We hadn't seen Ingrid in quite a while and since she has never owned a car, biking is second nature to her. So we invited her to join us on a bike tour here in Bremen North. Gracious, she's lived in Bremen forever and hasn't seen some of the sites here in the 'burbs. About time. Here's me in my new hair, still feeling somewhat weird. Looking a bit like a hedgehog.
First we went by the Valentin Ü-Boot Bunker, built with slave labor during WWII. It was never finished, and never put into use, but it is large and creepy. There's of course a memorial as well. Since the anniversary of the start of WWII had just been commemorated, there were some flowers at the memorial.
Part of the tour was to see a few churches in the area: first was Berne. We'd read about the restoration of the brick Gothic church there, but since it's a protestant church, it was closed. (The nice thing about visiting Catholic churches is that they're almost always open!)
Then we were getting really hungry and headed to the Storchenstation - the Stork Sanctuary - for a picnic. Werner and I had stumbled on the place several years ago and it was interesting to see what's happened in the meantime.
In honor of Shelia Lukins, author of among other things The Silver Palate Cookbook, I prepared Chicken Marabella , bought some cheese spreads at the market, along with olives and bread, put together feta with tomatoes and basil, and voilá, a picnic. Oh, a bottle of wine, too.
The Storchenstation was established to care for storks that had been injured, usually from rotors of windmills or high voltage wires. They are such charming creatures, but unfortunately for them, very awkward. They don't just fly in for a landing, they have to glide and circle and can't seem to visualize the dangers and react in time. Their wings get torn, their feet get amputated, their beaks are cut. So the Sanctuary provides a haven where they can nest on the ground or be fed as necessary. And the grounds are just plain pretty.
There's a peacock family, lots of noisy geese, and more than a duck or two. All in all a great place to chat and eat and learn about the storks!
Then we headed back to Vegesack by way of another church.
This little chapel was built sometime around 1580 for the whalers who left from the harbor in Vegesack to head up to the Artic waters´in search of whale. The bell tower (though "tower" may be stretching the word a bit) is charming. When we lived in the apartment on the Weser our first year here, we could clearly hear the bells on Sunday.
A cuppa tea, a bit of peach crisp, and a nice end to the bike trip. We should do it more often!!
No comments:
Post a Comment