especially during the nineteenth century. join a list an author has already written two books about it like many locals she's a fan of the river. what moves you to swim in the elba every day. fast you didn't tell my step a day was like a no it's a great pleasure it's just wonderful for my now the elderlies at my doorstep i can go in when i want to i can do what i want to ever almost everything. and it's a century's experience the water in the flowing and streaming rising and falling water i enjoyed immensely. would not be the only swimmer here in the open there are certainly other people too do you think this is a new trend. the custom of swimming in the l. the return of medicare since german reunification and many sewage treatment plants have been built in eastern germany and the water has become much cleaner on the

fields all go for twenty or thirty years it was really. i think the idea of having nature at your doorstep on the outskirts of a city with a population of millions and being able to use it you should be revived. and then more and more people will see how lovely it is the americans should. spend on the beaches and hamburg have lots of visitors and at weekends in the summer and during school holidays there are many tourists and most know that the water epson flows and avoid lying too close to the edge when the water is rising as it makes so now awful often of us are. of course i have to try this now my first swim in the album just the fink on such a beautiful summer day. there

is hardly a better place to end the day on b.l. but then this place this to compel the bar. it's famous in hamburg. a wonderful view. hamburg without the elbow that's impossible the river is hamburg lifeline so on the one hand it's a useful traffic route and on the other it's in a way of tranquility so no wonder the elbow fascinates so many people including myself.

our final destination today is braman which is also the smallest of germany's sixteen states. britain is famous the world over thanks to a grimm's fairy tale which features a donkey a dog a cat and a rooster. nicole finally decided to spend the day in the northern german and sciatic city. those are the tell musicians of bremen beloved characters from the grimm fairy tale of the same name stopping by on to the city to see them has become a must and touching the forelegs is supposed to be good luck i want to find out about the fairy tale let's see if some locals can help me. ken do you know the story of the bremen town musicians. i cried for and called me to bremen with me and you could become a town musician. they were animals that were treated badly so they left home then

from cells i felt they could. they settle down in a house where they were robbers and frighten the robbers away. as if they stayed in this robber stand in the woods us that's because they found a life without hardship in the liberty and. so the frame in town musicians never made it to braman at least not in the fairy tale but there's statue has stood in front of the city hall since nineteen fifty three. that's right when it's full of stories like that today i'm going to discover that. my search begins at the market square. this is where i stumble upon my next story this statue is called the rowlands and legend has it that as long as he's here the city will remain free and independent.

the statue is a unesco world heritage site just like these storied city hall across the street. that is why i'm going to take a glimpse inside this remarkable building. i don't. think are you my god and we have a day. just in here now in the upper hall one of the most beautiful ceremonial venues in germany and the town hall itself is the oldest in europe that's still in its original state by why wasn't this room built what it used to war would have been the most unfunny. of the old town hall is actually a medieval trading center with a wine cellar below it and a covered marketplace and a pair in assembly room the room also served as a court the mayor used to be the chief justice. is on the

spot behind these model ships below the ceiling especially impressive their four hundred to five hundred years old on and their models like those built by the one psionic league before the ships were built for real in the fall stand. by what stands out a clique. the clique was a confederation of towns that promised each other for protection and aid in trade and it was quite a large area it stretched as far as no growth in russia norway down to belgium and bremen was a member of the league. how important was it for braman to be out of the attic city and we still call ourselves the huns the attic city of bremen although the leak ended three hundred years ago when i think the term sounds good many associated with honesty straightforwardness and reliability and that's why we still use it and that's why i took. my story searching quest here in braman takes me to the cathedral square they say this is where i'll find the

so-called speeding stone and it conspicuous cobblestone with a very interesting history. this right here is a site of remember and this for the crimes of geisha got free back in the nineteenth century she poisoned fifteen people and this is the spot where she was beheaded in eighteen thirty one and still today the local spit on this very stone in order to express their disgust with the killings of three. the spitting stone lies at the foot of the ancient cathedral it's almost one thousand years old . and apparently it's home to a little church mouse made of stone. either i'm bad looking or it's very good at hiding. the pastor ingrid vigil will surely be able to help me she can a lot of you for

a second. she leads me to the vestry. so here we have the church mouse it's tiny just like a real mouse. some so what's the deal with a mouse and tickets which are very a story. the most common one is that in the past the artisans who worked on the churches were supposed to look at them very closely when they travelled through the country and if they could say where this church mouse was here in the cathedral the master builder knew that they'd looked at it properly. as a lesson so it was to trick the workers to stay an ark this. i've arrived at such a structure that in the middle ages it was an important connection route between the market square and the river vai's up the street got its name from the coopers but in germany who used to live here. the street as a whole is listed the red brick architecture is typical for braman and on but just

toss it is perfectly preserved. in this courtyard you'll find the fountain of the seven lazy brothers and of course .