Bremen - the tourist destination

Since before I even applied for the job in Bremen, I had considered the city fairly small and industrial.  I kind of see it on a par with Leeds.  None of this was negative - I love Leeds, but I certainly hadn't considered it a tourist destination.  Many people haven't even heard of Bremen and it certainly doesn't compete with Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Cologne, Stuttgart or any of the other cities I had heard of growing up.  However, every day, as I spend more time in the city, I hear a range of languages (German, English, Spanish, French, Russian, Polish and Portuguese so far!) and realise that the city is indeed quite a destination for tourists and I doubt that they are disappointed.  On Friday and Saturday, I took in a bit more of the city and the sights and here are some of my photos:

This is the Town Hall or Rathaus which stands on the main square in the town centre, in front of it you can see the statue of Knight Roland - more about that later.

 Here, on the Western side of the square, are some traditional buildings which house several cafes and a chemist among other things.

Here in the North East corner is the St Petri cathedral which is one of the main sights in Bremen.  On this particular day there had just been a wedding service in the cathedral and as I arrived, I beautiful white horse drawn carriage took the happy couple away to their reception. 

 Inside the cathedral is a museum which houses some interesting exhibits.  The floor of the cathedral was excavated in the 1970s and several tombs were discovered with perfectly mummified bodies inside!  A bit creepy but interesting all the same.

 Also on Friday in the square, I was lucky enough to come across this peace protest which was being filmed for the local news.  The flowers remained there over the weekend.

 Finally on the main square - here is Roland.  He was a famous Knight who protected the freedoms of the people of Bremen.  The statue is one of the tallest in Germany.

Hidden away around the side of the Rathaus is this statue of those famous Bremen Musicians.  You can just make out the shiny front legs of the donkey - it's considered good luck to rub them when you visit.

Here are some pictures of Böttcherstrasse - a small street which once led from the square down to the river and used to home coopers who would sell barrels to those working on the ships in the harbour but when the harbour was moved the street fell out of use until it was restored during the 20th century.  It now houses several art galleries as well as some little cafes and cute tourist shops.