We woke up quite early, 6am, and got dressed and ready for our trip fomr Ensched, NL to Bremen, Germany that would get us there with one tranfer by 11:30.
We found the gate it would arrive at in 30 minutes. As we sat alone on the bench a rail worker walked by and asked us something in Dutch, and clarified in english after we said good morning.
"Are you going to Germany?"
"Yes"
"There is a strike going on, no trains are running"
All we could do is laugh and thank him. And he told us they might be back up by 1pm.
The strike was announced 2 days ago, but not like were reading the German or Dutch news daily to know. We headed back to the hotel and told the ladies at the front desk the issue and if we could wait there. They were extremely helpful and also helped us call the german train hotline for it (though we got non-english and said thankyoubye).
At 12 we attempted the same route. The train here was running now and we went to Munster. Lady at the info desk was very helpful and gave us a couple train options for getting to Bremen, and we chose the first with a transfer but was several hours sooner. These trains were packed and we had to hop on quick to get seats, luckily we did. Pretty toasty in there too for a few hours. Everyone else or at least a lot of folks were rerouting and changing plans. The strike had gone from 3am to 11am but various routes were still just not running.
Rough day that ended extremely well however. The gameplan in Bremen was just to have a walk around town as our hotel is right in the old town (really right in the middle Markplatz). The hotel is above a cafe Restaurant Classico and Hotel Classico. Really happy with it and oddly cheap for what it is (youll see in the pictures). After asking the guy working the cafe gelato counter (he's also the hotel reception) we dropped off our stuff, rested our feet and took a breather. It was honestly a very stressful day trying to figure out the puzzle of getting here and rushing to get on crammed trains with other folks who had to reroute.
After a breather we took another breather with lattes and a slice of kirsch merengue cake. Hadnt eaten much all day really just the sandwich and needed caffeine and carbs. Some of the best lattes. Cake was very solid kirsch is a cherry liquor and it was in the form of a layer of goo between the cake and merengue.
Its next to the town hall, old churches, Bremen parliament, several monuments and an area called Schnoor which is a neighborhood of standing homes from the 15th 16th and 17th centuries. Currently has shops, restaraunts and art galleries in them.
On the loop back we went to Kleiner Ratskeller a fantastic place that was tucked back in an alley with a guy running it who spoke not much english but still more than we spoke German. And was nice enough to help him with our poor attempts at pronouncing what we ordered.
Split our dishes:
Hausmacher Rinderrouladen which was potatoes, red cabbage and rolled ox with various other fillings pickle and bacon. It tasted like a souped up pot roast, really fantastic.
Knipp which is a sausage mix of grains/oats and meats including pigs head, liver, rind, belly, and broth (didnt know until googling and didnt tell her until she ate her half of it). Came with potatoes, veg, apple sauce to spoon on the Knipp which really made it great, and a tasty pickle.
Favorite meal easily so far as far as being new to the pallette. Super good. And after we snarfed it and I drank some beer we had to walk about 30 steps to get to the backdoor of our hotel which is the only entrance after dark.
We werent sure how to get metro tickets this time around. After we left the train station we looked for a machine or something but didnt see one. Its about a 20 minute walk.
The square below us is pretty during the day with someone playing the accordion, restaraunts, and folks just walking around. At night we saw some night watchmen tours going around. They have lanterns and halberds and tricorner hats and talk about the town and buildings.
Tomorrow morning we're going to Hamburg and really hope theres no surprise strike even though this time it turned out ok.
Why nobody here??
Split this as a quick snack from Munster station. Pesto
This is in Bremen and is a park maybe? Becuse its a pretty hopping city and this is in the middle of it
View from our room. In front is city hall, to the right is parliament Bremen Burgerschaft.
Idk what this guy was doing. They came out of a bar he was standing on this which bobbled up and down like it was in water. Perfect picture moment where he doesnt know why im taking a picture of him.
Knipp
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