Easter Part II

Or pre- and post-Easter.  Take your pick for a title. I'm not fussy.

Writing has taken a back seat in the last few weeks - and more - and reasons seem to keep piling up to not write.  So I must.  But I will skirt the less fun, less happy things that are going on right now.  Here in blogworld, it's sunshine and smiles.

Pre-Easter we had a short visit from René and Rima and Amina.  A visit to a local museum to check out the exhibit, a series of amusing paintings on postcards. Werner and I had visited the museum already, but I hadn't been able to fully enjoy it, so it was good again and the cartoons were especially to René's liking. Afterwards, time for Kaffee und Kuchen!  The restaurant we visited is a grand old 19th century building in the center of our sprawling city park, . Rima insists on a visit in summer so we can sit in the garden.  OK - pick a date - we'll be there.

Easter Sunday dawned sunny and bright - and we were prepared! Individual spinach tortes.

Hand-painted eggs.

Chocolate bunnies nesting in bunny napkins.

 And a fully dressed table for our brunch with friends.

It was yummy and filling and so afterwards a walk was in order.  We were not alone - half the city was walking along the Weser and enjoying the weather and down time. Here we are, framed by blue skies and colorful pansies.

Ah.


Easter Monday, also a holiday, was equally lovely, so we headed to Worpswede for another walk, this time around the local "mountain"  - the Weyerberg - all of 60 meters high.  But when everything else is at 0 meters, that's a mountain.

But, first, where are we going?  As it turned out, we didn't need the guide, we could just follow the crowds.

At the top of the Weyerberg is a memorial called the  Niedersachsenstein (The Lower Saxony Stone), a brick memorial dedicated in 1922 to honor local men who died in World War I.  It is big;  I'd describe it as looming.

And with all monuments, there is graffiti, lots of initials and such cut into the brick.

And on the way back through the commercial area (which gets to sell on days that shops are otherwise closed since it's a designated tourist destination) we found just what I need (need!!) for the pots of hostas on the back terrace. 

Amina Week

Our annual summer visit from Amina has come and gone.  Busy, it was!  If you want details, click on the link "Amina in Bremen" above.  But be warned, it's in German!

There were highlights a plenty.

One day we took Alica into town with us and visited the Bürger Park (City Park) and played mini golf as well as boating.  Mini golf is NOT Putt Putt - rather more primitive, but it  was fun nonetheless.  Even with a rain delay.

And boating?  We were pretty good.  I couldn't take any pictures of us landing in the bushes on the shore since I was trying to push us OUT of the bushes, but the girls had a lot of laughs and no one - or the boat ! - was injured.

Going to the movies is always a hit.  This time it was "Brave" (or "Merida" in the German version) and of course in 3D.  Actually, I can do without 3D, but .....

Opa and Amina painted an old planter of ours and I - tongue-in-cheek - suggested maybe Amina would like to give it to her mama.  Oh, yes!! Oh,can we???  I was not at all sure it was something Rima wanted in her yard, but it was way too late to say no.  But of course, Rima loved it!

And don't forget the ropes course - Kraxelmaxel.  Amina was a real little monkey and with Opa got through four of the courses.  I got through two parcours and have the bruises to prove it!

As luck would have it, the Fesitival Maritim was here last weekend - perhaps my favorite of all the many fairs and fests here in Vegesack.  Friday we were there with Amina, Saturday with the whole family, and Sunday they headed out to Holland for two weeks of vacation.  Bye-bye.

Then came our dear friends Peggy and Wolfgang for one more round at the Festival Maritim topped off with a fireworks display.

What a week!  Now Werner's got a full-fledged cold (mine, I am so sorry!) and we're just hoping the little kid escaped the germs.

Country Garden

Last Saturday was warm and sunny. I know I say that often enough, but it seems that when we get warm and sunny here in Bremen, wet and gray soon follows and then warm and sunny is suddenly a faded memory. So you understand why when we get the warm and sunny part, we head out-of-doors! Saturday, it was a bike trip to the area of Elsfleth, about 25 k from here - so a relatively easy 50 k round trip.

We'd heard about this private garden that is open to visitors in the summer. And they sell a few plants as well. It is just far enough to be a good trip but not tooo far. So after the morning market, off we went.

Along the way we saw a "structure" in the fields. What in the world? It reminded me of a high school football stadium, but as we got closer, I recognized it - it'll be the framework for a solar array. Out in cow country. Very cool and very green.

And we saw cows,too. They're happy to be out in the pastures after a long winter indoors. The folks in the background are happy to be outdoors, too - cooling their toes in the stream. On a warmer day, they'd for sure be swimming.

Just before arriving at the garden we ran into a Floh Markt - Flea Market! Gotta stop. Don't gotta buy. This place was chock full of nothing that we wanted, but it interesting to look at anyway.

Finally to the garden. It's a perennial garden arranged around a wonderfully restored and maintained farmhouse. It's still a bit early to see all of what's in bloom, but we had more than an impression of the wonders of it - hostas and columbine and peonies and roses and so many other plants I recognize but can't name. It is clearly a labor of love.

After some coffee and Butterkuchen we headed back home. The view of Vegesack from the other side of the Weser is lovely and, to my eye, always welcoming.

And perhaps because it was such a lovely day, and the weekend, and it's a tourist area, we saw something new to us, someone on a horse-drawn tour of the harbor. I wonder if I need to try that someday!

Frozen

Our pipes aren't the only thing frozen here.  Most of the waters around Bremen are frozen - hard and solid and thick enough to skate and walk and run and  play hockey on.  We stopped by the Schönebeck Schloss last weekend to watch the skaters.  After my last outing some 6 years ago -  when I cracked my elbow - I gave away the ice skates and the roller blades.  I don't regret it, but I still enjoy watching others having fun on the ice.

This looks like a mosaic, doesn't it?  And it is, of course, but the pieces aren't glass or plastic - they're ice.  Yes.  Ice on the water in the harbor.  It's not nearly as solid as the water in front of the Schloss, but hard enough that some crazy folks were snapped walking across the harbor the other day.

And I noticed something I hadn't seen before - locks.  Love locks.  I don't know if it started in Paris, but that is where we first saw them - hundreds of locks attached by lovers.  There seem to be only four here so far, and it'll never be Paris, but it's a sweet sentiment.  But I'm going to check in a couple of weeks to see if the local authorities haven't clipped them off!

Repairs

Or rather, starting on repairs.

There's been a trickle of water in the bathroom, but not enough to brush teeth, much less take a shower.  So, down to business.  The ceiling has got to go so we can find the pipes.

First get everything out of the little front hallway.

 
Then put up a plastic sheet, because it is going to get dusty.

It's impossible to tell when these pipes were installed, but it was sometime before they figured out decent insulation.  Above the plasterboard is a 3cm thick mat of straw, held together with baling wire.  Needless to say, it's old and dry and dusty. What a mess!

And, there's one - a pipe - there behind the mineral wool wadding and paper.  Can you believe it?  Werner thinks little critters ate off the paper, ate some of the wool and exposed good bits of pipe.  I'll go with that, not having any other plausible explanation.

We're hoping that with a little warm air getting to them, they'll thaw and then we can set about putting in real insulation under the roof decking and around the pipes.

And just maybe call the plumber for a consult.

This adventure is far from over.

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.