AN ATTEMPTED SPONTANEOUS FEW NIGHTS AWAY
01/04/22 - 03/04/22
As a student with a part time job and bills, I find it can be difficult to book a weekend away in the spur of the moment. Unfortunately, my 'spontaneous' weekend away to Bremen was not an anomaly.
Thursday the 31st of March I drove to St Albans to visit my boyfriend, we had discussed maybe going for a dressy meal or spending the day in London, but me being me had to float the idea of a couple nights away instead. Initially this seemed like the best idea, cheap flights, cheap Airbnbs and hotels, what could possibly be the reason not to just go for it.
There were many, many reasons.
For one, it seemed to be everywhere with flights below £50 had accommodation for five times the price, but everywhere with cheap apartments and rooms did not come with bargain flights. The second issue was whenever we did find a fair combination price wise, the times of the flights or the airport were wrong.
As the part time worker I am, times aren't really an issue for me, my boyfriend on the other hand works 5am-3pm in London, making the spontaneity slightly less spontaneous. Luckily for me, he works with his dad so last minute days off are workable, with my convincing skills. So, at this point we now have the whole of Friday to play with. FAB.
Stansted airport, flights filtered low to high, Germany £54 return each. Sorted. Unfortunately, Airbnb wasn't on our side for last minute apartments, luckily the inner travel agent in me found a room just a 5 minute walk from the centre at a Best Western Hotel. Perfect. Now onto the holiday.
If you're looking at places in Germany to visit, but don't want to stick to the mainstream cities, Bremen is the place. As a smaller city, it was definitely not that. The main centre was filled with shops, cafes and bars. Due to covid, we found some places were a lot stricter than others in terms of what masks you are allowed to wear to enter, so if you are planning a trip to Germany in general I would take that into consideration before you pack!
Once we arrived, we swiftly realised we had not bought the right clothes for the weather, which was absolutely freezing by the way! So, of course the first thing we did was go into Starbucks and get a hot chocolate. As someone who believes if you're in a different country you should make the most of what we don't have at home, we would't have usually gone in, but when I say we were cold, we were COLD.
Then we got onto exploring...
One thing I should have mentioned before is Ryan and his love for buildings. Usually I'm fascinated too, but not when I'm hangry. After an couple of hours of walking around the centre, I convinced him it was time for lunch...an hour later I got to eat.
We chose to try Ccielleca Kaffee Haus. As far as service went, it was a little on the slow side, but other than that I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. I had a club sandwich with chips, and Ryan tried a curried bratwurst. I know I failed on the traditional cuisine front but to be frank I was way too hungry to risk not enjoying the food.
Food finished, we were straight back to the hotel for a 'quick' nap. 7 hours later we woke up and realised we slept through all the alarms and it was in fact 9pm. Whoops.
As it was so late on a Friday night we were concerned we wouldn't be able to find somewhere to eat or drink. Luckily for us we took a wrong turn out of the centre and ended up along the river front, where we were greeted with bar after restaurant, all busy of course. Slightly further a long we stumbled
across Brill no.6, a cocktail bar. It didn't take long for it to become one of my favourite bars, the second we walked past the popcorn machine I was sold. We were greeted by a young male who was English speaking which was good as my GCSE German wasn't as good as I thought. He sat us in the corner with a view of the street and the bar. The room was dimly lit, with candles on each table, music loud enough to hear but enough to overpower the sounds of peoples laughter.
9...or 12 cocktails later, we left. Before we did, we asked if they accepted tip via card, the gentlemen who served us was almost shocked. This is where I became interested in tipping culture around the world, is it not a normal thing to leave extra when the experience was faultless?
Drunk and starving we stumbled to McDonalds for a quick burger, however, this is the first place we had an issue with our face masks. The waiter refused to serve us (we later found out from our hotel it is to everyones own discretion weather they were masks indoors so we were not sure why we were refused, luckily, a local women offered to order our food for us.
Other places we ate.... A walk to the left of the centre lead us to stumble upon what seemed like the local side of Bremen. If you do visit, it is more than worth the walk down purely for this restaurant. It had a green exterior and was on the corner of the right side of the road, but for the life of me I can not remember the name, however, the lady who served us was wonderful, almost as good as the burgers and cocktails.
We also visited Kangaroo House, a bar/restaurant along the river front for a quick drink and snack. A giant cocktail for £9 that I just so happened to accident keep ordering. For value for money, I don't think you could find better. We also indulged in some nachos each before we walked back to the hotel.
Around the centre, there is also numerous market stools and food stands, a lot of competition on the street of bratwurst stools.
This is the point I realise i've rambled on so much, I guess that means I loved it more than I thought!
If you enjoy walking around this really is the place to visit, there is a lovely walk along the river, weather permitting, it is stunning, with a distant view of the Bremen football stadium you could walk down too.
There is also a small street called The Schnoor, a narrow walk way with local shops and pubs, pathed with cable roads and colourful buildings. The walk way is both aesthetic and an afternoon plan, if you're in the area it is worth the walk down.
Overall, I loved my second visit to Germany. The locals were all lovely and accommodating, the value for money was great, especially in terms of cocktails! and the and city itself was stunning. I can't believe I left it this long to mention the best part... the tram. £2.50 for a tram ticket to the other side of the city, student friendly in every way.
Moral of the story, is the spontaneous stress is always worth it in the end.
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