Timdar Travel Blog

Well that was a funny old 10 days. We both said that in a strange way a small part of us was sad to be leaving, and yet at the same time we didn’t want to stay any longer. Perhaps it’s the Groundhog Day effect of getting into the same routine every day.

Anyway, it was a successful trip, and we did have a small celebration in the (aptly named) New York Bar.

A last morning commute to work before leaving at lunchtime

A couple of reminders of Bremerhaven

And even a decent early dinner at Greta’s in Bremen

And lovely to be back in Chipperfield Woods ..

We’ve been here a week, and the time has flown by. Jo is working extremely hard on a paper which is nearing the submission deadline, and I’m walking. And to prove the latter, here’s my average daily step count for the past week!

Bremerhaven itself is a total mystery. There is literally nothing to do. It’s a bit busier at weekends, but there seems to be a total dearth of bars, coffee shops and restaurants around the marina and along the seafront. We have one very good coffee shop near the apartment, which opens from 12-5. So useless for the morning commute.

And yet the views are stunning.

My knowledge of German cities is virtually non-existent, including their location. It’s about 2/hours on the train.

Reason for going was for Jo to see Francois – an old friend from Aarhus. They had a great time catching up.

So with my usual pre-planning without Eileen (i.e. nothing at all!) I made my way to the tourist information to ask for their advice on how to spend a few hours.

The main (only?) attraction is the enormous town hall

with the main attraction being that you can take a lift up to the top of the dome for the princely sum of €5. So I did.

This is looking directly up through the top of the lift which has to curve 17 degrees around the dome.

And quite a poignant model display of how we flattened Hannover in the war.

Pre bombing

Post – not sure if it shows, but basically flattened.

And a few other pictures of the old town

So is it worth it? I would say that if you happen to be in Hannover it is well worth a few hours exploring. Not sure, though, that it’s worth a special visit.

We’ve been lucky with the weather, and to my surprise the town has been incredibly photogenic. I think it’s a combination of

Germanic order and cleanliness

A lot of nautical and port stuff

Lovely reflections

So here are some photos that I’m pleased with.

We’ve been here for about 5 days, and so it’s about time to introduce Bremerhaven.

And here it is. The apartment is just to the top left of 2. Jo’s office/lab (the AWI Institute) is the building in between 14 and 18.

It’s fair to say that her walking commute to work, along the seafront, is by far the best bit of the town.

The rest of the town is a bit reminiscent of Hemel Hempstead, and not in the least bit photogenic. So we stick to the marina and the seafront which are fantastic.

There is, though, a real life WWII U Boat moored up.

The last time I went on a train in Germany was May 1976 – Munich to Athens as part of my gap-year adventure, so 50 years ago!

Anyway, Jo had a midnight to 2.00am call – that’s what happens when everyone else is on Pacific Standard Time – and so needed a late morning and a quiet day working from the apartment. Added to that a grey and drizzly day forecast, I headed to the station, and made it to Bremen.

Eileen isn’t here, and so absolutely no planning has been done. So headed to the Tourist Information who were great.

Explored the old town

Town Hall

Guild Hall

Parliament Building and Cathedral

Hmmmm

Then had a tour of the Town Hall – 29 Germans and me, so I got my own tour in English (fascinating and we took 90 minutes compared to the 45 advertised).

Here’s Pierre in the great chamber

And their prized possession – a huge whale jaw bone from the 1690s, without which history here would have been very different.

Lunch at Greta’s again (see Sunday) and more sightseeing

Jo did an amazing job finding the apartment. Here you go

Plus the view when sitting on the balcony

I’m writing this on Tuesday – so far it’s been sunny and warm, which means the balcony has been well used. And it was a really good job I brought a hat and sunglasses – a bit unexpected for northern Germany in early March.

We arrived on a Sunday. It is German law that large shops (supermarkets) are not allowed to open on Sundays. We did find a shop in a nearby petrol station where we got beer, milk, coke, chocolate and crisps. Fortunately restaurants are allowed to open so we did manage to eat.

But very shortly after 7.00 on Monday morning …

And top of the list was dry shampoo – as you can see from the picture, badly needed!!!

And while I’m on little gripes:

The instructions to get into the apartment were in German. Google translated into “the apartment is on the 2nd floor”. Having tried the key (unsuccessfully) in all 6 apartments on the 2nd floor, a very nice German woman was able to translate properly – 1st floor. Could Google, by any chance, be American???

The toaster blew the fuse, and we lost WiFi. Got it back, though.

Jo is working in Bremerhaven, and I’m along for the ride.

8.00 on a Sunday morning for an extremely cramped flight – mercifully only just over an hour.

Found an amazing little cafe near Bremen railway station.

And Bremerhaven was looking lovely on our first day.