Bamberg

Ingrid and I went to Bamberg today with her friend, her friend's daughter, her friend's two granddaughters, and the friend's French exchange student. Yeah, it was a party.

But in all seriousness, Bamberg is probably the most beautiful city I've been to. It's a lot like Rome in that the town itself was built along a group of hills.Each of the five hills around Bamberg is now the home of a different monastery, which creates quite the series of incredible views. I posted photos, but sadly they don't nearly do the town justice. The town has, amongst several giant monasteries, a huge cathedral, an Imperial Residenz, a large rose garden, as well as dozens of other churches and old buildings. Bamberg was not hit very hard in the war, so thankfully a lot of the original city still exists.

We climbed up into this tower that provided 360 degree views of the city-roofscape, and it was just incredible.We had lunch in one of the famous breweries (the town has six official breweries, a rather high number for a German town) and sampled the town specialty beer, Rauchbier ("smoked beer"). I thought it tasted pretty good, but no one else really cared for it. We spent a couple of hours walking around the city and looking at all the old churches, monasteries, and government buildings. It was a bit of a drive from Üttingen, but Ingrid hadn't been there either, so it was well worth the trip.

[Editor's Note: I wanted to point out that the photos of the grave with the weird hole/tunnel in it is that of one of the patron saints of Bamberg. The early monks were well known for their studies in medicine and arts of healing. The cathedral ceiling is painted with over 600 different kinds of herbs and other such plants. It is said that if one is to walk through the hole in the grave (which I did) it is supposed to alleviate back pain.]

After we got back, Julia and I went to join two of her friends at their house before heading off to a club in Würzburg. No one had been there before, but it turned out to be a pretty happen place. We took a taxi back (the driver was crazy!) and made it home around 3:30 or so in the morning. All-in-all it was a pretty great day in Germany.

So with that said, "Back to work in the morning.".