This is part 8 of 16 of a journey through my home country: Germany.

I invite everyone to take a closer look at what I call home. I will show you sides of today-Germany you didn't know of - especially when you are not German.
A lot of "foreigners" (actually I don't really like this word) connect Germany with beer, cars, lederhosen and sauerkraut. I admit these are parts of Germany and important ones too (especially the beer and the cars), but they by far are not everything!

This article serie will show you the 16 countries of Germany, some quite similar to each other, some totally different. Sure, this serie will mainly feature photography, but perhaps I will link to other styles of art like modern German music or so.

Our journey leads us through (click the ones in italic to see that article):

_{Bavaria
Saxony
Brandenburg
Berlin
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Schleswig-Holstein
Hamburg
Lower Saxony
Saxony-Anhalt
Thuringia
Hesse
Baden-Wuerttemberg
Rhineland-Palatinate
Saarland
North Rhine-Westphalia
Bremen}

... or if you want to take a look at our southern neighbour, Austria, please read Exploring Austria by =Glasperlenspielerin.

Please, come and see...

Part 8 of 16 - Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)

Well, well...
After a two weeks pause, this serie is back - finally.
Last time, we visited Germany's second biggest city, Hamburg, in the north of our country. Let's now take some little steps southwards and enter Lower Saxony - or Niedersachsen, how it's called in German.

Lower Saxony is one of the bigger states in Germany. It ranks second in size and fourth in population (with about 8 million people living here). Lower Saxony is a state of differences. The North Sea to the north, the low mountain range "Harz" to the south-east. It is the state with the most neighbouring states in Germany.
Oh, and by the way: I was born in the small town of Peine - so Niedersachsen is my home state. Spent 20 years of my life in Lower Saxony...

The capital of Niedersachsen is Hannover, a rather small capital with only about 525.000 inhabitants. Yet, Hannover is known worldwide for it's fairs. Since it hosted the Expo 2000, it has the world's largest exhibition ground. It hosts some of the biggest and most important fairs worldwide: among many, many others the Hanover Fair (a fair for the industry), the well known CeBit (for computers & IT) and the commercial cars fair of the Frankfurt Motor Show every two years.
The city itself is not what one would call a gem - as an important road & train junction and production center, it was among the most bombed-out cities in World War II (over 90% destroyed in 88 raids) and therefore is filled up with functional concrete buildings. Yet, there are enough lovely places for photography left, like the gorgeous train station, the Herrenhausen Gardens or the old town district.

The second biggest City is not far from Hannover: Branschweig. It's about half of the size of Hannover but full of history. Almost 1150 years old, Braunschweig was the residence of great kings and dukes, especially Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony (the original Saxony on Lower Saxonian ground, not nowadays Saxony) and Bavaria.

Well, it's kind of hard for me to decide what cities to show here... the next ones on the one hand are not really big - Lower Saxony is more or less rural - yet some of them are hundreds of years old like Goslar (the area has constantly been populated at least since the Neolithic) with one of the world's oldes mines or have a time-honoured and well known university like Göttingen - or they're known for a fairy tale like Hameln (The Pied Piper of Hamelin). So, I think I'll have to show these three...

There are so many small cities that can be explored in Lower Saxony - as it is large and rather rural, history hides in the small towns between the Ocean and the 300km away mountains. So, I can't mention here all cities that are worth a visit (like Oldenburg, Osnabrück, Verden, Salzgitter and so, so many more), but let me introduce you to one more city now: Wolfsburg.
The city is not big. The city is not pretty - it is a planned city and you can see that everywhere. Yet, it has a specialty: it is the home of car manufacturer Volkswagen - I am sure ALL of you at least once sat in a VW or even have driven one.
Because of this, Wolfsburg is very interesting for architecture photography - oh and by the way: I'm sure they will be Germany's 2009 soccer champions!

Kind of wow?!
Let's now come to some nature, as Lower Saxony really has enough of that.
When you approach Germany from the North Sea, you will first pass the East Frisian Islands, they are a part of Lower Saxony. These islands - and the nearby mainland East Frisia - are a treasured holiday destination, especially for families with small kids. When you're a little lucky and the weather is really good, you can hardly feel the difference between making holiday in East Frisia or the Mediterranean - except for the food, the people and the landscape.
East Frisians often still can speak Low German, as the people of Hamburg or Schleswig-Holstein can, too (remember my last two articles?!). As a whole (landscape, character, language), East Frisia is a bit comparable to The Netherlands.
I really like it there - my Grandmother was East Frisian and even if I understood nothing, I appreciated the seldom opportunities to hear her speak Low German.

When coming from our last station, Hamburg, you will first walk through the "Altes Land" (Old Country), which is 50/50 Hamburg and Niedersachsen. The "Altes Land" is the biggest contiguous fruit orchard in Central Europe - mainly apples and cherrys are being harvested here.
From there, you will come to the "Lüneburger Heide". Lüneburg is a lovely town surrounded by "Heide" (heather) - most Germans think this landscape is wonderful natural - it is not! Thousands of years ago, it was deep forest. Due to deforestation and sheep breeding, the Heide is what now appears "normal" in this area.

Not much photos of that region - I am deeply shocked and will have to change that someday!
So, let's come to a region that can be found on many, many pics here on dA: the Harz. The Harz is a low mountain range in the south-east of Niedersachsen. Our state shares it with some neighbours, especially Sachsen-Anhalt. It's a pity that the crown of the highest mountain, the Brocken (translates as "hunk"), is located in Sachsen-Anhalt, even if most of the mountain itself is Lower Saxonian. You will have to wait for this, so.
The Harz - contrasting East Frisia's landscape - is a second major holiday destination, especially for hikers and winter sportsmen. When in the Harz, it's not easy to tell whether you are in Sachen-Anhalt or in Niedersachsen - so I can only hope the majority of these pictures were shot on the Lower Saxonian side - and if not: take it as an example for the beauty of Sachsen-Anhalt!

Niedersachsen's landscape - besides the Harz and the coast - resembles this of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein very much: it is mainly flat (except for some smaller hilly regions like the Weserbergland) with lots of agriculture. Here are some nice shot of that landscape:

Well, I think I have to stop here...
Yet, there is so much left to discover. I think you'll have to go see it yourself!
Let me tell you some final word's about "us Lower Saxonians":
The state itself is an artificial construction the British created after World War II. That's why there is no real feeling of being a Lower Saxonian. The Frisians feel Frisian, the people of Braunschweig find those from Hannover suspicious and vice versa and so on. Yet, there are two things that we all share: First, even if an artificial construction, the region and the name "Niedersachen" has a very old and honourful history that is kept alive at many places. Second, it is said that Lower Saxonias are those German speakers with the least accent. We insist on that!
Furthermore, one could also say that Lower Saxonians like the fact that their Germanic ancestors under the command of Arminius defeated several Roman legions under Varus exactly 2000 years ago in the Varusschlacht in a region that is nowadays Lower Saxony and Westphalia. That defeat saved huge parts of Germany from becoming a Roman colony and adopting latin language and culture.

Now, this was only a very, very short trip through Lower Saxony and I know I missed a lot (if not almost everything). But this is supposed to be a short, informative journal and not a travel guide. I hope you like the pictures - if you do, please give the artists a visit and/or a fav, they really deserve it.

If you have any questions about this station of our trip or Germany as a whole: please ask, I'll try to answer as quick as possible.
And if you have any suggestions about how to make this trip any better, please don't hesitate to write me, either.

Artists featured in this article

Looking forward for your comments - and the next station of this trip...