I don’t know how we did it but we drove into downtown Bremen.  Actually Goofy Garmin did it to us with the help of my settings.

We left Regine’s and went to great lengths to try and avoid busy Bremen, even going so far as to take a ferry across the Weser River and driving south for a while.  Looking in our Stellplatz book, there was a nice sounding place to spend the night east of Bremen so we input the coordinates and because I had the highway feature disabled we wound up right in the center of town.  And I do mean center.  We even crossed back over the Weser River again, but this time over a bridge.  The route took us along a scenic street of old mansions lining the river so all was not lost. 
We found a McDonald’s in a small town and bought a milkshake so we could use the internet, however a telephone number and PIN was required for one hour of usage.  Since we don’t have a phone, the manager used his number and got us online where I uploaded two posts that were dated previous to the last post (so look down the page a bit).
The structures in this part of Germany are made mostly of red brick and all have high roofs.  All the little towns we have been through are very tidy and every square inch of ground is neatly landscaped.

We have a book called “Bord Atlas Deutschland” that we had ordered from Vicarious Books in England.  This book contains over 5400 motor home parking places.  Detailed maps (actually better than our Michelin maps) show where the Stellplatz are throughout Germany.  If the map shows a green star, then the place is free.  If it’s red, there is a small fee – anywhere up to 7 EU at most per night.  The information for each site shows a photo and says whether there is a dump, water, electric, scenic view, city center, how many spaces, distance to stores, and much more.  When we bought this book we also received another book along with it that has Stellplatz (called Aires in Belgium and France and Aree Di Sosta in Italy)  for 29 other countries.  These two books are in German but once we figured out the symbols and a few codes it was easy to decipher.

The Stellplatz we stayed at was on a nice little lake but was also directly behind a Bier Garten.  In other words, music outside on a Friday night.  We left and went to the town of Visselhovede and what a gem of a spot!  First we went to the  swimming pool parking lot where there was a place to empty our tanks.  The Stellplatz for campers is a large grassy parking area down a lane in the center of town.  We’re right next to woods and trails but just a block from the shops and a photogenic town.  Since it was after 6 when we arrived, we plan to stay two nights and do some exploring tomorrow.

 

Regine and her family actually live in a part of Bremen called Vegesack.  It’s a nice town on the Weser River but several years ago it was incorporated into Bremen.   The two Steves, Lizzy and I took the 23 minute train ride into Bremen center so this indicates how big the greater Bremen area is.  Local trains are usually the older and slower ones but our train was sleek and fast with seating on two levels.  We bought the tickets,  2.90 EU each way, in a machine at the station.  The conductor on the train very nicely let us know we were supposed to validate the tickets before getting on the train.  This is done in a little blue machine.


The ramparts used to make this windmill were from part of the old enclosed town.

 

 

 

 

  Spring is in full bloom and there are flowers everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 Much of the old town is traffic free and easily walked.  This statue built in 1404 is of Roland, Charlemagne’s nephew,

 

 

 

 

  The nearby Schnoor district is a “village” of narrow streets and old fishermen’s cottages that are now tourist shops and restaurants.

 

 

 

And here is the famous statue of the town musicians from Grimm’s fairly tale.

 

 

 

 

 

Even the train stations in Europe are in beautiful old structures.

Last year in June when Steve and I were traveling in Quebec, we met Regine and her brother Martin in Perce on the Gaspe peninsula. They had rented a motor home and were traveling around eastern Canada for three weeks. Regine invited us to her home here in Bremen, Germany over Easter and to celebrate Martin’s birthday. Altogether, there are 13 of us enjoying each other’s new friendship.
Martin cooked two different kinds of deer roast that were so good. I have never liked deer but he prepares it a special way so that’s it’s very tender and not gamey. We’re getting to taste so many foods and drinks that are new to us. The food and drinks just keep coming. How about eight different cheeses just for breakfast? My favorite new drink is beer with grapefruit juice.

Regine has an internet network but we haven’t been able to access it from our laptops because the password has been lost. The keyboard is German and I’m doing well to write a few sentences correctly. Sorry to have no pictures yet but cannot figure out how to get them on here.