Bremen

What a lovely day! Already we are beginning to get a feel for this beautiful city of Bremen with the Hauptbanhof (central train station) quickly becoming our new best friend. Public transportation rocks here and if you can't get there by bus, tram or train, there is this new novelty they have called walking. Brilliant!

Here are just a few of the amazing things we saw today while hoofing it around downtown with our amazing guide, Steffi. She patiently answered questions and indulged us in taking photos of every new thing our eyes encountered. We were amazed by the ancient church and town hall built in 1012 A.D! It is hard to fathom a country with over 1,000 years of history when the U.S. does not even have 250 years under its belt.

We had our very first genuine German Bratwurst that lived up to Burke's wildest dreams of Dijon mustard-slathered pig intestines. Mmm...who wouldn't love it?! It actually was delicious and there was no question what would be for desert...chocolate!

Yes, I decided to take a 2 month sabbatical from my year off of chocolate while we are abroad, but can you blame me? I certainly think it's the wisest decision I've ever made when Burke made this face after his first bite of raspberry truffle...WOW!

Bremen is famous for the story of the "Bremen Town Musicians" which is the tale of a donkey, dog, cat and rooster who set out to make their fortunes as musicians (for the full story click the link to Wikipedia). This darling statue stands next to the cathedral and there are souvenirs with their silhouettes all over the square.

Bremen, though populated with over 500,000 people, has a small, homey feeling to it. I'm not sure if it was the performing magicians and musicians on the cobblestone streets, quaint cottages or the peaceful river, but Burke and I both felt that life moves at a calm pace in this city.

After thoroughly enjoying the downtown sights, we parted with Steffi and returned to Bremen-Nord (the northern suburb where Elijah's home is) by train, determined to take Lij and Rin up on their offer to borrow their bikes and tour their neck of the woods. We enjoyed a gorgeous evening bike ride through Knoop's Park (more like Sherwood Forest!), down to the riverfront and along a secluded back road with gardens and even a couple of thatch-roofed homes to Haven Hooft, where we saw the jawbone of a whale and ate a delicious dinner at the Gail Wind Restaurant. We didn't know what the heck we ordered and said for about the third time that day, "This is really fun, but we wish Elijah and Marinda were here!" We made it back to the house just in time to see a golden-pink sunset over the treetops and rest my screaming thighs. We're off to Hamburg in the morning and certain to sleep well tonight!