Bremen

Yesterday I took a day trip to Bremen.  This trip was originally supposed to be a trip organized by my study abroad program but they canceled it last minute.  So I decided to still go since the train ride was free with my student ID.


So I took off around 9am and relaxed on the two hour train ride to Bremen.  Once there I went to the tourist office to get a map of the city and some information on tours and various things to do.  No English tours are given on the weekends so I did a walking tour that my teacher gave me of places to see on your own.  I started by seeing Die Stadtmusikanten (Town Musicians) which portrays the donkey, dog, cat and rooster of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale.  

Then I moved onto another statue of the city's protector, Roland, with his view against the Cathedral and bearing Durendart, the "sword of justice" and a shield decorated with an imperial eagle.

Then I moved onto the cathedral which was under construction so you couldn't see most of the detail. I then moved on to the Schnoor quarter.  This was my favorite part of the city.  It is the part of town where the goldsmiths and crafters used to work and live and still have shops.  Some of these streets were so narrow that you had to turn sideways to walk through and people could only go one at a time. These shops were fantastic and I wish some of the things could have been smaller so I could have fit them in my suitcase! I did come across a fantastic Christmas decoration shop and bought the cutest handmade birds for my Christmas tree and mom's.


I then made my way back to the city center for lunch at the Beck's restaurant.  It was only fitting since the Becks brewery is in Bremen.

Bremen was a really cool small town and perfect for a day trip!