Bored in Bremen

[pappnase]

So we have a whole section to ourselves here in Bremen, and no-one is posting in it.

I'm bored and I thought perhaps someone else from Bremen might have some suggestions for fun things for an unfit middle-aged single man to do at the weekend.

[alison]

Going for a bike ride and going to hear live music never fail to entertain me. Assuredly something you possess is broken. Imagine if you fixed it, how productive, capable and self-reliant you'd feel. Another sure-fire positive activity for me is to call someone with whom I've lost touch.

Hope this helps,
Alison

[Emkay]

I’m very boring….no sky diving for me . I feel like I’ve hibernated all winter faffing with divorce stuff etc. Spring makes everything better though.

I go forest walking and chat with dog walkers. Or, go and do front garden tidying. Nice neighbours always stop for a gossip. I get the sympathy head tilt as it’s common knowledge we’re divorcing.

Spring clear out maybe? Take stuff to a charity shop….they can be a bit fussy though. No idea why they didn’t want my Christmas decorations in June . They did take them eventually as the deco was really nice.

I often put stuff outside, put an ad on a local Facebook group and Kleinanzeigen.de for free stuff for collection same day. Even anything a bit defective goes quickly for those who like to fix things. Anything from buckets, plant pots to bags of sorted clothes, toys etc

Sell stuff on Kleinanzeigen.de and local Facebook groups.

Start a local Facebook group…walking, hobbies, anyone else bored etc. I started a ladies walking group a couple of years ago.

If you have a garden/balcony spruce it up. Take before and after photos….nice to see how well you’ve done.

Up cycle something….small bits of furniture maybe? Loads of advice online. I found a little old wooden stool at my mum’s house. When I used to visit my grandparents as a kid, my cousins and I used to fight over who could sit on it. I’ll soon ChatGPT how to remove the paint (check for mercury) etc. As I’ve hundreds of houseplants, it’s bound to end up as a plant stand.

I used to do a challenge with my daughter….we’d go to a second hand/charity shop, each choose something and then sell on eBay for a profit. She had a better eye than me.

If you like animals, offer to dog walk for a shelter. Or any other kind of help they may need.

Learn something….IT stuff, cooking etc? I was thinking of asking a furniture restorer if they could teach me some basics.

I wish you a lovely weekend. I’m off to do garden pruning….

[pappnase]

Well I had a lovely weekend, didn't do any gardening, didn't get out my bike, but I did manage to go into town, look for a new coat and decide that I can get my old one fixed instead.
Bought a ticket for the Bürgerpark-Tombola and won a pair of Bremen socks. Had coffee in a cafe in the town.
All in all a good Saturday.
Slightly spoiled by the woman on the tram who was wearing my wife's perfume, have to admit I cried a bit when I got off the tram and went home, but at least I got up and went out, which is a huge win for at the moment.

On Sunday managed to get out again!
I went to the Rhododendron-Park which was a favorite place to go walking with my wife, its really quite lovely.
I think the memory of walking there with her was the main reason I haven't been for a few years, but on Sunday the weather was crisp and the walk was peaceful and quiet.
I stopped in the little Cafe in the middle for some lunch and made my way home.
10/10 good trip, will do it again .

I was hoping this might turn into a Bremen specific list of things to do, but its still lovely that a few of you thought to post general ideas for me, thanks for that.

[Fraufruit]

Allow me to add some Fruity hugs, Papp!

[JN53]

I was hoping this might turn into a Bremen specific list of things to do, but its still lovely that a few of you thought to post general ideas for me, thanks for that.

I guess none of us regulars are in Bremen. However, in my local newspaper a girl who writes every other week has started an ABC list of things to do in the area and then she reports on them, including photos. She's up to the letter F now and wrote about an art gallery and a place she went to eat-both starting with F. What about that? You could report to us here. I'm sure at least some of us would be interested in things there. I know I would. I only visited Bremen once-for a day only.

[pappnase]

I can try, but I'm pretty bad at doing that kind of thing.
Still, here you go, A is for

Am Wall

Am Wall.png (918.85 KiB) Viewed 204 times

Right in the middle of town, the area around the old town walls is an oasis of calm. The park is lovely all year round, although my favourite time is in the spring when the first displays of flowers in front of the windmill start to show.
The wall is surrounded by a moat and the area around it is full of hidden cornes with interesting statues and art-works.
The Windmill has a cafe at the base if you want to stop for some coffee and cake.

I'll see if I can remember to post something for B next week.

[Fraufruit]

Do you have extra beds when we all want to come to Bremen and see these things?

[AlexInGermany]

maybe building a side business on a free time could be an entertaining idea

[pappnase]

OK It's raining here in Bremen so I'm going to do this weekend's entry today instead of going out.
Today B is for "Böttcherstraße"

Böttcherstraße (Cooper's Street in english) is named for the barrel makers that worked between the market square and the river-port making barrels to store every kind of thing that was shipped by sea.

By around 1900, the trade was mosly gone and the city had decided to demolish the entire area and replace it with government buildings.
However the Kaffe HAG entrepreneur Ludwig Roselius bought the entire street to create his personal vision a Gesamtkunstwerk realised through architecture and craftsmanship.

The center of his work there was Böttcherstraße 6, with three architects (Eduard Scotland, Alfred Runge, and Bernhard Hoetger) he built out his vision.

Since the city of Bremen was one of the first ports of call for international visitors, he concieved the whole thing as a tourist attraction from the start.
Billed as a "city within a city" visitors found both local heritige and highly individual architecture.

After Ludwig died in the war, the street was heavily bombed and was almost lost totally. However Luwigs daughter Hildegard sought finance once more from Kaffe Hag and undertook a 10 year restoration program.
The restored buildings were again a cultural hub in the middle of the city, but over time it faded and again structual damage was seen.
In 1988 Sparkasse Bremen acquired the street and restored it to its pre-war condition and since then it has again been a wonderful place to spend a weekend afternoon.

[pappnase]

And I was today years old when I found out that the big gold relief at the entrance to Böttcherstraße (First picture in my post) is called Der Lichtbringer, and is meant to depict the victory of Hitler over dark forces.

The relief was intended to rescue Roselius's reputation with the Nazi party, the SS hate sheet "Das Schwarze Korps" had been atacking him and his architect since the late 20's because of their concept of art.

However the short-and-stupid one hated it, and in the 1936 party Congress at Nuremberg he atacked degeneracy of which he considered "diese Art von Böttcherstraßenkultur" the worst kind.

So now I wonder how I feel about the whole thing. It was created as a sop to a horrific regime but in the end it was hated and held up as an example of all that was bad in art.

In todays "Black and White" all right or all wrong world that makes it a tricky one to place.

[Nixon]

Waiting for the rest of the alphabet.