Besuch

Today, Bola, a friend from college, came to visit Bremen for the day. She is working at the University of Potsdam, doing Science, until the middle of July.
The Story of Our Lovely Day:
I had planned to make pretzels as a snack for us during the day. I baked some last night to see if I had the recipe down. Through this baking attempt, I learned the importance of kneading the dough; I didn’t knead the Friday night batch hardly at all because the recipe from the internet didn’t really emphasize kneading, or time to let the dough rise or any of those other useful things. But now I have learned more about how kneading forges connections between the individual molecules of something or other within the flour and creates a chewier product.
I was running late and met Bola on the platform. We found a place to sit and looked at my tourist map. Then we went on, still without a real plan. We walked through the “Central Park of Bremen”, past the random old windmill that is in the center of town.
We went towards the Schlachte, along the Weser and then crossed the river with the intention of taking the 11:30 Becks tour, but there was no 11:30 Beck’s tour. We then went to the Viertal (the hip student quarter) and walked up and down the main street and back. Unlike our trip to Berlin, we did not stop once for hot chocolate!
Sitting on the Dom steps was, I think, the first time we had sat down since our map-pow-wow. We all headed for some Mexican food with our Bremen tour guides, a friend from work and a friend from church.
From there, we went to the Old Rathaus for a tour. We were only shown 3 rooms on the second floor of the Rathaus, and there were very clearly other rooms there that we did not see at all (torture chambers, I think).
After the Rathaus, we got a picture with the Bremen town musicians and Der Roland. We quickly went to Butcherstrasse at 6 PM for the Glockenspiel show. It was the most unexpected spot for a Glockenspiel down a narrow street that opens a liiittle bit so that maybe 30 people can cram in and peer up at this set of bells. And to the left of the bells, not in the center where you would think you’d be focusing your eyes, is a rotating cylinder (well, I assume it’s a cylinder, I don’t really know how it works) with pictures that look like engravings, of pictures of famous innovators and inventors from Europe and our Americas, with their names and a picture representing the field they impacted. Definitely something we wouldn’t have found without our guide!
We went back to the Schnoor and wandered about until 7. I suggested we get Bubble tea at McCafe, as Bola and I had gotten Bubble tea before in Potsdam. It was again very bad bubble tea; I must find my own source of properly sized black tapioca balls so that I can explain to my friends at the church what bubble tea really is.
We sat outside and drank our bubble tea by a playground in the pedestrian section of town. It started to barely spit, which I said meant Bola was getting the full Bremen experience, because one couldn’t be in Bremen without being rained on. Otherwise, we had had perfect weather, in the 80’s and sunny!