Bremen & Delmenhorst - 2012

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January 1st 2012, a new year, hopefully a much better one than the last! I was off for a week in Bremen. Phillip and Nadine dropped me of in the Schnoor (I wrote about this in the first blog). I was staying for 3 nights in one of the original houses in the Schnoor. It is one room wide and 4 floors up and my room was in the attic. I was the only guest of Birgitte, a lovely lady who opens her house to one or two guests at a time. The stairs were something! They were tiny, Phillip worried I would break my neck going to the bathroom - well I am still here to tell the tale!! I wasn’t quite sure if I was a character out of Virginia Andrew’s ‘Flowers in the Attic’ or reliving the ‘Diary of Anne Frank’ (although I must say it was much smaller than Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam which my sister Betty and I visited when we were there).

The 2nd of Jan, saw wild storms in Bremen, so little sightseeing was done, every time the heavens broke, I ducked into a shop (cheap Christmas cookies and chocolate - reading the kindle and drinking coffee - looking at things I could never wear in Australia as it never gets that sort of cold - finding little things out about the city - trying to speak German!!!). Nadine, Phillip and I braved the cold the following day and went to a local museum which had exhibitions on silver work, engineering, marine and archeological artifacts. It also had a technological interactive area for children where they could learn about magnetics, trains, air travel, shoe making etc.

That night, Phillip, Nadine and I went to a film preview at the Schauberg theatre. Before the movie (which was a moving film called Decendants with George Clooney set in Hawaii) they have a question and answer game (a little like Charades) to win tickets for the following week. I actually won! I must have been the only person over 50 - and guessed the movie ‘From here to eternity’ which was shot in Hawaii.

The next day was still bad weather so I just mooched around the Schnoor, looking at all the little shops etc. That night I took myself out to dinner to an ancient German pub in the Schnoor and three people asked if they could join me! There were 2 brothers and one had his girlfriend. They were an interesting family. What transpired was they had just had their mothers funeral and wanted to be where no tourists went - I apologised that this is just what they had got! We all laughed and then had a great night. It turns out that one of the Brothers is a Psychiatrist, so we had a great time talking about things psychological and also about common issues. On my last day stayin in the heart of the city, I explored the Rathaus (town hall), square and the Cathedral. Bremen has, for over 1,200 years woven a rich tapestry of Hanseatic heritage and cosmopolitan culture, where striving for independence has left an indelible mark on the city.

Today, Bremen and Bremerhaven are near neighbours who banded together to become a two-city state, which is Germany’s smallest Federal state. I have included links to the magnificent architecture that radiates out from the distinct Weser Renaissance Rathaus and the graceful Roland statue in Market Square (UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004), the city’s oldest living quarter at Schnoor, the exceptional structures in historic Böttcherstrasse and the imposing cathedral are etched in history.

The delightful sculpture of the Bremen Town Musicians remains a defining monument for the Grimm Brothers’ celebrated fairy tale. I left the area the next day and went to the Theatre district (where Phillip and Nadine lived last year). This is a lot like Fitzroy.

I had a mini apartment in the basement of a house on the Rutenstrasse. I began my stay as a guest and ended up leaving as a friend of the owner. They were a lovely couple. Aalfke had been a social worker who had developed her own school!!! We got on famously. She introduced me to a way of drinking tea of Ostfriesland which has candied sugar and a little hot cream that bubbles to the top. She took me to a concert about the 50’s and 60’s music in Bremen around the red light district and we talked till very late. She introduced me to her husband Wolfgang who was an IT engineer who is interested in alternative energy.

Phillip, Nadine and I went to the Edvard Munch exhibition at the Art Gallery/Museum. Then we braved the icy weather and went into town as there were some things Nadine needed to buy. The next morning, Aalfke invited me to breakfast and to accompany her to a local event. There is a tradition called the ‘Bremen ice bet’ where several respectable merchants bet every year (since 1829) whether the river Weser will be frozen or not on Epiphany day, i.e. January 6, and they test this fact by having a tailor weighing 99 pounds and his hot iron cross the river on foot. Of course being the Epiphany, the three wise kings came as well. Two ‘Drs’ have to examine the tailor to make sure his weight is correct and that his iron is hot! It is a time where there is much debate about political issues, and this is a place where the views are aired. Of course, due to climatic changes and river regulations in the 19th century, the river Weser never completely freezes anymore. The last time it actually did stand was in the exceptionally harsh winter of 1946/1947. The river threatened to freeze a few times since then, e.g. during the “winter of the century” in 1979 as well as a few years ago, but every time the ice was broken up to protect bridges and the Weserwehr power station as well as keep the river open for shipping. So nowadays, the Eiswette is mainly just a fun spectacle and an excuse for satirical speeches. This year, the tailor even brought a V for Vendetta mask. If you would like to see a video of the event, here is a video link. A video of this year’s Eiswette, reported by an American expat journalist, is here.

I also enjoyed their hospitality on the last night, we had a traditional German dinner and we talked well into the early hours of the morning. So it is now back to Nadine’s for the last couple of days and home on Wednesday. I leave Delmenhorst at the ungodly hour of 6am, then hang around Frankfurt until 2pm and leave then. It has been an interesting time here in Germany, although not at much snow as I would have liked and too much rain! Now on to the next adventure!

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Photos

Schnoor
just one of the tiny streets

Important equipment
In Bremen, this is your most important piece of equipment!!

the 3 kings
they are there just because it is their day - the Epiphany

The Tailor
There goes the tailor to be weighed and go across the river - either on foot if he bets it will freeze or by boat if not

A new friend
Aalfke and me