Bremen

Travelled:87km

Visited & Stay: Bremen- stellplatz €15 inc dumping, pay extra for electricity, water €1, use of toilet and shower €1 53.06450 8.81934

Another storm passed over us last night which was good because it dispersed the young people with loud music but also bad because we forgot to close the skylight above the bed and it got wet! Luckily the towels managed to soak up most of it! Never a dull moment. This morning we set off right after our morning coffee and thought to stop at a supermarket to get some milk but couldn't as it only sold alcohol and soft drinks. Lol. Another lesson learnt. 

So on we went along the autobahn with no speed limit and cars rushing past us...Bluey even got up to 110kph..go Bluey! We arrived in Bremen just before 9am and after using the service point we found our spot and paid our dues.

 It took us 15mins walking to get into the old town. Once over the Weser River we turned right to explore the Schnoor quarter, Bremen's oldest district with a maze of lanes lined with narrow, half timbered houses. 

We then entered the Market Square, where the city's main sites can be seen.

The magnificent Romanesque cathedral which has a swing behind the altar as well as some lovely painted ceilings.

 The Town Hall with its amazing Renaissance facade is a Unesco heritage site. 

The statue of Roland, erected in 1404, is Germany's largest. He is a symbol of liberty and the distance between his spikey knees is the LMR measurement that is still used today.

 It is the 1953 statute of the Bremen Town Musicians that have become the towns most known symbol, the donkey, dog, cat and cockerel, who according to the Grimm fairy tale trekked to Bremen. 

It is said if you touch the front hooves of the donkey (or his nose) your wish will come true. Mark did both!

There were a few of these statues scattered around the city. 

The Schutting merchant Guildhouse is also found in the market place and is now a chamber of commerce. 

If you put a coin down the drain one of the Town Musicians will play for you..we got the cockerel.

We then ventured down Brottcherstrasse which was transformed in the 1920's and had some beautiful brick Artdeco facades. 

The huge golden bas-relief at the entrance is the Archangel Michael fighting a dragon. 

We stopped here to listen to the Carillon which consists of 30 Meissen porcelain bells and a tower that revolved to feature ten carved wooden panels depicting various Atlantic crossings.

 Feeling thirsty we strolled along the Schlachte embankment and chose one of the many beer gardens and rested our feet. 

We then wondered around again doing another lap and a bit of shopping. 

A weird fountain made out of meat grinders. 

On closer inspection one had a foot in it and another a hand..

Afternoon tea. We shared!

We even saw a windmill.

The pied piper seemed to have attracted pigs instead of rats...

 We then ventured back to the beer gardens for a traditional German meal, Mark had his favourite Schnitzel and I had 1/2 a pork knuckle and sauerkraut. Washed down with a beer of course. Luckily we had a 30 min walk back to Bluey to help the digestion a little!

Stade

Travelled: 100km plus 3 ferries (Hochdonn free, Beidenfleth €3, Gluckstadt €17.50)

Visited: Gluckstadt, Stade

Stay: Harsefeld- free Motorhome parking at Klosterpark (CamperContact), no services 53.45365 9.50318

Last night there was plenty of thunder and lightning, along with heavy rain. It was that loud that we both put earplugs in to get to sleep. This morning the rain had passed but it was very humid and hazy. After watching a few more vessels pass along the canal we took the free ferry across to the other side to make our way to Gluckstadt where another ferry trip awaited us to cross the Elbe. Unfortunately, a reasonably direct route was thwarted by yet another road closure and so we wound our way through country roads until we came to a ferry at Beidenfleth to cross the Stör River. As it was not a canal we had to pay €3 for the short trip across the river. 

Along the way we saw these signs and we're astounded that there were speed restrictions for tanks! We were very happy we didn't see one of those on the road.

We eventually made it to Gluckstadt and thought that after all the effort we had better go and have a look. The guide book tells us that a Danish King founded the town in 1617. It has a hexagonal layout radiating from the large market square and some of the Dukes palaces have survived. This is the city hall in the square.

You know when you're in Germany when ... There are cigarette vending machines in the street!

After our stroll around we headed to the ferry to cross the Elbe. We quickly became aware that we weren't the only ones with this plan, with the end result being a 1 1/2 hour wait! 

We used our time productively by having lunch and doing a bit of research on our route for the next few days. It was also raining so we didn't feel we were missing out on anything much. 

Yay we're on!

Our 30mins trip went smoothly and we managed to find a park to go to visit Stade. Armed with a walking tour map we set out to see all the sites of this quaint medieval Hanseatic town with its characteristic half timbered buildings. 

The old Wooden Crane in Fish market square.

Spotted some famous people up in the window.

A very decorative merchants house.

An inn  but also the Guild House of Brewers...very important!

This one has 26 different half Suns carved on its facade.

The original organ.

A model of the church's hexagonal tower.

Mark was very happy to find a sausage van!

And then his day was made when he could buy some more German beer...should see us out!

We decided to continue down the road a bit further to our spot for tonight in Harsefeld, which has a nice park area with a ruin of an old cloister next to a church.