I love Bremen – although…

I have a confession to make: I have been a bad blogger. I didn’t write anything for a long time, but one of my good intentions for 2016 is to change that. By the way: Happy New Year 2016! 🙂 Looking back on 2015 I think it was a quite a successful year. I got a job (yay) and started working 40 hours a week (not so yay) – which is basically why I didn’t have time to travel and blog anymore.

I start into the new blogging year with a post that reflects a littly my mood at the moment. I do love Bremen, but right now I feel a littly grinchy about it. And winter in general. Snow may be nice when it is fresh and pure and glistening in the sun. But not after christmas and not in cities…

“I love Bremen” – Part Three: …although it shows the ugly face of winter

This is what happens when they finally get to clear the streets.

Someone rescued the little girl’s cap.

They did this to the tallest christmas tree of Bremen. Murder.

But here’s a wonderful thing about Bremen in winter: The homeless people can use public transportation (trams, busses) for free to warm up.

This is typical German. Everyone has to make sure that the sidewalk in front of his house is clear of snow so that nobody falls. But real Germans take this seriously: They stop right where their property ends.

Don’t you catch a cold… 🙂

I love Bremen: Refugees Welcome

Inside one tent of the refugee camp at the University of Bremen.

Now this is something else than what I originally intended with my little “series” about Bremen. But I never had such a good reason to love this city before because it is literally overflowing with helpfulness for the refugees who come here.

“I love Bremen” – Part Two: How Bremen welcomes refugees

Since a few weeks – I think it may be about one month – there is hardly any other topic on the news than the arrival of refugees in Germany. Suddenly they were not in Greece or Italy anymore – they were here, on our doorsteps. They are also in my hometown Bremen.

I love Bremen

I have lived my whole life in this city. When I was younger, I always wanted to move away as soon as I would graduate from school. I thought Bremen was too small, a little boring and had no good future opportunities. Although the latter is partly true because finding a job here is not easy, I think differently now. This city is really worth living in. It’s green, has old traditions and a lively night-life and I still discover parts of it that I never knew before. These photos are just a glimpse of Bremen’s beauty and I mean to show you other popular places as soon as I find time to take some pictures! 🙂

Part One: Twilight Hour in the Heart of the City

Twilight hour above the Weser. You see the illuminated promenade “Schlachte” on the right side of the river.

The Schlachte with its ship quays. The square tower with blue light in the distance is the Wesertower.

The town hall of Bremen, a UNESCO cultural heritage from 13th century.

On the left side you see the “Roland”, a statue of a knight that symbolizes the freedom of the city.

The St Petri Dome of Bremen is like the town hall one of the old historical building surrounding the central market place.

First Signs of Spring

The first warm day of the year – perfect for a bicycle tour at the Werdersee (lake in Bremen)

When the snowdrops (German: Schneeglöckchen) show their heads winter’s finally over.

The water of Werdersee – as blue as the sky.

The first crocuses.

Boom boom bang! – New Years Eve, the German firework-mania and good intentions

More than 120 million euros – that’s the total amount of money that Germans spent for fireworks last year (I always think it’s funny to say “last year” when it was only 2 days ago, don’t you?). Isn’t that crazy?? Not a big surprise, though. My boyfriend told me he saw a guy in the supermarket who bought stuff for 700 euros alone. Germans are known to be a very serious people, altogether decent and righteous. But when law allows it to riot – then yeah, we go WILD! 😀 

Winter Walk

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Although no snow fell yet, the bad weather has come to an end and German winter finally shows its beautiful face again. A walk through the “Park left of the Weser” in the afternoon in the cold winter sun…

Christmas Market No. 2 – Shopping in the rain

Temperature outside: 11 degrees. Wind and rain.

Every year I find myself in the city searching for some presents three days before Christmas. I can’t help it. The first week of December I am like: “Yeah, I already bought two presents! This year’s going to be different, I am super organized with Christmas stuff.” And then it’s Monday, Christmas Eve is on Wednesday and I still got nothing for Mum and Dad and Grandma. So I have to fight my way through thousands of people in over-heated shops, stand in huge queues and wonder how Christmas shopping was in past days without Amazon. Must have been like war. Normally I survive this situation by staying calm and thinking about nice things. But this year I failed in keeping my good mood…

Christmas Market No. 1 – Schlachte-Zauber

Temperature outside: Damn freezing cold – but still no snow…

The Christmas Market “Schlachte-Zauber” along the river Weser in Bremen. It’s a separate market from the big one at the Dome and the Rathaus but has a unique atmosphere!

This evening I wore so many layers of clothes I could hardly move! I love the “Schlachte-Zauber” Christmas Market because it has a great medieval or “pirate theme” section – not historically correct but very cozy! 😉 You get all kinds of hearty food there, hot mead and mulled wine and all the people are in disguise and talk in funny medieval language. Join my small walk in pictures… 

The “Freimarkt” fun fair in Bremen

The Steiger wheel is 60 meters high and the second largest transportable big wheel in the world.

“Ischa Freimaak!” That’s a dialect of German and means something like: “Yay, again we can see colorful lights and drunken people, drink a lot ourselves, eat a lot of unhealthy but very delicious greasy stuff and try to keep this stuff in our stomaches on the rollercoaster!” Or in short: Yay, it’s Freimarkt in Bremen! It is the largest fun fair in the north of Germany and has a longer tradition than the Oktoberfest. Oh yes!

Late Summer Sunday

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Last Sunday I took a walk in Huchting, a district of Bremen. Summer is already retreating but we still have some golden days like this! 🙂