Today we caught the 8.35am bus into the Roland Center and then caught the tram into Bremen city. This was good experience for my german however it turned out the bus driver answered me in english anyway. When we arrived into Bremen centre we wandered through the shopping area and found some good clothing deals which we couldn’t pass by. So a couple of shirts each later, we were done with shopping and time to find a coffee. We asked for cappucinos and somehow ended up with black coffees so had to get some milk to go in it. I don’t think it was my german that was incorrect. As it would turn out we never managed to end up ordering any coffees correctly during our time in Germany.
It is best to go to the information centre early in the morning to book in for a number of the different tours that are available. We wanted to do the town hall tour at 11am but this was already sold out, so we bought some tickets for 12pm. The town hall tour is mainly about the finale which obviously comes at the very end. It is the hall with the tall ships attached to the ceiling, incredible candeliers, the ornately carved staircase and the golden room which holds the golden book where dignatories sign when they come to visit Bremen. There are also magnificent paintings on the walls and ceiling. All in all, it is the main part of the tour that is worth paying for. The tickets were only 5 euro each. Of course, if you have heard of the Bremen town musicians then you have to visit their statute on the side of the town hall on the way out. If you are really keen, next to the New Town Hall (Rathaus) is a man hole cover with a penny slot in it. When you drop a penny in the sound of one of the musicians (donkey, dog, cat or rooster) can be heard. Quite clever and fun for the kids.
Next stop was St Peters Dom and a very long 200 odd steps up to the top of the church tower for a grand view of Bremen. It was only 1 euro to go up the tower and not that difficult unless you get dizzy easily due to the continuous spiral staircase. The views from the top are quite nice. It is free to go inside the church itself and I would highly recommend having a look at the staircase in here and the crypt which holds some beautiful bibles.
Another key area to visit is the Schnoor. This is a quaint part of town with traditional buildings all located in a small section of town with very narrow streets. Although now many of the buildings sell tourist items it is very interesting to look through and brilliant for photographs.
By this time we had managed to wander in and out of the streets of Bremen and were getting very tired so we had some Bratwurst mit Brotchen for lunch followed by some coffee and cake later on in the day. We got the sausages at a rather posh looking place attached to the old town hall. The sausage is much larger than the bread which is kind of useful as you use it to hold the sausage while you dip it in the mustard. If you head for the fountain by Subway there is a much better sausage shop there. They do the best pork and crackling roll. You have to tell them what size slice of pork you want (which they then weigh to determine the cost) and you need to ask for the crackling as it does not come standard with it. Delicious!
Some further key places we visited included the Hazchez (chocolatier) shop, flower market in the marketplatz, Roland statue and the Weser River.
Friedhelm and Ulla have provided much insight to this city with their stories and telling us about certain tales and legends. A very interesting one was in regards to the coat of arms for Bremen which is a key. Hamburg’s coat of arms is a door and they say they have the door to the world. Bremen says they have the key to that door. Quite a suitable pairing for the two cities that are key to the shipping industry in this country.
Also famous in Bremen is Becks beer that comes from here. There factory is down on the River Weser. You will notice the key (symbol of Bremen) on their bottles!