It's Springtime In Deutschland

It’s Fruhling in Germany and this is the best time to visit Germany - April to June.
The weather during the five days of Hannover was nothing but endearing. Though the temperature varied from 9 to 22°C but the sun kept us all warm and smiling.

We stayed in a small hotel called Oehlers in the outskirts of Hannover, in a place called Empelde. The hotel was a family run business – small and really comfortable.
Hannover is the capital of the State of Lower Saxony and the food served in the hotel was typical of the region.
Spring time also has a surprise for the taste buds – the time of spargels (asparagus). Spargels grow only in spring and that to for a period of 6-8 weeks. It is a real delicacy in Germany and I believe has a lot of respect in international cuisine.
I had spargel soup every night for dinner along with a dish that served boiled spargel along with. The hotel had two menu cards – one especially for spargels called ‘Spargelkarte”.
All the dishes were served with a bunch of steamed hot boiled spargels and “Hollandishe Sauce” to go along with. You could have any kind of meat or fish as the part of the dish and some boiled potatoes and liquid butter to go with.
The hotel also served a special white wine called “Frulingsbote” that goes well with spargel.
You all can imagine that I was never starved during this trip to Germany.

Hannover Fair was as usual a great event but this time it looked more diminutive in terms of grandeur. The participating companies have scaled down on their marketing spending, the number of overseas visitors was less and that vibe was missing.
A taxi driver told me that the population of Hannover is around five hundred thousand. In the early nineties the number of visitors for Hannover Fair exceeded the population of the city. Now it hovers around one to two hundred thousands. Europe has become very costly in recent years and Hannover Messe International has decentralized the fair. They now have similar fairs in India, China and other places with more local & global companies joining the sphere.

The companies that are still spending a lot are the Utilities and the power generating companies – mostly from the wind energy sector. Whatever happens, we cannot live without air and air conditioning – so utilities will laugh their way to banks, no matter whatever is the state of economy.

I was lucky to get upgraded to Business class on my way to Hannover. Saw Quantum of Solace, Marley and me and Rock On!, drank a lot of white wine and Baileys.
Spoke to Jodu (Joydeep Ghosh) after a long time. He tried to impress me with his German - I am impressed, Mr. Ghosh.

On and all was a good trip, so till next time, amigos,
Auf Wiedersehen