The One with all the Bird Houses

I’d like to say that this story started out when my friend in London asked if I could find him a bird feeder while he was back in Canada for two weeks and I was staying at his place, but that would be incorrect.

This, in fact, all started out when I was touring around Germany during the Christmas markets and came across the lovely little town of Bremen in the north of Germany.

If you’ve ever been to London or Edinburgh and liked Notting Hill and the Shambles, you will absolutely fall in love with the duality of street styles in Bremen.

From the colourful, pastel houses to the narrow, winding streets of the Moor, you will find something to captivate you.

When I was doing some of my shopping around I stumbled upon the Moor, which contains some of the oldest streets in Bremen that are still in tact to what they looked like in the 1800s.

There are so many cute shops that give off a magical feeling. When I came across this little boutique called Rapunzel, there were adorable, colourful bird houses outside.

They looked like they belonged in a fairytale or a cartoon; something that transports you somewhere else. These were not your ordinary tin bird feeders, but had tremendous character.

I walked by the shop a few times, peeking inside and thinking of what I would say to the shop lady inside in German.

When I walked in, I asked her in German how much the bird houses outside were. We started having a (limited on my end) conversation about them and she proceeded to show me all of the other houses that she had for sale in the shop.

They came in such bright colours and a few different shapes; there were several that had larger openings for squirrels larger birds.

Then there were also larger houses that only had a small hole in the top; these were for providing space for nesting.

I went with one of the ones with the smaller entrances for small birds.

It took me a while to decide which one I wanted to get; there was this really awesome yellow and blue one with a sun on it that was cute, as well as some green ones which the shop lady told me were the colour of the Bemen football team.

I ended up going with the red and blue one with two white cats carved out. There are a few neighbourhood cats that walk in the garden of my friend’s place so I thought it would be a perfect fit.

When I was paying, the lady gave me a little metal hook that can be drilled into the bottom of the bird feeder. She was telling me, in German, that the hook can be used to hang suet rings underneath.

It took us a while to get to that point as she had to show me on her phone what she was talking about.

I got all the necessary equipment, then was off on my way to the airport!

It was quite wild once again for me. I don’t know how this happens, but I usually always have to end up wearing all my clothes. Think, “Joey from friends”.

Could I BE wearing any more clothes? Well at that moment, no. I was wearing a total of 3 pairs of paints, two skirts, a tank top, two long sleeve shirts, two sweaters, a coat, scarf, and hat.

I put all of that in a separate plastic bag to get through security as I now know that when you wear extra clothes through there, you tend to get sweaty and light up the scanners.

No extra pat downs for me, thanks!

Once through, I put on the layers and sat very still so as not to elicit any extra sweat.

Once on the plane, I discovered I had a whole row to myself. The layers peeled off like an onion, and I was free.

Check out the bird feeders!! Would you ever get one of these?? Let me know!

Christina