Bremen

We were planning to go to Munich or Augsburg for a couple of nights, but finding a suitable hotel at this late stage was proving to be difficult so we decided to do a day trip to Munich. For the remaining day on our train pass, Marianne did some research and said that Bremen looked interesting. I was thinking that Bremen was a bit far away, but when I looked at the DB Bahn website, I realized it would be possible.


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We were going to do Munich first, but the weather forecast was for rain while Bremen would be fine, so we got up early and took the 6:10 train. We had to change trains three times but got there on time at 11:40. The German train system is amazing. Some connections were only four or five minutes but every train arrived on time and left on time.

The station is definitely impressive. Here is the concourse.

The exterior of the train station.

The street leading to the old part of the city. It seems to be pedestrians and trams only. And bicycles in their thousands of course.

The old city is positioned on an island in the river. Fortunately, they city fathers chose to use the river banks for a park that encircles the old city.

These leaves were incredibly green.

We have no idea why these pig statues were here. 

Eventually we came to a square in the old part where flowers were for sale.

One of my favourites, hibiscus.

This being Germany, sausage stands were everywhere.

Bremen was part of the Hanseatic League and you can see an architecture that is different to what you would find in Bavaria.

The side of the Old Town Hall.

Displays inside the Old Town Hall. We should have taken a tour of the rest of the building.

Statue commemorating the Grimm fairy tale, the 'Town Musicians of Bremen'.

Portico along the front of the Old Town Hall.

This distinguished building contains the Bremen Chamber of Commerce. 

The facade of the Old Town Hall.

Another side entrance to the Old Town Hall.

I think this used to be a prison.

Interesting side to a modern building.

Somehow we managed to find our way back to the park. I've seen a few of these enclosed scooters around and I think they would be terrific for Germany where it rains a lot.

The various tour guides mention the oldest part of Bremen called the Schnoor. Here was an entrance that we used to get down into it.

The area has very narrow streets and narrow buildings so it is mostly reserved for pedestrians. And Bicycles. 

Robin would recognize this as the equivalent of Smedley Street in Philadelphia.

Even a narrow covered passage.

This area is full of those knick-knack shops that I cannot stand. Still, you could have no better setting for them.

We also wandered along another narrow arcade type lane. People pretending to be statues appear to be very common in larger German cities. This golden woman certainly knew where to stand.

Again, shops that I would never need to enter. Post cards I would never buy.

For me the real attraction was the brickwork all along the lane.

This is the entrance to a famous beer garden but it was closed, unfortunately .

Post Box.

This lolly shop was off to one side and when we first walked past, it was crowded with tourists. A few minutes later, it was empty.

So we spent a couple of hours strolling around, but then it was time to get back to the station to catch our train home. We windmill garden still looked good.

They were still selling spargel up here. Further south in Mellrichstadt, the spargel is finished for the year. We both wished we could spend a couple of days in Bremen. It certainly is worth visiting.

And so it was back on the train for the ride home. We spent close to nine hours traveling, but the scenery is often really good and the trains are comfortable. And on time.

Some of you are probably wondering, where are the churches? Bremen has got to have some sort of church.  Well they were good enough to warrant their own blog.