winter blues every year with its Opera House Ball? This year's theme is "A thousand and one nights." 24. …has, since 1991, hosted the world's best pyrotechnic artists at the International Fireworks Competition? On five evenings, teams from different countries paint stun- ning works of art set to music in the night sky above Europe's most beautiful baroque gardens. 25. …will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its Little Festival in the Great Garden this year? A perfect way to combine picnicking with cabaret. T R A V E L top ©iStock / Roman Babakin; bottom left ©RaBoe; bottom right ©Hannover Marketing & Tourism GmbH Did you know that Hannover…

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