The Parade to the Fair

Every year, for over 200 years now, traders and entertainers have gathered in Vegesack, our little corner of Bremen, for a fall market.  That in itself is amazing to me, a not-quite 20-year resident of Vegesack.  That's even older than our house, and that is pretty old by my standards.

The fair has evolved into more of a fun fair than a trading fair, just like the Oktoberfest in Munich and all the other less well-known outdoor festivals around Germany.  Here it began as a cattle selling fair. Just last weekend was the Heirratsmarkt Bruchhausen-Vilsen (the Bruchausen-Vilsen Marriage Market) a fair that was known in former times for introducing young women to potential husbands (or vice versa!), mostly farmers.  I think they still do this in Iowa.  Or Montana. Or someplace like that.

But this weekend, the  203rd Vegesack Fall Market (Vegesacker Herbstmarkt) opened with a parade, as usual. I love it!  It is so small-town and friendly and intimate and just a lot of fun.

It starts with the Honorary Grand Marshals in their top hats and tails.

They're followed by the Chimney Sweeps in their traditional costumes, handing out lucky pennies.  What's funny is, it isn't a euro penny but a brand new "old" Pfennig.  Lucky me, I got a Pfennig.

What's a parade without horses with riders in dragon hats?

Or the local Werder Bremen fans?  (We're the 12th man - so says the sign.)

Or kids on unicycles?

Or an Eiffel Tower made of wheat stalks?  Really, don't you have one of those in your parades??

And then of course there's the odd one out.

Naturally, there's a marching band or two.  Here the bands are not sponsored by schools but by clubs, so the membership ranges from kids to retirees, men and women.  Not the Marching Chiefs of FSU, but fun just the same.

Open House

Once a year, Germany opens the doors to its historical buildings, all free, many not normally open to the public.  Yesterday was the day.  Since Sunday is still recognized as a day off, a day that obvious labor is frowned upon, I couldn't continue painting the exterior window frames, or hang out the wash, or do any hedge trimming or such, so we opted to take a bike ride after our late breakfast and check out a couple of the buildings open here in our neck of the woods. 

We went first to the Haus Seefahrt, a private group made up of sea captains and others who operate a home here for retired ship captains or their widows and sponsor a traditional yearly dinner in the city - since the mid 1500s or so. The gate was transfered here from its original site in Bremen after WWII and ties the more modern buildings to its much longer history.  In their meeting room the original coats of arms of all the board chairmen are displayed - a lot of history in a very small space.

The gardens are lovely and well-cared for.  This classicized statue represents "Brema" - our city!  Cute hat.

Next, off to Lesum.  Outside the church, there's a statue of Lady Emma of Lesum, traditionally credited with donating the grounds of the city park for the use of the citizens - our Bürger Park.  The church was open and walking the grounds of the old cemetery gave us a moment of reflection.

But not for too long - we had one more stop - St. Michels in Grohn, just around the corner from us.  This church is not so old - not even as old as our house - but we listen to the bells every Sunday and Saturday and today there was an organ concert.  Quite unusual - all the pieces were written by the performer.  He had an enthusiastic audience!

And to home. And to dinner. 

It's wild mushroom season and we were able to get some at the market on Saturday, hand-picked in the woods. W I L D. 

You can't be complicated with these wild things.  Clean them up, fry up some chopped smoked bacon.  Sear the mushrooms in the fat and add some cream.  Pour over hot Spätzle (German pasta, a bit heartier than the Italian sort) and savor, slowly.  It's another seasonal pleasure and worthy of its own historical designation.

And here - it's a sign!  A sign of what, I am not sure, but there was a pelican noodle on the plate.  Humm.  Interpretations, anyone?

Church Music


We went to church, but not to Church. It wasn't for a service of the usual sort, but I have to say it was a sort of worship. Worship of music.

This is one of the churches in Vegesack. I can hear these church bells in the night when I am awake. That is not seldom.

Did you know that here our tax euros support churches? That is a difficult concept for an American. Separation. Church. State. Don't go there.

