After complaining perhaps once too often that I need to get OUT of the house and OUT OUT OUT of Hamburg for a spell, my wonderful husband - who was very busy working this month - cleverly managed to line up several days in Bremen for us, courtesy of Lufthansa. As a flight school instructor there - when he’s not flying - he is put up in a very nice hotel with all the bells and whistles, and invited Sophie and I to join him (possibly to keep us from hopping the next flight to Paris, never to be seen again…). The upside on a driveable destination such as Bremen is that I can simply throw all of Sophie’s stuff (which is extensive) in a big plastic container and pop it in the backseat… and we’re off!

On this particular stint Soenke had an entire day off which we spent in the scenic harbor town of Bremerhaven, located about 40 minutes from Bremen on the North Sea. Bremerhaven was a big point of emigration from Europe (usually to the USA) back in the early 1900s and is still a major port…I think one of the most important in Europe.

I was so absolutely thankful to get out of the office and house that Bremerhaven possibly felt more magical to me than I would have expected. The weather was spectacular, and we arrived at very low tide which made the mudflats sparkle. Soenke parked right next to one of the locks in the harbor and we spent some time watching them open and close, and all the water rush in and out. We then visited the “aquarium”, which had only a few fish, a lot of seals, and some other water-related land animals. But with a 1-year old in tow… EVERYTHING is totally interesting. Sophie just loves observing every living creature and is chock full of curiousity.

We followed that successful activity up with a one-hour boat tour. This clearly interested mom & dad more than Sophie. Our little harbor boat was a mere speck compared to the giant freighters in the harbor. The narrator informed us that the biggest one we saw, when it passes through the Panama canal, has less than 1 meter clearance on either side. There was also an interesting drawbridge, a dry dock or two, and various shiphands who were willing to return my wave (much to Soenke’s embarrassment - “babe, we don’t wave at the shiphands!”). I was interested in the endless line of Mercedes being loaded on a ship bound for Singapore… and at the rows upon rows of American cars that had been offloaded from another ship and were awaiting customs clearance. Interestingly, there was a huge number of pickup trucks - something you NEVER see in Germany.

On the way back to Bremen, Soenke introduced me to the wonders of gas station ice cream. Normally, I enter a gas station solely for the purpose of purchasing fuel and the odd bottle of water. But this time, I went with the spirit of youth and shared Soenke’s cola popsicle. I was surprised to learn how young and happy a popsicle can make a girl feel, and would highly recommend the experienced to all tired working moms.

Back in Bremen, Soenke showed me the Schlachte pedestrian-only street lining Weser river. We dined gratefully on Mexican cuisine at a restaurant popular with the flight school guys (who occasionally get thrown out of the restaurant for excessive beer consumption).

And so, I conclude this brief report with some photos of our excursion (be sure not to miss the videos on my previous post):

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En route, Sophie is wiped out by all that milk drinking:

Loitering about the harbor:

This new building bears a suspicious resemblence to the Burj al Arab in my beloved Dubai:

We visited the aquarium, only to find that there weren’t many fish involved:

We then hopped a harbor tour. Our boat was next to this, which seemed to bode well:

Big big boats in that harbor:

I think this one is a tugboat:

This site was a bit unnerving. Our little tour boat was really small and low to the water:

Later, back to Bremen for some people watching along the Weser River while downing some decent Mexican food:

This photo doesn’t do it justice, but the Schlachte is a nice promenade street along the river, lined on one side with biergartens and the other side with restaurants:

Back in the parking structure, while at first I scoffed, the little lights above each parking spot are actually handy when you turn down a very long row (saves you a wasted trip down if there are no spots):

This past week, we overnighted in Bremen and spent the day enjoying both Bremerhaven and Bremen. I have loads of photos as well as sage and witty observations, but since we are momentarily driving back down to Bremen for the weekend (Soenke is teaching flight school there), I will leave you only with a few videos:

We went on a harbor boat tour that ran a bit long due to a giant freighter blocking our return, so I had to devise clever ways of entertaining our bored daughter. Coins tossed into empty bottles did the trick!

Soenke was familiar with a Mexican restaurant called “Enchilada” which is popular with his flight school students, so we made a beeline there. Little known to us, it would be the most peaceful meal out we’d had with Sophie in ages. God bless raisins!:

Across from our hotel was this park, where hungry ducks chased us down for our leftover “broetchen” (morning bread rolls eaten for breakfast in Germany). Sophie thought this was AWESOME: