Day Trip: Bremen

I spent the weekend before Midsummer in Bremen

This was my first visit to a northern city in Germany that was more than a pass-through. I would definitely love to come back to Bremen.


With a population of more than 500,000, Bremen matches such American cities as New Haven, CT; Fresno, CA; and Akron, OH. It's history as a proud, independent city and member of the Hanseatic League--a Medieval alliance of free trading cities throughout the North and Baltic Seas, give it a historical and fiscal advantage.


Being a a city in the north, Bremen mixes a number of influences: Scandinavian and Dutch. For example, I overheard a lot of conversations in both Dutch and Danish during my two-day visit, and–in the inner city at least–there are more bikes than pedestrians on the street.


The red-, brown-  and black-brick architecture is also a departure from the smooth, colored, plastered buildings of the South, which I am more used to seeing. The church towers, too, tend to have steep, flat, metaled roofs, not the onion domes of Bavaria & Austria, or the ornate cupulas and gothic spires of the southwest. (Pictured: St. Peter's Church, Bremen)

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