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The Town -------- Deep in the flat area of northern Germany lies a small, quite unknown city called Bremerhaven. To be honest, it is not really necessary to visit this spot on Earth, but sometimes you can't avoid ending up there. This happened to about 130,000 people who now live there. How To Get There ---------------- Luckily it is not very easy to come to Bremerhaven: there is only a small local airport for flights to important centres such as Wangerooge or Baltrum. Most of the regular flights are cancelled because of the small number of passengers. The more common way to reach Bremerhaven is to take one of the trains from Bremen. This train ride gives you an impression of travelling in the nineteen-forties: little speed, lots of stops, and old coaches guarantee a interesting journey to "Bremerhaven Hauptbahnhof," the central station. If you really want to see Bremerhaven the hard way, you might leave the Train at "Bremerhaven Wulsdorf," a stop right in the middle of nowhere, and find your way to the city centre. What To Do There ---------------- If you really decide to stay for a while instead of taking the next train back, you might check out the "Alte Buerger", Bremerhavens pub-mile. Because of the harbour, Bremerhaven was used to a many-sided nightlife. Nowadays the ships just stop for a couple of hours to change their containers, and the boatmen aren't allowed to leave to ships. This causes lots of problems to the red-light-district at Lessingstrasse. But still the pubs and bars are allowed to stay open all night, which is quite nice and most commonly regarded as one of Bremerhavens big points. If you want to see the remains of the 1960's "Hippie" movement, check out the bar "Frosch." If you want to feel like a tomato in the Netherlands, visit the "Blattlaus" - it is located in an old glasshouse. Other bars worth visiting: "Pub" (irish beer, expensive!), "Yesterday" (disco and club, no entrance fee), "Frizz" (watch the Want-To-Be-Importants, lots of fun!). Where To Stay ------------- There is an official Youth Hostel - try to avoid it. Doors are locked very early and it isn't located in a place you could call "central" - except if you like to leave the clubs at 2300 and walk for a good hour through the usually cold and rainy night. The cheapest place to spend the night is the "Columbus-Center," a big shopping centre in the city centre. Its doors remain open at night and lots of the homeless people of Bremerhaven spend their night there. You will meet a number of have-been-sailors, but also some have-been-humans that will ask you for a beer (or two or ninety-eight). This might be interesting, but not everyone likes it. Otherwise just find your way to the "Alte Buerger," check out the pubs, and ask for some possibilities to spend the night. Where To Work ------------- If you happened to run out of money - i.e., after a couple of nights in the pubs - ask for a job at the "Bremer Lagerhausgesellschaft." This company is in charge for the jobs in the harbour. You might be offered a job to carry bananas out of ships or to drive cars into or out of ships. The work is sometimes hard, but well (and weekly) paid. An other possibility is - again - the bars. Ask for a job in the early hours, before everyone gets drunk. Or catch a "McJob" at a fast food restaurant. Always Remember --------------- Bremerhaven is full of people who just arrived one day more or less by pure coincidence - and missed to leave again. Except from the original Bremerhaveners (the ones that have been born there) nearly no one finds that this city is the proof for intelligence in architecture and culture. (To be honest, there is a Mr. Hennig Goes who does so, but he is the head of the local tourist office...). Events in 1995 -------------- Finally there is one good reason to come to Bremerhaven in 1995: if you are interested in old giant sailing ships, you might visit the city between July 15 and July 20. During this week up to one hundred sailing ships will be in town to hold an international festival called "Sail '95." You can watch the ships, you can visit the ships - and if you're lucky you can leave Bremerhaven on one of the boats when they go for a big parade on the closing Sunday. Nine years ago a different event took place - and nearly a million spectators came to watch. So even the "Columbus-Center" will be crowded with sleepers.