Die Raeder im Bus ...

On the way back from our trip to Bremen today, we got stuck in traffic, and I kept the kids amused by singing songs with them. Got through a few verses of "The Wheels on the Bus" in German! Then I decided to teach them a Scottish song, and I went for "Stop the bus, I want a wee wee". That went down well. They kept half singing it to themselves - I kept hearing "Hmmm hmm hmm hmmhmmm wee wee..."

We did the big city trip today with a guided tour. Lots of Hanseatic history.
We saw Boettcherstrasse, which reminded me of Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. It was built in an Expressionist style by the founder of Kaffee Hag in the 1920s, and denounced as degenerate art by the Nazis.
Of course, we also saw the Bremer Stadtmusikanten, which everyone knows from the Grimms fairy tale and are a symbol for Bremen (even though they never even made it to the town.) You should grab both legs of the donkey for luck. If you only grab one, they say "ein Esel gibt dem anderen die Hand" (one donkey shaking the hand of another!)

Yesterday we had a quiet day, as it was a bit miserable and looked like rain, as well as being outrageously hot. After it cheered up, we went to a "Melkhus", which is a local attraction. Dairy farms set up a wee cafe with milkshakes and stuff, and you can talk to the cows and all sorts. It was very quiet and fun - we had the wee ones and their two friends with us, and they loved talking to the calves and generally messing about.
Then last night, Marianne and Wolfgang had to go to a birthday do, and I went with the kids to watch a breakdancing show which was on in the town centre. It was surprisingly good, with lots of impossible manouevres, and even Miriam, who is only 4, loved it and sat rapt throughout. And of course, there was Eis. There has been lots of Eis so far ...