Bamberg

Our German house exchange friends took us to visit the nearby city of Bamberg.

The houses and apartment buildings look different from the French.

Pauline is the four year old daughter of our German friends. Like any other child, she enjoys a playground. They are teaching her some English as well as German.

Did you know its name was Gerald. Watch the video to get the joke.

Daughter and mother having fun.

Some sort of summer festival was about to begin, even with the threat of rain.

One of my favourite memories is riding in a dodgem at the Brisbane Show (the Ekka) back when Robin was very young. She was finally old enough to drive one herself and after a couple of minutes I glanced to one side to see her bearing down on me with a fiendish grin on her face as she broadsided me.

Side of a house.

Tables ready to be turned over.

Now that house is well and truly covered.

Bamberg's 'Little Venice'.

It was just about lunch time and the tables were filling.

We tried to find some space here but were too late.

We found a nice restaurant where we sat by an open window.

Christian had an onion filled with minced meat.

I ordered this pork leg that had been marinated in a special beer with a ham flavour called Rauchbier. It is a Bamberg specialty and is quite unusual.

Marianne and Beatrice each had a salad.

I could not eat it all but I made a valiant attempt. Little did I know that I was to eat another pork leg a few days later.

This bloke came up to our window and so I gave him some money.

Here is his website and from what I can make out he travels around promoting peace.

Sooooo, a photo of people going somewhere. The Germans don't do the long extended 'so' that is common in Austria.

Marianne wheeling Pauline's stroller. It rolls very easily and can be converted to be pulled behind a bicycle.

The old Rathaus or town hall. Bamberg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This article states that Bamberg was not bombed during WWII but apparently there was some bombing but not as much as most other German cities.

Everybody looked like they were going to have a good time even if it rained.

We climbed a hill to a square surrounded by impressive buildings. This was the State Library.

The Cathedral.

The square.

We walked around to the back entrance of the cathedral where we could take in the stroller.

It is a somber building with not much in the way of colour.

Tomb of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry II. The Wiki article is very long.

There is also a Pope buried here but I missed his tomb.

I liked the look of the shed.

I was intrigued by these triangular structures rising up to the scaffolding around one of the towers.

The Cathedral has four towers, two at the front and these two at the back.

The fun fair had started up and Pauline had a go on a trampoline swing affair. We were just in time because it started to rain.

We only had a limited time in Bamberg so there is still much more to see. I would like to go back sometime.

We really enjoyed the visit with our German friends. It was so interesting to see them in their house where we had stayed for five weeks three years before. When you live in a house for a few weeks, you tend to forget that other people own and live in the house.