Wednesday, Nov. 27th:

Today was a day of "culture." John and I went to the Bremen Art Museum, locally know as The "Kunsthalle" at Ostertor. We took a taxi to just beyond the Schnoor, drove along the Am Wall and went see to see the various exhibitions of artists of Bremen and works of art from the 15th century to present day. The Kunsthalle has one of the most comprehensive collections of copper-plate engravings in Europe. We saw works by Talousse-Latrec, Van Goph, Broegle, Manet, Van Dyke, Monet, Munich, and Picasso. There were some phenomenal pieces of work in there which I had not seen ( or even seen in books previously) , and plenty of padded viewing seats, which I appreciated and needed.





This fellow captured our imagination. At first he looks like a bunch of pick up or sparkler sticks gone awry, but after closer inspection, you see that the artist has composed a human figure by proper placement of the metal sticks.


I've not had the energy today, that I've had for the past couple of days. Of course, I'm trying to wean myself off the morphine, sleeping pills and codeine tablets, too. I'm on Tylenol now, most of the time. We spent about 3 hours and covered 5 floors of viewing incredible art work. Then we paddled on down the Am Wall which is a street built on the old city wall. The existing roads were formerly gates of the old walled city, where the Schnoor and City Center currently exist.





We did a bit more shopping....it's really hard not to! And watched as City Center has now transformed itself into Christmas City. Every available space is held by a gypsy cart with crafts in abundance. It is, indeed, magical. We came back to the hotel for a bit of a rest, and Jennifer and Joyce then dropped by. Talk about turbo-shopping. These girls know how to do it right! "Retail Therapy" is their middle name. But they certainly have found the bargains. (Take it easy, Tommy! They're only getting things on sale and they're using the VAT!)










We joined together again and went back to city center and John led us to a place called the Gewerbehaus (Trade building) ...also known as the Alte Guilde (the Old Guilde), a traditional German Restaurant which had great food and plenty of ambiance. Of course, this quartet has had fun at EVERY place we've eaten, including Stenum Hospital, where the food was a bit less exotic. But even then, we've had fun! After a very filling dinner, we all hopped into a taxi, who we were very surprised to find ( I was probably THE most grateful!) located directly in the city center.

This taxi evidently works for another company, mid city center, while the others work the outskirts. News to us. It didn't stop us from using him to get us quickly back to the hotel. Both Jennifer and I are realizing that all the walking is taking its toll; but both of us are doing well, considering it's been 12 days since our surgeries. We both celebrated not having to take heparin injections tonight. Yay! Those babies sting. We'll have to take them once again for the plane trip home, but for now, we relax in the interim. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we feel funny not being "home" for the day. I've only seen mention of it in Stenum, actually, at the Breckenholder Restaurant, and I was surprised to see it even then. Their dinner option was for it's American patrons, I think. But not here; the Park Hotel is in full swing Christmas. They put up their tree this morning, and have a chocolate Santa in the lobby that's huge. Christmas in Bremen is unbelievable....just like every little kid imagines!!