Bamberg

In German naming of towns you might be confused by the use of 'berg' and 'burg' which have distinctive pronounciations!  'Berg' means hill and 'burg', which is said as though it were spelled 'bourg,' means castle or fortress.  Bamberg definitely needs to be 'hill' as the river passes through it dividing it into three distinctive parts, although now the island is integrated by modern, 18th century, cobbled roads.  Bamberg is built on seven hills much as is the city of Rome.

Our guide, Jorg, led us up hill to a lovely church and then even more uphill to the Cathedral.  Here the Bishop's residence is also modeled after Versailles but we did not tour through it.  Instead we spent some time in an extensive rose garden overlooking the city rooftops.

We visited inside the Romanesque cathedral which is considered a 'white' church. It was thought to be more pious and more modern to have everything not decorated by color.  A unique statue is not religious at all but is that of King Stephen mounted on a horse high above the worshipers. 

Our walk led us through the Jazz and Blues Festival and so was a really pleasnt afternoon in this Baroque town where peoploe earned a ten year tax credit if the first floor had a baraoque facade and twenty years of no taxes if the second story was also made to look baroque.  The typical half timbered town was covered with facades that give it a unique rococco look.

We were welcomed back on board with a shot of Schnapps and a delightful German dinner of duck or flounder.  The entertainment was a rousing rendition of liar's club.  Four guest were the panel and our team of guesses did not do well but we all laughed for an hour before the nightly dancing began.

This norning my wireless signal is pretty good as we are docking outside of Nuremberg along with about twenty other river ships including the Mississippi Queen.  It however is docked permanently or for day trips as a dinner restaurant.

I will take a moment now, however, to apologize for typos and errors.  The connections are very iffy and so there is not really time to doublecheck what I am writing as at any moment it might be lost.  I hope though that you will follow what links I can create and learn more about this beautiful trip.  You might also be interested in how I can go fromthe Rhine and Main to the Danube.  It is a very well masterminded canal that takes you across Europe on an East - West run.  Main-Danube-Canal

Photos you might enjoy!