But here - it's in the Constitution. There is no separation of the two entities of church and state though the goverment is completely secular. German citizens allocate a percentage of their taxable income for church support when the tax payer identifies himself as a church member. The funny thing is that the vast majority of Germans identify themselves with a church and with a church in their neighborhood, but few actually go to church.

Weird. But that's people for you.

So, anyway, we went to music church. There was a perfomance here in the local church of trumpet and piano music, classic and modern. We decided to go.

It was practically a private concert. There were maybe 50 in the audience. The trompetist spoke directly to the audience about the works he played - as well as a bit of instruction about how one waits and does NOT applaud between movements! That was funny.

Trepidation was my companion since one never knows if these intimate concerts will be pleasing or embarassing. But what a treat! The musicians were musical and the music was musical and the evening was musical and oh so harmonious.

He had four different trumpets, played Bach and Hummel and Hayden and Gershwin, and won our hearts.

Church should always do that but sadly it does't do that often enough.

Another Weekend -- Another Concert

It's the weekend. Friday we had guests here for dinner and served our ever popular Italian chicken and appropriate side dishes: roasted rosemary potatoes, green beans tossed in olive oil, a salad of thin-sliced fennel with orange wedges and vinaigrette.

The fun part is the soup: radish greens soup with radishes and chorizo. Yum. I get asked for the recipe every time I make it. I'd post the recipe for all of you but the only time I have seen the greens from radishes in the US is when I grew them myself. So if you're growing your own and want the recipe, let me know. It tastes great.

Since Werner was suffering with a cold, we decided he needed some exercise and took a bike ride yesterday - first on the train to the end station north of here and then by bike to home. The wind was uncooperative and we were challenged a bit more than expected, but it's always nice be outside. The reward was (fortunately or unfortunately, depending on my waistline) a little coffee and cake at home with Käsesahnetorte (a whipped cream cheese cake with cake layers). Yeah, like me and my thighs needed that.

Today we went to a concert at the Schönebecker Schloß. I think you all know that Schloß means "castle" in English. But "castle" has a range of meanings. In these northern parts, a castle is more like a manor house - just a lot bigger than what the serfs had. This is what it looked like today -early spring so no leaves on the trees but bright light. The pond in front is home to lots of ducks.

The concert was wonderful, almost intimate. There were only about 50 guests and the String Quartet of the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra played three works. My favorite was Schubert's Emperor Quartet which includes the music that is now used for the German national anthem. It's the same that many know as "Oh, how lovely is the evening ...".

Walking to the Schloß and back (about 30 minutes each way) was good exercise and a pleasant end to a quiet weekend.

Hope yours was the same.

Christmas in April

Our Christmas gift from Renè and Rima was dinner and a concert. So last weekend we were in Hamburg with Rima, René, Monika, Lex, Sepp and Maya (friends of R+R) to cash in the Christmas coupon.

Being in Hamburg reminds me that we DON'T live in a big city! We met in Ohlendorf, the village where R+R live and took a taxi to the East Restaurant in Hamburg. Wow.

It's a converted cast iron factory; this shows the dining area below and the theme bars on the upper floors. The columns are molded plaster, organic in form and impressive in size! There's nothing in Bremen that looks like this.

The food matched the surroundings and the service was wonderful - not a small compliment here in Germany sometimes!

After that, we all went to a concert sponsored by Classic Radio, a classic pops station that's popular here. The program was film music, and it was really good - fun too. I was somewhat distracted by a mini-drama in front of us. A man, a bit Eastern in appearance, was sitting with a woman who looked German. He kept looking at her during the first half, rather longingly, but she never looked back that I saw. They were certainly together - empty seats on either side. When intermission was over, she was late, and later, and he looked and looked, but she never appeared. I wondered what the end of the story was .......

Saturday morning we came back to Bremen with Amina in tow. She kept asking for a "vacation in Bremen with Oma and Opa", so we complied. The weather was pretty rotten so there was coloring to do.

On Sunday, there was the Circus to visit! It was the same one we saw with Michelle, Joey, Hunter and Hannah last summer with a few changes. But there was still the clowns and the camels and the cats and the dogs and the alligators, one of which almost got into the audience!

After it was over, there was a pony ride. I think the smile was mostly on the inside!