Bremen & Münster

We added another adorable German town to our ever-growing list! The charming city of Bremen was well worth the weekend visit! 

We kicked off the trip by meeting our friends at the Mühle am Wall (an old windmill that is converted into a café), followed by a stroll around the city. We wandered through the Altstadt and over to the adorable Schnoor neighborhood. 

After capturing several photos, we found a cozy little place that was perfect for a late dinner. Not only was the atmosphere pristine, but the meal itself was superb, so good that I even ate the mushrooms! 

Following dinner, we journeyed across the street to a teeny little pub for a nightcap. There were only three tables and the bar in the pub, and one of the tables was occupied by a group of locals sipping beers, smoking cigarettes, and playing cards. #Fridaynightout

Saturday was full of adventures! We started the day by walking through Böttcherstrasse, a narrow street lined with little shops, then made our way back to Schnoor to explore the area in the daylight. 

"The Bringer of Light" depicting the Archangel Michael fighting a dragon. 
It also marks the entrance to Böttcherstrasse.

The original form of advertising! This one highlights Kaffee Hag, the company Ludwig Roselius founded. This Bremen native is also the man who invented decaffeinated coffee. #youarewelcome

Bremer Bonbon Manufaktur was just opening as we passed by, so of course, we went in. It may have been the highlight of the trip! As we walked through the door, the sweet smell of homemade candy filled the air, and the gentleman behind the counter was waiting with free samples for us to taste. We tried everything from basic strawberry and coffee flavors to vanilla rhubarb, to gin and tonic, raspberry wasabi, and curry banana. Anything goes! As we finished sucking on our free samples, we moved over to the other counter where we had front row seats for watching the candy being prepared. We watched as the sugar was poured onto a large sheet, and the color was added. We observed the colors being separated and flattened, then put all together, before finally being rolled out, twisted, and pressed in a machine to make perfect little rainbow bites. It was a fascinating process, and as a bonus for watching from start to finish, we were granted a warm, still malleable, little rainbow sample. So yummy! We eventually left the shop with a few too many jars of candy… but we are very excited to try the other flavors, including spicy, sour, and happy hour!

After the exciting Bonbon stop, we continued on to discover more of Schnoor, snaking through the tiny alleys and popping in and out of the hidden alcoves. During our excursion, we found a quaint little restaurant with a table outside where we enjoyed traditional German Frühstück (breakfast), complete with giant, warm rolls, and homemade jam. 

Next up was a walking tour of the town. It wasn’t quite what we were expecting or hoping for, however, it was still nice to walk around the city and learn a few new facts, including the story of the “The Town Musicians of Bremen” written by the Brothers Grimm. 

In short (or long), the folktale is about four animals, a rooster, cat, dog, and donkey who, after a lifetime of hard work, decided to run away to become town musicians in the city of Bremen. Along the way, they passed a cottage where a group of thieves were sitting inside, enjoying a feast. Deciding they wanted the dinner for themselves, the four animals formed a pyramid and made loud noises, startling the thieves and causing them to run away. In the middle of the night, the thieves sent one burglar back to the cottage to investigate the scene. When he snuck into the house, he mistook the cat’s eyes as hot coals and tried to light his candle with the “coals”. The cat retaliated by yowling and scratching the man’s face, which, of course, woke the other animals. The dog rushed over and bit the thief on the leg, the donkey kicked him with his hooves, and the rooster crowed from the rooftop. When the thief made it back to his companions, he told them that a witch had scratched him with her fingernails, a man had stabbed him, a monster had hit him with a club, and a judge had screamed at him. After hearing this, the thieves decided to abandon the cottage, allowing the animals to live happily ever after. 

The funny thing is that even though this story is called “The Town Musicians of Bremen,” the animals actually never made it to Bremen, and they weren’t really musicians… but regardless of these details, you can see statues and artwork all over the city reminding everyone of the folktale. 

Mr. No-Name  

No one knows who this is, but during WWII the people of Bremen built a wall 

around the statue to protect it from being destroyed. 

By the time our tour finished, our feet were ready for a break. We made our way to the Weser River and found an old pirate ship perfect for relaxing on. We passed the time sipping our beverages and jubilantly answering trivia questions, which Janette had safely tucked away in her purse, specifically for a time like this. 

