Nuremberg and Bamberg

SATURDAY: The weather is a bit bleak tonight. Fortunately we are on the ship cruising to Schweinfurt. Today we got to see the sights of Bamberg. A quaint medieval city that had little damage in the war. All authentic and although most of the building facades were baroque, they were original medieval interiors. It was designated a World Heritage Site in 1983. Our guide said he would not be doing the ABC (Another Bloody Church). We walked through the old town and up to the castle and cathedral. We got a opportunity to watch some filming that was taking place outside the castle and inside the grounds. The film is “Witches of Bamburg”. Have some photos that I will post at a later date. Didn’t have any time or luck with internet in Bamburg. We view the magnificent rose garden that was up near the castle and after the tour went back up to the cathedral to see the statue of the Bamberg Rider, made between 1225 and 1237. It is thought to be the first statue of an animal in a church. Bamburg is famous for its Black smoky beer, Hecht Schlenkerla Raughbeir. It is supposed to taste like liquid smoked ham. We got to taste this beer in the oldest brewery in Bamburg. The guides joke that it takes 3 beers for it to taste good. Well it certainly tasted smoky and was nearly black. In our free time we also go to walk through the square markets filled with lots of fresh fruit and vegetable stalls. The city had some lovely clothing and shoes stores, but unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of time to shop. Back on the boat we listened to a guest lecturer who spoke about the ‘European Union’, Very interesting. Australia is very straight forward. It is hard to follow who is in and who is out and who does what in the European Union. This lecturer hoped on at one lock and hoped off at another. The rest of the afternoon we helped out some people with their iPads. Seems like a few people got new iPads just before they left home and have lots of questions. All’s good, some happy customers. We had a medieval feast for dinner and now I am going up to listen to the Medieval Rock and Roll. What ever that could be?????? FRIDAY: A lovely slow morning cruising today. We got to go through our first lock where we went down. A totally different experience, a little noisy. We have now crossed the Continental Divide and the water is now flowing up to the North Sea. We arrived in Nuremburg after lunch and chose to go on the WWII tour. No churches or castles today. Instead we got to see the place where the Nazi rallies were held, the massive unfinished Congress Hall and the court room where the War Crimes Tribunal was held. (Amazing and awful at the same time)On a lighter note Nuremburg is also famous for ginger bread so we got to buy and taste this from a famous Lebkuchen Shop. Not sure if any will get home? After eating again, a wonderful meal, we were entertained by a vocalist who sang the European Songbook. She sang a song from 10 European Countries in 10 different languages. A very entertaining night. I excelled myself, staying to the end. I do usually don’t make it till 10pm.