Schutting sits across from the Rathaus. Built in the 1530s, it also had the first coffee shop in the German territories. Currenlty it houses the chamber of commerce.
The Flemish Renaissance building features the Bremen Merchants’s coats of arms and the Holy Roman Imperial Eagle.
On the way back to the train station, you can find The mill “on the wall” is built on an octagonal base built in 1898. There have been a succession of windmills dating back to 1699.
A Unesco World Heritage site, the Bremen Rathaus is one of the most beautiful buildings in Europe. The brick gothic hall was built in the 15th century. This incredible building was designed and built in 1400. While a large protion of Bremen was destryed in WWII, the Rathaus was unscathed.
Bremen is an amalgam of the old and the new. The historic square or Marktplatz features a huge statue of the Knight Roland, which symbolizes the rights and priviledges of the Hanseatic City. Hanseatic refers to a medieval merchant’s guild. Roland was a protector of the trade group.
One of my favorite Brothers Grimm fairytales was The Brementown Musicians. Even though the title characters never made it to the town, you can still visit them in Bremen.
In the classic tale, a donkey, a rooster, a dog and a cat escape their respective abusive farmers and set out to become a famous group of musicians in the free city of Bremen. Along the way, they see a lit cottage and peer in the windows to see a band of thieves counting their ill-gotten treasures. They decide to scare the thieves and take over the cottage as there own. Once the thieves are chase off, they spend the rest of their days in the cottage, never making it to the city.
Next to the Rathaus or City Hall in Bremen is a scuplture depicting the musicians. Be sure to rub the Donkey’s leg for good luck.
In front of the Rathaus is the Hole of the Brementown Musicians. Toss a coin into the hole and hear one of the animals. Just look for the signs.
All around the town are representations of the musicians.
After a full 15 months of travel from The US to Canada to Panama Canal to Germany to The Netherlands to France, Ackbar and I have returned home and now it’s time to sort through thousands of photos and memories. We spent a month in Papenburg, Germany from April to May of 2022.
Papenburg, Germany is situated on the Ems River in Lower-Saxony. For Disney fans this is where the Meyer-Werft Shipyard is located and the Disney Cruise LIne ships – Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy and Disney Wish have been built. Each ship starts it journey along the Ems to the North Sea on it’s way to new adventures.
A charming city of canals, windmills and sailing ships, Papenburg is a delightful escape from Germany’s more metropolitan cities. With a population of about 40,000 people, the city has a very laid back feel. There is something for everyone here, fine dining, shopping, culture events and historic sights.
The Rathaus is Papenburg’s City Hall. Located on the Haupkanal, this Neo-baroque building was built in 1913.
One of six sailing ship replicas on display in the canals of Papenburg, The Freiderike is situated outside the Rathaus. These stand as a symbol of the area’s rich shipbuilding tradition.
Meyer’s Mill, erected in 1888 is between the canal and the city park.
Muhle’s Mill is near the city center.
We can’t talk about Papenburg without talking about the many wonderful restaurants. Be sure to brush up on your German as many of the residents do not speak English. Despite the language difference, we managed to dine at these restaurants on multiple nights and eventually made friends with the owners who remembered our favorites.
Wirsthaus am Zeitspeicher has excellent wienerschnitzel
https://www.wirtshaus-am-zeitspeicher.de/
Adriatik had an amazing filet
https://www.restaurant-adriatik.de/
Olympia had the most delicious Beef Stroganoff
https://www.olympia-papenburg.de/
Bellini served Italian favorites, I highly recommend the Filet Gorgonzolo with Pasta.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063545115044
Mediterra served us a memorable meal in their upstairs dining room.
https://www.mediterra-papenburg.de/
Papenburg has a convenient train station where you can roam around Germany and Europe. We visited Koln and Bremen from here.
Graumann’s Chinese Theater has been a landmark on Hollywood Blvd. since 1927. Since then it has played a part in many motion picture premieres. In 1973 it became Mann’s Chinese Theater until Ted Mann divorced the wife, Rhonda Fleming. A year later he went bankrupt. It reverted to it’s original name until TCL, a Chinese electronics company purchased the naming rights 2013, renaming it the TCL Chinese Theater.
