Thanks Fred!

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Our 9 day cruise started in Newcastle. This was on the good ship Balmoral with Fred Olsen Cruise Lines. Our first port of call was Bremen after a calm and pleasant North Sea crossing. Bremen is a lovely city. The centre was spacious for pedestrians with large open squares and there were many fine old buildings to admire. There was a local beer festival and a fair in Bremen Market Place when we visited. We had a good walk around the centre to see all the old buildings.

The Roland statue in the Market Place dates from 1404 and Bremen Rathaus (old town hall) is 600 years old. St Peter's Cathedral dates back to the 13th century.

Afterwards we continued our exploration with a walk around the Schnoor quarter, the oldest part of Bremen with ancient medieval houses.

There was also some nice parkland to walk through with Autumn tree colours reflected in water.

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