We're still working on our bike stamina for our upcoming 8-day tour, so Sunday we decided to go to Metalhenge. What's that? Well, it's an art installation at the local landfill based on the much more famous Stonehenge in England, but with some local connections. More on that later.
It seems the older we get, or the later in retirement we get, the slower we start on the day. Of course there are the early birds that jump up and go, but that has never been us. That said, I'm a good bit earlier out than Werner most days. But we compromise.
Sunday breakfasts are always a bit more leisurely at our house, so we leisurely ate and leisurely got our stuff together for the bike day trip, and leisurely got underway about 12:30. That is NOT prep for our tour since we have to have our stuff ready to go at 9...but that's another story. The weather has been ... weird,and that day, July 7, was only about 72°F. Lovely, of course, but when you're biking and the sun goes behind the clouds sometimes, and it is very windy, it can be coolish. We left home wearing fleece. In July.
Off to Metalhenge
Getting started, the skies in Vegesack weren't so encouraging. But off we went.
We've been by the landfill (locally known as BergBremen) a lot of times, but it was somehow never convenient to visit Metalhenge, and now we know why - there's really only one way to get there and it is not conveniently near our usual route from the city to home. The route took us along other paths and of course there was something new - a sign directing us to the Kaisenhaus Museum. It was a bit off our path, but we decided it was worth a detour. We'd never heard of it!
Wilhelm Kaisen was a politician in Bremen, in exile during the Nazi time, but became mayor after the end of WWII. He was incredibly popular and one innovation in particular made him locally loved - the Kaisenhaus. These little (and I do mean little!) houses were largely built from rescued stones and bricks from bombed buildings, and built on the small garden plots around the city. After all the bombings, housing was desperately needed and this was one response. Normally, it is not allowed to actually live on a garden plot - there's no plumbing, for instance - but after the War was desperate times. After some years, they homes were no longer allowed in the garden areas, but they live on as memories and reminders of earlier times.
This little house was typical of the time: three rooms, two on the ground floor, a bedroom upstairs. It was not uncommon for a family of five or more to live in these tiny homes. The "bathroom" was out back in the yard.
All the washing took place in the yard, too. That plunger looking thing on the left was the agitator for the wash. And there was of course the washboard. What a chore!!
Actually, the kitchen seemed rather roomy, but I'm sure it was full of lots of other stuff those many years ago.
I swear, that upstairs bed was not long enough for Werner! He kept insisting that was a double bed, but I think he had no idea. Really? Two bodies in that bed? Not believing it... The metal "pot" on top was a warmer - put coals in there to warm the bed.
The telephone was used by the whole neighborhood.
After a cup of coffee, off again to our goal, the Metalhenge.
We parked the bikes and climbed! Bremen is so FLAT - it was really interesting to go UP.
The views were of course really unusual since we were able to look OVER so much.
Time to head back. We took a different route. In fact, we took the wrong turn (nothing new about that!!!!) and had to back track to get on the right road home. But it was a nice day and sunny and we learned something new and got a little art in. Not bad for a random Sunday.
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