Our flight from Berlin to Hannover took 1.9 hours. Although Yolanda was at times very green in her face, she did not want me to land before we reached Hannover. Luckily the Follow-me car driver spoke some English, and Yolanda recovered quickly once Terra Firma had us again. Good Sport, Yolanda, flying with such a new pilot! The other flights seemed to be much easier.
The first point on our agenda was to buy a new pair of shoes for Roswitha, since her one pair of walking shoes had started to fall apart. While I was trying on different shoes, Yolanda was interviewed by the store's TV crew.
Arrival Demonstration Town of Hannover World Expo 2000
The World Expo started on June 1st. After looking into how to get tickets we found that the first day only started in the late afternoon, and cost 2 to 3 times more than any other full day ticket. So we decided to start our visit on the second day, and see the town first. Ultimately, 1000s of tickets were given away for free to students, because only very few people bought the first day tickets in addition to all the VIPs - mostly politicians and stars.
When we exited the downtown train station we saw a lot of green and white police vehicles, and TV cameras. Trying to figure out what was going on, we edged carefully closer to downtown, where we finally heard some non-catching slogans against the World Expo. Later we found out that about 300 people demonstrated in the morning and 9 were taken into custody by the police. Since this morning demo was so tame, in the afternoon a follow up event was organized with several thousand people and a few hundered being taken into custody. It seemed a lot of alcohol was also involved.
To us it seemed that by far the majority of the population was for the Expo and saw it as a revenue generator. The demonstrations were mostly manned by unemployed, who wanted the money being spent on job-creation ?!
Arrival Demonstration Town of Hannover World Expo 2000 >
Hannover has several downtown walks marked with lines on the ground. We decided to follow the red line, which brought us along interesting archictecture, art, foods, and - as a special bonus - several life music stage since it was also the time of the Hannover Jazz festival.
Arrival Demonstration Town of Hannover World Expo 2000
The World Expo was built a little outside of town, and is intended to be the new conference center after it's completion. Yolanda and I had a wonderful time seeing all the people from the different countries being so peacefully in one place together. On several occasions a group of arab men wandered across the dance floor in loose dance formation.
Another highlight was the experimental, artful, and unusual architecture and interior design of the different country's pavillons. In addition there were hi-tech and futuristic areas and entertainment areas. We also saw several stages with almost continuos music programs during the day and late into the night. It was interesting how different countries presented themselves. India focused on the history of their developments. At the Singapore Pavillon almost everyone danced when they reached the top floor, the music was just too catching. There were live camels, horses, and elephants. France focused on technology, and many countries on renewable or near no-emmission energy.
One of the marvels of the exhibit was the Japanese Pavillon, which was planned to be completed from 100% recycled materials (except for some changes required by the German government to meet their building code).
The Venezuela Pavillon looked like a huge flower that opened in the morning and closed at night. One of the evening entertainment sites consisted of projection on huge crane-held water screens.
I can't wait to visit another World Exhibit. They happen typically every 2 years. The next one is scheduled for 2005 in Seto Japan. 2010 in Shangahai also seems to be fixed. 2007 or 2008 may be one in Trieste, Thessaloniki, Zarragoza or Phoenix. New York and Antwerp are trying to get the one for 2012.
