What is Bremen?

Bremen’s an unsettling place.Not in a nasty brutish way but in a classic movie trope „“it‘s quiet Jim,too quiet“ Most cities have a back ground noise,be it traffic,construction or just babble from people walking the streets.Bremen doesn’t seem to have any of that.At the moment i‘m sitting in a beer garden(naturally) in a street lined with bars and I can hear them washing up in the cafe across the road...like I said unsettling.                     

However it‘s a nice place.Very chilled & relaxed.The people seem well off in a non showy „“musn‘t grumble „“ kind of way.Even the beggars seem nice.One‘s Just taught me the correct way to pronounce Euro in German.The patronising bastard...even though Bremen is comfortable there are still social ills because,well y‘know,people live here and people ain‘t perfect.Some of us tend to fuck up occassionally.Like most big cities the down & outs gravitate towards the main railway station ( I suppose the airports are too far out) Bremen’s no exception but it‘s pretty mild compared to some.I had a walk round yesterday and apart from a few bored looking kids hanging around & a couple of spaced out junkies there was nothing of concern.  

Bremen is not a tourist place really.There‘s some like myself just arsing around for a few days but that’s about it.It‘s noticeable that most of the signs are only in German rather than multi lingual like Hamburg or Berlin.That‘s good for us non native speakers as it forces us to at least work things out ourselves.My German is improving slowly but only really to ask questions.I get stuck on the answers though and have to ask them if  they speak English.Really I should be embarrassed but fuck it i‘m a tourist and embarrassment went south a while back...In a bar for a couple of drinks last night and it was only when I went to leave a few locals said „“you’re English?“ I don’t know if they were taking the piss or unbelievably stupid in a Homor Simpson „“ Mel Brooks is Jewish!?“ kind of way.Anyway it cheered me up...

Anyway I like Bremen.It‘s chilled and not up it’s self and that‘ll do for me...even if it is unnervingly quiet.