Bremen's unkown export hit

The people of Bremen need patronage umbrellas. In the city, where summer differs from winter only by the warmer rain, they are simply indispensable. Rainer Gramke sells them and not only to Bremen: Umbrella Oertel has made a name for itself all over the world. The high-quality noble umbrellas are shipped as far away as Israel, Singapore, Australia and outer Mongolia. The main customers live in Los Angeles and San Diego in sunny California. "The buyers take their umbrellas with them on their theatre trips to New York", Gramke knows. The export was made possible by his son, who secured addresses such as www.regenschirme.de on the Internet, which was still hardly used in 1998. A normal, handmade umbrella with the Bremen key costs between 150 and 300 €. But President Obama, the Pope and Queen Beatrix went for the higher price ranges. Handles of mother-of-pearl or sterling silver as well as covers of pure silk are nothing unusual for the factory in Milan. Such an umbrella can cost up to 1000 €. But the Oertel Classic Maple, a favourite of its customers, costs only a measly € 185 - and that too offers protection from summer and winter rain.