Bremen

Tuesday 02 August

It took us much longer then planned to arrive at our next camp site in Bremen Germany (5 hours instead of 3) due to several sections of road works on the autobahn. But the weather is still fine and warm so can't grumble too much. We drove through many kilometers of wheat plantations, some sad looking sunflowers and cattle farms. Maybe because the weather is warmer in this region the cattle are in the fields, because throughout our trip, where ever we've been so far we have hardly seen any and assume they've been held in the large barns on the properties.

Now we're back in Germany we're back to the supermarkets we are most familiar with and which sell cheap alcohol, so we're very pleased indeed. Along the autobahns we will also encounter McCafe's which the Nordic countries didn't have. For the horrified coffee lovers out there, believe us when you're hanging out for a soy latte a McCafe is one of the few places you can go. However the flip side is the return to having to pay cash just about everywhere as for some reason Germany hasn't got into the cashless society yet.

Our camp site, Camping am Stadtwaldsee is a beauty with new facilities, very polite and friendly German guests and situated right on the lake Stadtwaldsee which we walked around after setting up. Amusing things happen when you're on holidays in a foreign country. Like coming upon the “naturalist” area of this lake. These people take the phrase “getting their kit off when the sun is out” very literally. We did a quick back peddle before we were asked to do the same.

The latest German news reports announce an increase in mozzies and other bugs due to the high rainfalls experienced while we were in Sweden/Norway. So far the mozzies haven't materialised here but the camp site is home to several large hares.

Wednesday 03 August

Happy birthday to Bill's eldest brother, Michael from Cairns.

Several times on our trip we've taken the recommendation of fellow travellers and visited places not in our plan. Our friends from the Gold Coast, Gloria and Tony, inspired us to visit Geiranger in Norway following their trip weeks earlier via a cruise ship. And now we've come to Bremen on the recommendation of the two Aussies we met at our Berlin camp site.

Took the bus and tram into the city, going past the university precinct which is enormous. We thought Bremen was a small place, but it is actually the home of EADS (European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co), there is a Mercedes Benz factory, parts of the Airbus A380 are assembled here and Becks beer is brewed here.

The first thing we encountered was one of many statues of the city's famous Town Musicians. The legend is totally unbelievable but they feature everywhere and are very cute. Another famous statue is that of Roland, war hero and protector of the city. This one was erected in 1404 after the original wooden one was burnt down in 1366. It is said a spare statue is always kept in the basement of the Rathaus, because “as long as Roland stands, the city will be safe”.

You can do a self guided walking tour by following different coloured coins embedded into the pavers and we also decided to do a guided tour of the Rathaus of 1410 which looks very impressive on the outside. Inside we only saw three rooms – the old original Senate hall, the Golden Room complete with leather wallpaper, and the new banquet hall with the most amazing “chandelier”. There is also public wine cellar in the basement containing the oldest barrel of wine crafted in Germany in 1653 but we didn't get to see that.

We visited 3 churches, all very beautiful with vaulted ceilings and non religious stained glass windows, but each not as heavily decorated as the cathedrals in larger German cities. St Peter's Cathedral was the most impressive with gorgeous paint work and a very impressive wooden carved pulpit.

For lunch we decided on a pub tucked away in the Schnoor Quarter, the town's oldest district and got a pleasant surprise with the performance of the glockenspiel when the hour struck. The bells chime and a multi panel display of those who conquered the Oceans rotates.

We really hadn't expected to find such a wonderful little town but thoroughly enjoyed Bremen and it is highly recommend.

More photos here.