Bremen!

One of my fears about going to other cities for work is that I'd be all on my lonesome self. This was not the case in Bremen! In fact, on my very first (full) day there, I was asked if I'd like to have a short tour of the city and then go out to dinner with some other people who were clients/customers of the people I was working with - FREE DINNER!!! Sold! I didn't take any photos of dinner but I did take a few of Bremen. The pics were taken over different evenings that I was there.

Like many other German cities, Bremen is a lot smaller than I thought it would be (pop. around 600k!!!), but due to its geographic location, also different from other places I've visited so far. Being moderately close to the North Sea, I noted to my colleague/guide Michael as we rode the Strassenbahn into the Altstadt that the architecture style reminded me of Amsterdam, with the tall skinny buildings and the dark brickwork. He said that might be due to Bremen's history as a trading city and it being a Protestant rather than Catholic (cf. Bavaria), meant that it probably had more dealings with the Netherlands/Flanders compared to the southern/eastern parts of Germany that I was more familiar with. He also said the architecture may be different because even though it is much further north, the proximity to the North Sea means that it rarely snows in Bremen  it just rains a lot. 

Anyway, first stop on the tour - the Marktplatz which contains some UNESCO-listed sites.

The Gothic Rathaus and Bremer Dom.

Roland stands outside of the Rathaus, facing the Dom. Michael says this is because Roland protects the city from against the church.

These cafes and pharmacy look like they could have come straight from Amsterdam to me!

Opposite the Rathaus is this building, Der Schutting, a renaissance hall built for the Bremen merchants. Like many other things in Germany, it was destroyed in WW2 but rebuilt following in the previous style.

Ruining the period details of the square is this ugly building, which I guess is like the KVR in Munich. 

When I told people I was going to Bremen, the usual following statement was a question as to whether I was going to hang out with the Musicians. It was kinda hard to miss them actually - they were used as symbols on tourist things, labels for stores, amongst other thngs.

There's also a sculpture of them outside the Rathaus . Michael said you have to touch both of the donkey's feet for good luck! Touch only one of them and the next person can come along and steal your luck!

This girl is doing it wrong. I did it right!

There was also this drain in the ground - when you put money in, you can hear the individual animal sounds. I think we fed in about €0.50 so I could hear the animals! Oddly enough, Janine (another colleague) said her children love to do this when they go to the city.  Hehehe

Another thing to see is Boettcherstrasse. The street and buildings were remodelled in the early 20th century as part of an initiative by someone who had Nazi sympathies. Ironically, the Expressionist way in which it was done nearly resulted in the area being destroyed as an example of degenerate art. 

The entrance to the street.

The street follows old mediaeval route.

But while some of the buildings there still have signs of their original facades...

others are clearly more modern in style!

Other things I saw in Bremen were...

Piggies!

The city park.

This windmill (a restaurant) in the park.

Schlachte - the historic harbour  on the river Weser. Over time, silt made the river more narrow and shallow, forcing the harbour to close and Bremen to buy land further up the river and build a new harbour. 

I want to know why this tree trunk near Schlachte was painted white!

I also think this old building (a bank) looked pretty cool!

So yes, that was the result of a few evening's walks around around Bremen.