Bremer Freimarkt

Bremen wasn't all catching insects and working with nerds though. While in discussion with my colleagues about food options, Janine told me that the Bremer Freimarkt was on and I should go have a look. That sounded like a good idea to me!

Officially dating from the year AD1035(!!!), the Freimarkt is the oldest festival in Germany and puts the 202 years of Wiesn to shame! Held annually at the Burgerwiede behind the Bremen Hauptbahnhof, it was essentially as the name implies - a Free Market - where farmers and others could sell their wares without restriction from guilds, for example. It has changed with time and is now more like a carnival with rides, sideshow games, and of course, food :D. 

And I'm glad to be here!

The first thing I ate - Kaesekrainer (a sausage with cheese pieces inside the meat).

A local and seasonal speciality - fried mushrooms with garlic sauce.

Some of the food stalls

The Riesenrad all lit up

Mmm, Bavarian Augustiner helles...

...but I gave it up to have the FIRST GLUEHWEIN OF THE SEASON!!! 

It was pretty cold :(

Then I got some poffertjes for dessert.

What the hell? A Bayerische festzelt?!

Emptiest biertent I've ever seen!

But the really amusing and frustrating thing is that I decided to try and shoot some things again. I rocked up to one of the stalls and noting that the price was pretty cheap, I bought a number of rounds. To the amusement of the woman who was talking to the carney, Lil' ol' me proceeded to blow away 15 out of 15 targets. I was quite excited thinking that I'd get an Angry Bird or something of the like. Instead, I got a small whale :(

Located outside Rathausplatz, there is another Kleiner Freimarkt, a smaller, more antique version of the larger carnival. I came here the following day to look at the antique Ferris wheel and carousel (tiovivo in Espanol!). 

Pretty!

The stalls were more like the Mediaeval Christmas market type.

I also ate more food here! Bremen being a *coastal* town, a lot of the stalls were selling seafood as snacks. I couldn't resist getting some calamari :D

mmmm, maiskorb mit butter! 

And another local specialty - Schmalzkuchen, literally "Lard cake."

When I first saw stalls selling *Lard Cake*, I drew the line until Michael told me they were like buttery cake, and I agree! They were like donut holes and utterly warm and delicious. I eventually had two servings and swore to myself that I would head to the gym religiously once I got back to Munich.

The Bremer Freimarkt is held annually during the last two weeks of October. Highly recommended (eat the schmalzkuchen!).