A Year in Paris: A Short Stay in Bielefeld, Germany

Be a scientist and see the world--our ongoing travels took Chuck and I to Bielefeld, Germany to attend the Human Robot Interaction conference in March, 2014 where Chuck gave an invited talk and I gave a presentation at a workshop. We attended four days of conference presentations and met with our various colleagues from around the world, as well as met a few new ones. We traveled by fast train from Paris to Bielefeld, just two days after returning to Paris from Israel.

Alten Markt old buildings

Bielefeld is in the north of Germany, not far from Hannover. It's a small city, and I had only a bit of time during my early morning walks, and one break of two hours during the conference to see parts of the city. Bielefeld is celebrating its 800th anniversary this year, but for most of its existence it was a small town that existed due to the castle of the local ruler, Count von Ravensberg. It has the lovely look of German towns, with buildings like these, which were part of the Alten Markt (old market) and now are on the pedestrian walking mall in the center of town. As the photo below shows, the Alten Markt is in regular use--farmer's market on Thursday morning!

Closeup of Alten Markt buildings

Farmers' Market

Nicholai Kirche

The old Nicholai church is located nearby, as is this statue to the Linen Weavers, who were important in Bielefeld's history as a mercantile center.

Linen Weavers Monument

The old city hall is also in this area, which was a half block from our very modern hotel. Next to it is the new city hall, bigger but not as charming!

New City Hall

Old City Hall

Bielefeld is spotlessly clean, has a streetcar/subway system that is efficient, modern and about a dozen or less years old. It has lovely parks, some wonderful restaurants (we ate in the Johannes Albrecht microbrewery), a large university (which hosted the conference), and a number of small museums about the city's past.

On my 2 free hours, I visited the former home below, which now serves as the museum for decorative arts, called the Huelsmann Musem of Design and Craft. Among the many pieces where a lot of lovely pottery and porcelain beginning with the Renaissance through to the 19th century.