The weather has been less than wonderful this week: lots of showers, coolish, but today we thought with "only" a 60% chance of rain it was worth risking going outside for a while. Besides, it's almost 70°! Can't waste a day like this!
There were so many choices today for getting out and about. In town, the annual Musikfest Bremen opens this evening, with several open-air stages set up throughout the city as well as a light show on the buildings in the central market place. In Ritterhude there's the Hammefest - the Hamme is the river that flows through Ritterhude (and then into the Wumme that goes into the Lesum that goes into the Weser ... ). It's the usual German town festival with little shows and music and food and flea market and such. Just down the street from us is the annual Vegesackermarkt, the 199th to be exact. There are rides and - surprise - food and beer and things to buy. But they'll be there for the rest of the week. And judging by the church bells, we could probably take a short tour of the neighborhood and attend 5 or 6 weddings!
But this is where we decided to go: Gut Sandbeck.
Below is the map to Gut Sandbeck, an old farm (a Gut is almost like a plantation - a really big farm) that's been turned into a historical and arts center. Osterholz-Scharmbeck isn't even as far as downtown Bremen from here, so we thought it would be a not-too-hard trip. It was also the site of the former American military installation here when there was still a US presence here. In fact, it was where Werner took the GRE so he could attend UF.
There was a herb festival at Gut Sandbeck. We went to check it out. For a festival, I have to say it wasn't all that much, but that was OK since we mostly did it for the bike ride and exercise (especially important today since we spent the whole day yesterday cooking for dinner guests.) There were stands with dried herbs, fresh herb plants from a couple of local nurseries, and the ubiquitous Bratwurst.
And, we could still see weddings there, too! As we approached the farm, we had to get out of the way for photos that were being taken for one wedding, and then we found there was a second one! Here's two brides in one shot - I'm sure neither will have this in their wedding albums!
Here's me at the entrance to the Gut. It must have been an important place at one time since there is a moat around the place (hence the bridge).
Heading out of town, we had to maneuver around a tractor hauling this straw sculpture of an owl that will be in the harvest festival parade next weekend. Ever so slightly over-lifesized!
The map said 15 kilometers one way, but my bike computer said 50+ total. Maybe I need to recalibrate, but it was a LONG WAY. I know, because my legs told me so.
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