Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven: The Cold North Sea

We left the treehouse on April 1 with snow still on the ground and drove north to the coast. This was supposed to be the big part of the north on this trip. If you're just joining, the trip started in The Harz, Part I and the last stop was Part IV.

Bremerhaven

We stayed in Bremerhaven, on the North Sea at the mouth of the Weser river. Bremen founded it in 1827 as its seaport, because the Weser upstream was silting up and big ships could no longer reach the city. It is still a major port, and the whole city feels very industrial, with ports everywhere.

I'll be honest, we weren't impressed. The hostel we stayed in was pretty rough and the city didn't do much for us either, which was a letdown, because we had planned this as the big part of the north. It was also cold and windy the whole time. It was the wrong time of year to visit the coast.

This is the Pingelturm, one of Bremerhaven's lighthouses.

Two of the boys at the rail along the river, bundled up against the wind.

One of the boys at the old harbor, with historic ships behind him.

The Submarine

The real reason to stop in Bremerhaven, at least for us, was the submarine. This is the Wilhelm Bauer, a Type XXI U-boat, now a museum ship at the German Maritime Museum.

Blohm & Voss built it in Hamburg, and the Kriegsmarine (the German navy, literally the "war navy") commissioned it on February 24, 1945, only weeks before the war in Europe ended. It never went on patrol. It was scuttled on May 4, 1945, near the Flensburg lightship, and raised from the Baltic seabed in June 1957. The new West German Bundesmarine (the "federal navy") put it back in service in 1960 as a test boat under the name Wilhelm Bauer. It was retired in 1983 and has been a museum ship in Bremerhaven since April 27, 1984.

Ellie squeezing through one of the hatches.

Nathaniel and Ethan at the wheels.

Inside it is as tight as you would expect, with pipes, valves and red wheels everywhere. The museum also has Nazi-era relics on display.

Bremerhaven didn't win us over, but the next day turned out to be the highlight of the north.

Cuxhaven and the Wadden Sea

On April 2 we went to the coast near Cuxhaven, where the Elbe river meets the North Sea, and walked out into the Wattenmeer. Watt means tidal flat (it is related to waten, "to wade"), so the Wattenmeer is literally the "wading sea", a stretch of coast where the tide goes out so far that you can walk across the seabed. Cuxhaven was quaint and charming, almost a fishing village, and we were surprised at how much better it was than Bremerhaven the day before.

In the dunes before heading out to the flats.

Walking out along a stone jetty over the mudflats.

Mudflats and salt marsh, with a wide sky and a lot of wind.

Dunes and the coast stretching off into the distance.

The Lower Saxon Wadden Sea became a national park in 1986, and together with the Dutch and Schleswig-Holstein parts it was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009. It was cold and windy the entire time.

The Fischbörse

Nathaniel and Ethan at the Fischbörse.

For lunch we went to the Fischbörse in Cuxhaven, a seafood restaurant in the old part of the port. Börse is the word for a stock exchange, so the name is literally the "fish exchange". It was good, and the boys still talk about it to this day.

We also went to the Windstärke 10 – Wrack- und Fischereimuseum in Cuxhaven. Windstärke is "wind strength", and force 10 on the Beaufort scale is a storm. Wrack is a shipwreck (it is also the English word "wreck"), and Fischerei is fishing, so it is the shipwreck and fishing museum. It was interesting, and it kept us warm. If you don't care for museums, you probably won't like it. Cuxhaven itself has plenty of history: it belonged to Hamburg for more than 500 years. Hamburg took over Ritzebüttel Castle there in 1394, and its bailiffs ran the area from the castle until 1937, when Cuxhaven was transferred to Prussia.

Late in the afternoon we were out on a boardwalk across the salt marsh.

More tidal flats, as the light started to go.

It was the wrong time of year for the coast, and it was cold the whole time, but we were surprised at how much better Cuxhaven was than Bremerhaven. Possum et ego.