With more time to kill before our dinner reservation, we decided to stop by Little Mary’s Irish Pub. We had passed the little pub several times during our wanderings and thought it would be fun to check it out. We enjoyed a throw-back to our college days, prosting with an Irish car bomb and later, after seeing the mysterious shot list, each picking a random shot and cheersing to a fun a weekend. 

For dinner, we found another cozy restaurant in the Schnoor neighborhood. This time we chose to sample the “Bremen” dish called Knipps (kind of like a sausage patty) and the local fish and little shrimps. Another excellent decision! Although our meals were quite tasty, we can’t say the same for the table next to us… During dinner, shortly after the waiter dropped off our meals, he came hurrying back, grabbed our friend’s plate, and told her that was not her plate and hers was coming. That wouldn’t be a problem, except she had just taken a bite off the plate and was still chewing as she politely hollered to the waiter that she had already taken a bite. We waited to see what was going to happen because the waiter seemed to ignore her comment, and to our complete disbelief, he laid the plate down in front of a lady a few tables away from us. WHAT?!?!?! We were floored! We debated what to do next but had absolutely no idea… What do you do??? For a bit, we thought maybe the waiter hadn’t heard Jess tell him she had taken a bite, but he had to see that she was chewing and that her fork in her hand, right? THEN, at the end of our meal, when we were paying the bill, the waiter slyly asked her if she enjoyed BOTH of her meals!!! #Notyourmeal #butitookabite #didthatjusthappen #cantmakethisstuffup #mygummies!

Still in disbelief from the dinner incident, we decided to make our way to the Ratskeller (aka “city wine cellar”) to take a peek at the historic restaurant. Back in the day, Bremen collected most of its wine through trade, and rumor has it, they still have one wine from the 1600s that only the mayor and cellar master are able to sample. 

The restaurant’s main room felt a lot like a typical German beer hall, except for the wine barrels. It was a large room with simple tables. One side of the room was lined with private cubbies (which were super cute), and the other side had the four large wine barrels. The barrels date back to the 1700s, and the largest barrel is said to hold up to 37,000 bottles of wine! I bet they had some fun parties back in the day! We were lucky enough to get a table in one of the cubbies and spent the evening sipping our wine and answering the last of the trivia questions. 

On our way back to the hotel, we made one last impromptu stop, which ended up being a terrible decision. One of the local restaurants was advertising happy hour, so we thought it would be fun to stop. However, it turned out that the happy hour drinks were pretty much just watered-down juice… Even after talking with the bartender and having him add more liquor to the drinks, they still had no flavor… we should’ve known given it was a late-night Saturday happy hour special... what a bust.

We spent Sunday morning enjoying one final quiet stroll through the city while capturing a few more photos before sitting down to another delicious and adorable breakfast. We ended the day with a beautiful walk around the large Bürgerpark Park, watching the canoes on the little lake, and soaking in the perfect fall weather.

On the train ride home, we decided to take a small detour, hopping off in the little town of Münster. There wasn’t too much to see in this town, especially on a Sunday, but it was still fun to explore. 

“It’s better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times”. 

– Asian Proverb (and one of our new life mottos).

Our first stop was St. Lamberti Church. As we approached the church, we looked up at the steeples and found the iron cages hanging above the old clock. Back in the 1530s, three ringleaders of the Anabaptist Rebellion were publicly tortured and executed, then hung in the cages as a display and deterrence for anyone else thinking about doing the same… That would be more than enough to make me think twice about committing a crime!

Next up, we wandered over to St. Paul’s Cathedral and found an eclectic, outdoor art/music festival in full swing. We didn’t stick around too long, as you needed tickets for the festival, but it was still fun to observe from afar. At the cathedral, we learned that the construction of the church began in 1225 and that its most unique attribute, in our opinion, was the astronomical clock, which dates back to the 1500s. Too bad we didn’t get to see it in action! 

We continued to stroll around the city, wandering through Prinzipalmarkt and past the old Town Hall, and eventually making our way back to the train station. 

Our mini detour ended up paying off, not only because we got to see another little German town, but also because our new train was much less crowded, and we actually had a seat for the last leg of our ride back to Düsseldorf!

Our seats on the first train!