West Side Story, Mary Poppins and even Star Wars all premiered at the Chinese Theater over the years. Today it is still a hot property that Motion Picture Studios still try to book the theater for new movie premieres.
One of the most famous features of the theater is the celebrity handprints immortalized in cement. There are a number of stories about how they came to be, but the most widely retold, involves an actress, Norma Talmadge, accidentally stepped in wet cement.
Here you can see the handprints of John Wayne along with his fist. Whoopi Goldberg pushed a dreadlock into her cement and Mel Brooks wore a sixth finger on his right hand. Not all of the handprints are on display at any one time. With several hundred prints having been done, there are always some being repaired and just in storage.
Like many historic landmarks, The Chinese Theater is also haunted. In 1982, actor, Victor Killian was bludgeoned to death in his nearby apartment in 1982. He is purported to search the streets looking for his murderer. Employees have also reported strange noises and movement behind the theaters heavy curtain.
Driving around Los Angeles, you may have a sense of deja vu when you pass 11122 Dilling St. in Studio City. Here is the house where Mike and Carol Brady lived with their six children, their dog, Tiger and their housekeeper, Alice. Sometimes cousin Oliver was there too.
The Brady Bunch house was sold to HGTV for $3.5 million and subsequently renovated by the original Brady kids. Former N’Sync member, Lance Bass, had put an offer on the home, but it was turned down when someone said they wanted the house at any cost.
After The White House, it is the second most photographed house in the United States. The house at 11222 Dilling St. was only used for the exterior shots. The interior of the Brady abode was done on a soundstage at Paramount Studios, in reality it only had 3 bedrooms.
During the renovation, the house was remodeled to look like the classic show. HGTV hosted a very Brady scavenger hunt for fans to help source the many bits of set decoration necessary. Among the props that were found were the Horse statue in the living room, a stuffed giraffe from the girl’s room and that flower covered couch in the sitting room.
Next time you’re in California, take a trip back to the 70’s and say hi to Alice.
As of 2021, there are 41 skyscrapers in New York City. Among those are Central Park Tower, the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere. If you’re in the market for a new apartment a small studio can cost $1,000,000. If you need some more space be prepared to pay as much as $95,000,000 for a 4 bedroom apartment.
In 2020, the tallest office tower in Manhattan opened. One Vanderbilt Place is the 4th tallest building in the city. This structure boasts a glass elevator that travels up the outside of the building and an amazing observation deck.
Out of all of the buildings in The Big Apple, The Chrysler Building is my favorite. It was constructed by the chairman of the Chrysler Corporation but funded the entire project himself so that his children could inherit it. It was the tallest building in the city for only 11 months, losing out to the Empire State Building. Among it’s ornaments are gargoyles, 1929 Chrysler radiator caps and American eagles.
New York City has one of the unique city skylines. Out of all of the places I’ve visited, I always consider The Big Apple to be one of my favorites. Giant skyscrapers densely populate the city and the best vantage point is from high up.
Famously, The Empire State Building stands proud and tall. There are 1,872 steps to the Observation Deck on the 102nd floor. But don’t worry, there’s a high speed elevator if you prefer to save your energy. From the Deck of the most photographed in the world, you can see six different states on a clear day.
The upper deck was originally designed as a mooring post for Airships and Dirigibles. The building was part of a mad rush to build the tallest building in the city. The nearby Chrysler Building was topped off by a spire making it 1048 feet tall. The Empire State Building beats that at 1250 feet. It was the tallest building in the world until 1970 when the World Trade Center was completed.
If you want a great shot of the NYC skyline that features the Empire State Building, you have to venture to one of the other observations decks around Manhattan. I can recommend The Edge in Hudson Yards or Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. Both will give you breathtaking views of this magical city.
The building is often lit in a myriad of different colors throughout the year. On the night I visited, the tower was bathed in red light to celebrate New York Comic Con. You can even see a schedule of when the tower is lit at this link.
https://www.esbnyc.com/about/tower-lights/calendar
Travels With Ackbar 