Singular Scene

Bremen

June 17, 2016 by Dee

I probably wouldn’t have thought to go to Bremen if I didn’t have someone to visit there, J is one of those internet type friends who also used to blog on the site on which the first iteration of this blog appeared (cough) 12 years ago… and we’ve followed each other’s stories since then; on our blogs, and then on Facebook as the members of that community have gradually congregated there as well.

I had found a delightful place to stay via Airbnb in the old quarter called the Schnoor and the climb up the stairs to my attic bedroom with my 17kg bag was an adventure in itself… J and I spent the evening drinking good German beer, wandering around the city and the following day had a lovely cruise up the Weser river to Bremerhaven. In Bremerhaven we visited the Klimahaus an interactive/immersive museum experience that chronicles a journey around the world, always following the 8th degree of longitude. Here are pics of the kind of stuff we saw there (which I didn’t take as you aren’t allowed to take pics inside). We caught the train home, watched Wales win a match in the European Cup, and ended out the evening by visiting the Bremen Town Musicians. A fitting end for a great day :D

The delightful home I stayed in via Airbnb

My attic bedroom

The Schnoor – the neighbourhood I stayed in

Public Art in the Schnoor

Walking along the edge of the Weser river

Bremen Cathedral dedicated to St Peter

Rathaus in Bremen

Statue of Roland dating back to 1404 making it the largest free-standing statue of the German Middle Ages.

Böttcherstraße

Entrance to Böttcherstraße: Lichtbringer (“Bringer of Light”) by Hoetger, April 1936

Böttcherstraße

Haus des Glockenspiels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glockenspiel_House) at the Böttcherstraße

The Sögestrasse (Pigstreet) is marked with the pig herder statue at its entrance

The Main train Station in Bremen

Park Hotel in the Burgerpark (Citizen’s Park)

Scenes from the Weser River cruise from Bremen to Bremerhaven

U-boatbunker “Valentin” – made to build U Boats but none were ever made there it wasn’t finished before the war ended – built using forced labour/prisoners of war

Union Pier

Bremerhaven from the Weser

Auswandererdenkmal – the Migrants memorial at Bremerhaven

Lunch – Bremer Knipp sausage with grains on potatoes with asst. pickles

“Atlantic Hotel Sail City” Bremerhaven

Klimahaus Bremerhaven – a fascinating museum following life on the 8th degree longitude

Watch for tanks… they go faster than cars…

5 animals one above the other..

The Bremen Town Musicians

Dusseldorf

June 16, 2016 by Dee

I can’t believe it was 10 years since I’d last seen N and R, German friends I met in Sydney with whom I spent many happy hours playing cards and drinking bubbles all those years ago. When I knew I was coming to Europe I did a little bit of armchair detective work to find them and to reach out with the prospect of catching up! Happily they were within easy reach of where I was planning to go and so to Dusseldorf and Ratingen I went to meetup with them and catch up after all this time.

Needless to say we did a little sightseeing while I was there…

Leaving Wiesbaden for Dusseldorf

Cologne Cathedral from the Cologne Hauptbahnhopf

Konigsallee – the paris end of Dusseldorf where all the big label boutiques are.

Old world meets new

The Rhine tower above (predictably) the river Rhine

View across the Rhine from Dusseldorf

Rathaus

The Rathaus (town hall) in the Dusseldorf Marktplatz

Jan Wellem equestrian statue – The elector honored himself In 1711 by Grupello cast in bronze / 8.000 kg / Baroque Sculpture

Cheers – Drinks at a bar on the Rhine River Promenade (Rheinuferpromenade)

Lambertus church castle tower

Altstadt

Venue for lunch

Curry wurst… local delicacy

Alt (old) bier – also a local brew

17th century Haus zum Haus (House to House) in Ratingen

Suitbertus-Stuben pub – gorgeous late Gothic Tudor style buildings in the city, which was built around 1490

Another Alt bier (gotta try them all)

Natascha and Sidney

The German nickname for the people of Ratingen is, “Dumeklemmer”, which is old German for, “Daumenklemmer”, which then translates to something like, “one who jams his thumb”. The legend goes on to say that all children in Ratingen are destined to be born with flat thumbs.

Catholic Parish Church St. Peter and Paul, Ratingen

From the Marktplatz

The Ratingen Marktplatz

Dinner, sauerkraut, beef (melt in your mouth) and a potato dumpling.

Another Alt bier

and ANOTHER Alt bier (they’re very small glasses)

There may also have been Killepitsch – a local schnapps in the style of Jagermeister

Day 2: Wiesbaden

June 8, 2016 by Dee

I spent the morning working from my lodgings until such time as Prisca finished her morning errands and was free to come back and show me around Wiesbaden. We found a Chinese Restaurant for lunch, wandered the streets, sat in a park for some sun and finished the afternoon with a great coffee before heading home for a quiet evening of German wine, cheese and conversation (the conversation was in English, naturally)

Marktkirche on Schloßplatz

Schloßplatz

Luisenplatz

St. Bonifatius Catholic Church Wiesbaden on Luisenplatz

Inscription on the pedestal of the Waterloo-Obelisk: THE MEMORIES IN THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO FALLEN NASSAUER AM 18 JUNI 1815 Luisenplatz

Hessian State Theatre

Warmer Damm

Wilhelmstraße

State Theatre columns

Kurhaus (cure or Spa House)

Kurhaus Foyer

Kurhaus Foyer mosaic, Neptune

Kurhaus foyer dome

Wiesbaden streets

Bäckerbrunnen, Wiesbaden – where there’s a tap pouring water from underground hot springs.

Day 1 : Rüdesheim, Assmannshausen, Bingen, Burg Rheinstein, der Rotenfels

June 7, 2016 by Dee

Day one I’ve arrived in Weisbaden, just outside of Frankfurt where I am staying with a lovely friend, Prisca, from my C3 days and the pair of us went out for a cruise on the Rhine, a lunch in a biergarten and then visited the region’s answer to Uluru.

After a short walk in the grounds of Schloss Biebrich just near Prisca’s home, we caught the train to Rüdesheim where we met our boat going downstream to Assmannshausen, turning round to come back via Burg Rheinstein to Bingen where we alighted to meet Prisca’s lovely man who drove us to der Rotenfels (the Red Rock) near Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg. They dropped me back at Hannas Gästezimmer, my wee hotel run lovingly by Prisca’s mum, and I fell asleep watching TV and catching up on the internet (if you don’t read it every day it gets away from you)

The day was overcast, humid and warm, and we were lucky to get to the car before torrential rain, thundershowers and hail descended.

Felt just like home…