Welcome Hotel Residenzschloss Bamberg

... the hops were heavily smoke damaged, but the brewer didn't want to throw them away. The beer tastes like Ham... I think I'll stick to my red wine.

We are going through more locks and are now on the Main river, pronouced "Mine".

Sheila has learned the hard way that packing an umbrella may be a good thing in the future!

... later, you could lower your taxes if you redecorated in the baroque style covering up the timber. As a result you see both kinds of construction, sometimes on the same building. We went to the cathedral but it was not as impressive as others we’ve seen. However, it was built in the 11th century and houses the tombs of Emperor Henry II and Pope Clement II, the only Pope buried in Germany.
Walking through the cathedral square we came to the Old and New ...

... the correct spot and we got on.

We arrived in Bamberg in time to get a bus out to our hostel but only part way there, we would have to wait another hour for the other bus. So, we didn't want wait after wasting so much time at the train station earlier. Instead we took the first bus and walked a good 30 minutes with our bags to the hostel, but it was right on the river so it was worth it. We walked into town that night - at ...

So today I woke up showered and had a salami sandwich for breakfast and Reena showed me a book about a very famous Opera house in Bayreuth. She said I can look through the pictures and see the inside as we will drive by it and look at the outside on the way to the train station. After talking a little over breakfast we went and toured the main city center for about 45 min before my train left ...

... that was some great experience for me. I have to say that this is probably the best I've ever played at a tournament and we had a very good team despite having quite a few pickups and never really practicing together. Oh and I got a callahan, first ever (at a tournament at least)!

http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Henry_Callahan

Now a break for a weekend, before I'm off to Oktoberfest! Prost!

... Bayreuth, again free. Where we also stumbled on a lads and dads football day which had a massive beer tent and food on the go with proper German entertainment, a local bloke singing on his keyboard! It was very funny but really enjoyable, we felt a bit cheeky just walking in but it was open to all and they were happy to serve a couple of English strays.

Its been a great run the standard of living is so high here I hope they know how lucky ...

... C. you would have loved this, just beautiful. There are 9 breweries in town and 81 more is surrounding areas, producing over 200 different types of beer. And the population is only 70,000, imagine that, We had 2 hours to wander the old streets, but for the first time the weather let us down and it rained, and is very cool. In fact it has been quite cool as we were climbing, hopefully it will warm again as we go lower towards Amsterdam.

... too nice, and b) because our room was quiet, comfortable and not lit by any streetlight beneath our window (unlike the Drei Linden in Nuremberg). The hotel was very pleasant overall and my later positive rating in TripAdvisor raised it to number one on that website's list of the best hotels in Bamberg. As an aside, I had noticed a gradual decline in the standard of refrigerator services since our arrival. In Munich we had a bar fridge which, when its overpriced contents ...

... for a bit, stopping in a couple of stores to browse. Then we walked across the river to one of the cathedrals and a nearby palace with a pretty rose garden and a great view of the city. After spending some time there we started the hike up to the castle overlooking the town (sound familiar? this seems to be a theme for the towns in this area). Once we reached the top we rested a bit and I took some pictures. After descending back ...

... after a moment we left with Diana, Thornsen and Attila to the public pool to swim and afterwards have a decent shower. With the pool... i had also missed some of the presentation made by some member about their trip or other subjects. Back to the building we enjoyed the good bbq and then some party... Sadly I also slept a bit from 11pm to 1am. For the rest listenning to some music and spending most of the night with Diana! The night has been short!!!