Bremen, Germany

We left on May 1 driving south through Germany - into Hamburg and stayed overnight in Bremen. The term "May Day" in the United States usually means someone ringing your doorbell and running away leaving a Dixie cup full of popcorn and M&M's. However, in Switzerland and Germany it means holding meetings, marches and giving public speeches, mostly organized by trade unions. The streets of Hamburg were quiet because of the holiday, at least in the area we were in. Apparently there were demonstrations there that were not so friendly. Hamburg is a city of 1.7 million people so we definitely didn't see it all in the couple of hours that we were there. But we did have a nice lunch and got a chance to walk around the downtown area and by the lake. We drove on to the skirts of Bremen and found a place on a lake to set up camp. Once we got settled in a nice field on a modern campground that would put most youth hostels to shame, we headed into town. The town was hosting "Christival" and thus full of young Christians enjoying their festival. It baffled me to see so many Germans gathered together in one place with so little beer being consumed. We headed back to the campground and spent our first night camping without adequate bedding. We packed light as everything we needed for the 10 nights went on our Easyjet flight. But we made it through the night and it only cost us 15 Euros to stay, so can't be beat.
Bremen was really neat and I highly recommend it if you're ever in the area.


Binnenalster in Hamburg

The Schnoor District of Bremen - 15th and 16th century fishing houses, now occupied by cafés, artisan shops and art galleries

The "Town Musicians" statue of the donkey, dog, cat, and rooster of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale in Bremen

Bremen Town Hall and St. Peter's Cathedral

The Böttcherstraße alleyway is 120 yards of buildings designed in 1923–1931 by a group of local artists. They created the gothic/art noveau style upon the comission of Ludwig Roselius.