Germany Tour Day 6 - 21st Sept

Bremen and Hameln

Our tour is called “Luther, Berlin and Fairytales.” Today we embarked on our fairytale exploration. From Hamburg we travelled to Bremen. Bremen also lies along a river – the river Weser. It is known for being the setting for a Grimm’s tale “Die BremerStadtmusikanten” – the Town Musicians of Bremen. It would take too long to explain the tale so I included the link. The town musicians were basically 4 animals – a donkey, dog, cat and rooster. 

There is a bronze statue of the animals in the town square and you can see that the front hooves of the donkey are shiny. There is a superstition that if you touch them and make a wish then your wish will come true. There are lots of people posing for photos as they touch the donkey’s hooves. There are also little grates in the ground that you can donate money to the keeping of the town. When you deposit a coin in the grate, you will hear some sounds and it’s usually the ‘music’ of one of the four animals e.g. rooster crowing or cat meowing.

Roland

I have noticed that at the centre of all the German towns and even the little villages along the way is a church. All the houses seem to be built all around this church. In Bremen, there is a town square that is surrounded by various buildings – the town hall, church, parliamentary buildings and halls. It just seems funny that next to the church is a god of sorts. This figure is called ‘Roland’ and he is said to protect the town and its sailors as Bremen is a river city. As long as Roland is standing strong then the town will be safe. 
There is also a second statue of 'Roland' and the backup statue is stored somewhere underground so that it can replace this one if anything happens to it and so the town will always be protected.The figure has steel spikes sticking out of its knees and the distance between the spikes was in the past used as a measure – the Bremen measure.

Bremen is also a beautiful little town. There are little alleyways in which to get lost in. We had some free time to go walk around. Visited a shop called ‘Hachez’ which is apparently a famous German chocolate shop. There is also a place that makes sugar sweets tucked in a little alley. You walk around near the shop and can smell the sweetness in the air.

Nearby there is also a glockenspiel. At midday we watched the show as the music played and a panels in the walls opened and some images rotated on the bronze column. The images depicted some great sea explorers eg. Christopher Columbus.

After watching the show, Cat and I explored a little more. Behind the church there is a flower market and stalls sell fresh produce, meats, breads, jams and spreads, sausages (of course because it is Germany!) and many more things. The bread is Germany is amazing!

Beautiful flower markets in Bremer

From Bremen we drove to Hameln. This is the city known for the story of the Pied Piper. Who knows whether the story is an adaptation of something that really happened, but it is another Grimm brothers tale. Hameln is a really cute little town and was probably my second favourite place to visit after Dresden.

We followed the Pied Piper...

When we first arrived, we went to the information centre in town and were shown a video on Hameln. It was a surprise to us all (including the guide) when a man dressed as the Pied Piper came and spoke to us. He sprouted a clever lyric about the tale of the Pied Piper and then played some music and bade us follow him…. So we did and he led us into the city to the Rattenfängerhaus – “Rat-Catcher House”. It is actually just a building with a large hall that bears the inscription of the missing children.

Who knows whether this tale is actually a true story...

We then walked up the cobbled street following the mice that are inlaid in the stones. Their tails point towards tourist attractions.

Hameln is a Renaissance town. A lot of the buildings were destroyed in the war but are being rebuilt in the old style. I really liked the look of the little town. The buildings have wooden framing and foundations and then the walls are brick or plaster. Some of the buildings have very elaborate gables where the wood has been carved into shapes.

It is interesting to walk down the streets in the town. Most people do not live in the town but they come in to do shopping. The ground level shop fronts look very modern but look up to the floors above and you see the beautiful wooden framing and plaster walls and the beautiful Renaissance façade.

In the middle of the town is a city hall. Three times a day (1:05pm, 3:35pm & 5:35pm), the glockenspiel chimes and a wall opens again to tell the Pied Piper story. We were lucky enough to be able to catch the 5:35pm performance. 

In Hameln, we stayed at the Mercure hotel and it was my favourite by far and Cat and I were favoured with what I consider to be the best room in the hotel (I’m requesting 407 if I ever go back!). It doesn’t look like much when you exit the elevator, infact the door to our room looks like a door to a gaol. But inside we had a clean room with not one but two balconies. There was a bigger one with a table and chairs that looked out towards the town. The other balcony was smaller but had the same view. I enjoyed a bit of free time curled up on a chair on the balcony.

Markets and the town centre is where the spire is.

On the next morning, the balconies would have a great view of the growers markets that were down in the square below. Also across the road was a beautiful little park. I took a walk in it as well and it was good to see that kids were enjoying riding their bikes around. There is a pond and seats around to relax and just enjoy nature. It was also great to see the older people out and about as there were some playing bowls in the park and a group gathered around a giant chess set at the side of the park. There is also a small amphitheater at one end of the park for live music or plays…. You can tell that I really loved Hameln. 

Designs carved into the gables

The houses look so quaint

I really liked this park that was across the road from the hotel.