Bremen

28/07/08

Transit from Campingplatz Meyer zu Bentrup at Bielefeld to Camping Hatten near Bremen

29/07/08

You had to know that today was going to be one of those days when the conversation began in the back of the car on the way to Wilhelmshaven. We have been touring around the centre of Europe for more than three months and haven’t seen the ocean or any significant body of water since the Amalfi Coast way back in Italy and there was a deal of excitement among the children in the back seat about the prospect of seeing the sea. Things started to go downhill when the question was raised as to whether we were going to see the sea or the ocean. How do you know it’s a sea and not the ocean? What’s the difference between a sea and an ocean? How come if you are out in the ocean they say you are at sea? I can see lots of blue on my map and they are all called See what’s that all about. If I go to sea what do I see, I see the sea. How many Seas are there, can you name the Seven Seas, can you name the Oceans. My map shows the Dummer Sea is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean how come, one had to resist answering ask the dumb one sitting next to you. Any parent who has had to confine youngsters to the backseat for a trip will understand exactly what I am talking about only here the children were in the front and the back.

Wilhelmshaven proved to be very dour city with an atmosphere something like Edinburgh but with sunshine so after taking our first look at the North Sea and buying Anne a seat for her bicycle that she doesn’t have yet back in Australia we set of for Bremerhaven. The countryside was more like the Netherlands than you would expect of Germany in that it was extremely flat and there were a few windmills around the countryside. As when I visited Germany in 1994, again in 2004 I was amazed at the low population density. There are 85 million Germans in an area smaller than Victoria yet here we are driving through mile after mile of open farmland only occasionally spotting Fritz the Farmer out in the field. There didn’t even seem to be a lot of cows and sheep about. The only thing we saw large numbers of were hay bales and hay rolls.

Bremerhaven turned out to be the same as Wilhelmshaven, nothing exciting, no cardboard cut outs of the Bismarck or anything like that, the restaurant on the waterfront however served an excellent lunch before we set out back to Bremen.

Bremen proved to be a bit more interesting. It too had suffered during the war and had been subjected to a fire bombing attack about the same time as Dresden with up to 200,000 killed over a couple of days. While it has been rebuilt as a largely modern city they have also rebuilt some of the important buildings to what they were and in 1988 they actually rebuilt a narrow street in the medieval style, Brottscher Strasse so that the history of the city would not be lost. Today was intended to be only a fleeting visit, a drive through but turned into more by a lucky parking spot right on the edge of the main square. Richard, of course, claims that he had called ahead and booked this parking spot but the look on the face of the delivery truck driver who pulled up moments after us obviously expecting the spot to be empty throws some doubt on this. We were able to wander around the area for about an hour discovering the rebuilt medieval street which looked surprisingly modern with the entrance to the Bremen Hilton on one side directly opposite the entrance to the Casino. The New Rathouse, built in the 18^th century, the cathedral and a few other significant buildings either survived the war or have been skilfully reconstructed adding a patina of age and style to a modern city.

There’s another thing, casinos are everywhere over here, not having been inside any of them I can’t say that they are like Star City or Las Vegas but every town has several of them all advertising the cumulative jackpots and the gaming opportunities they offer. Here in Bremen American Roulette and Blackjack were touted as the big games with no mention of a jackpot, in Liberice in the Czech Republic the casino was called Babylon. It took up an entire block and incorporated a Hotel, Conference Centre, Aquatic Centre, Indoor Fun Park plus parking for an advertised 550 vehicles.

30/07/08

Became a rest day when no one could come with the enthusiasm to suggest anything or anywhere to go to. We must be approaching the end of the trip, early on it was go, go, go now rest days are becoming more frequent, are we finally learning how to relax.