Bremerhaven, it’s not exactly a city or town you’d actually plan a (city)trip to. But knowing my sometimes-hectic work schedule, this is a place where we ended up together on a rainy February weekend. I was waiting for my vessel to arrive from its previous project in Klaipeda, Lithuania, having flown in to Bremen via Riga and Munich on Friday. Luckily my employer, Jan De Nul provides a rental car to be able to travel between airports, vessel locations, hotel, etc.
Vero was starting her midterm break (called “krokusvakantie” in Dutch) and was a such able to fly to the same airport via Amsterdam from Brussels on Saturday. She did so in style I must say, sushi and rosé at the airport. There are worse ways to start your trip. I was awaiting her with a bouquet of roses – #mellow – at the airport. We were lucky to be able to have a weekend together, since the variables are always changing, but here we were finally together again!
That first evening we dressed up and went out for diner in what was supposed to be the fanciest restaurant we could find in Bremerhaven: Pier 6. Luckily, I made an online booking that afternoon, because the restaurant was crowded and fully booked, but at 20:15 PM a table for two was reserved. In a fancy pancy setting we enjoyed a four-course dinner before heading back to our hotel, a 5 minutes’ walk.
On Sunday – the only day off I would get in his 10-week contract – we had a very extensive brunch in the hotel, The Liberty Hotel. What a feast to have the possibility to enjoy the exquisite food and beverage choices between 06:00 AM and 14:00 PM... After that indulgence we decided to head out to explore Bremerhaven. Although “out” is relative. We walked exactly 150 meters to the entrances of the Auswanderer Museum next to our hotel and spend there a good three hours of wandering through the immigration and emigration history of Germany and Bremen / Bremerhaven. The museum is very well thought through in terms of lay-out and storytelling. It’s a pity however that not all narratives or descriptions are in English as well as German. At the end there was a promise of a 50s-style ice cream parlor, but to our disappointment it was just the cafeteria of the museum… So, we headed out again and went in search of a really decadent one… Which we found in Eiskaffee next to the municipal church. A giant coup (and a pinokkio for Véro) later we went back to the hotel to refresh before heading down for diner in the hotel’s resto and a night cap at the rooftop bar.
And that was the extend, more or less, of our time together in Bremerhaven. Monday morning, we just had time to help us to a quick breakfast together, before I had to head out to go working. Vero still had two days to spend in Bremerhaven, but she had to do it on her own. You can scroll down to read about Véro's top things to do in Bremerhaven.
Monday evening Vero joined me to grab a beer in the bar on board (always hilarious to see demeanor changes when there’s a woman on board) and afterwards we grabbed a delicious pizza in the pizzeria Mama Mia recommended by people of the repair facility Gerardus Mercator was berthed at.
On Tuesday it was again a normal 12-hours working day for me, but Vero did some more urban exploring in the surprisingly interesting recently upgraded and renovated part of Bremerhaven. In the evening, we headed to the iconic-looking Atlantic Sails hotel, which looks like – what’s in a name – a sail.
