We began the day with about an hour-long train ride to Bremen. From the morning to the early afternoon, we went on a tour throughout the city and heard a lot about how the city developed over time.

This is part of the original city wall of Bremen, which was discovered while digging the foundation of a hotel. The hotel decided to incorporate it into the design of their sauna room.

This was an example of a building that functioned both as a living and working space. A family would live upstairs, and there would be offices downstairs. Our guide explained that since work and home life are now separated, traffic is much worse.

Moravian stars in Bremen!

For a while, only people from Bremen were allowed to get married in Bremen. Later, people could come into Bremen for a short time to get married and then leave again. Translated as “wedding house," the Hochzeitshaus was a place where people could stay a night in Bremen and then get married the next day before leaving town again.

Christmas shop in Bremen!

This is the oldest pedestrian walk in Bremen.

After our tour, Andreas showed us a few more things (like the pedestrian walk above), and then we stopped by his house. His wife had made a bunch of delicious food, and we all had a great time sitting down to enjoy lunch and talking. It was so nice of them to treat us like they did!

We then had some free time, and we walked around the marketplace area, near the scene pictured below. We shopped a little and explored the area.

The town hall is on the left, and the Bremen Cathedral is on the right. The guide said that everyone hates the building on the far right.

These are the musicians of Bremen! It is good luck to make a wish and touch them. (Danke, Josh, for the photo!)

Here is a cute literary-themed statue of the musicians.

After leaving this area, we took the tram back to the Hauptbahnhof (main station) and shopped a little more (they had real shoe shops in there!). We caught the end of the Werder Bremen - Wolfsburg game (Bremen won 3-2!) and then boarded the train back to Hamburg.

Hauptbahnhof station in Bremen

When we returned to Hamburg, Libby and I took the S-bahn to Aumühle to watch her host brother’s handball game. This was a lot of fun, as the players’ ages probably ranged from 20-35 and the crowd was pretty hype. Two different fans had real marching band drums. Because this was the last game of the season, people hung out at the school where the game took place for a while, and then there was another afterparty nearby at a sports club, which featured a makeshift bar, a DJ, and an actual disco ball. This was mostly a gathering of people who had grown up near Aumühle, but we had fun crashing the party for a little while.