Welcome Kongresshotel Bamberg

... was also a restaurant doing business as a restaurant since 1365. Are you kidding me?

Bamberg was spared from a bombing raid during WW ll due to a heavy fog. Their patron saint is now one who controls fog.

There are 9 breweries in this small town. 2 of which feature a "smoked" beer. History has it that there was fire ...

Had to get up early in order to catch the 8:30 tour of Bamberg. Buses took us into town for our walking tour. One of the special places to see was the old Town Hall which is in the middle of the bridge between the two sides of the city. Originally one side was the Prince/Bishops and the other the common people and they shared the town hall. It is painted in elaborate Baroque style. The town was established in 1007 and the buildings were of half-timber construction ...

... was switched to a different platform. I asked how people were supposed to know that and he drew us a picture on a scrap of paper. He said up in the corner of the information board on the platform, there is a information bar and thats where it said it. But this is only in German, yet English is printed everywhere else! Ahhh!!! So we had to spend 2 hours of a gorgeous afternoon standing on a train platform. Luckily, the next train came ...

... city was really nice and different from Munich, it was really never bombed in the war so there are so many original very old building still standing. Also we were able to see another 2 castles, not the same castles as before but more of a mansion style with amazing gardens. Bayreuth was really cool and I wish I had more time to look around but it is time to see where I was born.

... quick two points to steal the win from us, but it was a very spirited game and we all commented on how great it was to battle it out with such intensity. Our final game was tiring for me as I had been playing for most of the points in the other two games, but we got an easy win nonetheless.

As i mentioned earlier, I had a lot of chances to handle and with some people I've played with before ...

... EURO for a nights camp, bargain.

We have pretty much breezed round Germany for five days visiting Munich and Nuremberg along the way as well as some smaller towns, we had the obligatory pint at Munich in the busy beer garden, which was packed. I can't imagine how it must be at Octoberfest, I think this light version suited us better we are getting a bit to old for three day binges! We then found a small village with great gardens to explore ...

... an abundance of historical buildings, luckily not many were destroyed in the War. It was listed as an UNESCO world heritage site in 1983. The old City Hall was build on a bridge over the Regnitz River, there is another large Cathedral. This was closed to us today, the Archbishop had died recently and his body was lying in state inside. In the cathedral grounds there was a stunning Rose Garden with every colour and type imaginable ...

... against my miserly instincts I agreed, which was a fortunate decision as the Barockhotel was a long, long way from the station. The new part of Bamberg was not very exciting, however our hotel was just outside the gates of the Altstadt. The Barockhotel was a pretty little place built, as the name suggests, in the baroque style. Our promised view of the Dom amounted to a glimpse of its spires rising above the roof of neighbouring buildings. We didn't complain because a) we ...

On Saturday, Melanie and I went to visit Bamburg, the town where she attends the University - also home to a castle and designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's home to a number of 17th- and 18th-century buildings, a couple of different large cathedrals, and a castle. Plus it has a really pretty river running through an area of town the locals refer to as Little Venice. Our day was pretty similar to Friday - we walked around ...

... We manage to get some nice warm shower at the kayak center (good since there was no shower at the camp building) but had nothing to dry or clean... we took hand paper from the toilet it was good enough anyway We reached back the camp building and had to change myself since my pants were wet (my only one) and I remarked as well that I had cut myself on my foot during one of the several portage. I wore some of the last clean and dry clothes I had and ...