Scenic Tours Jewels of Europe #7

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Bamberg

Bamberg is on the Main-Danube canal. The canal is 171 km long and, with 16 locks, rises over 400 m to cross the Alps and was opened in 1992. It was only made possible by modern locks that rise up to 25 m.

For an aviator our Bamberg meeting place was well named - Hotel Messerschmitt.

I started with the slow walkers, but they were going to spend too long in the beer tasting, so I headed off on my own, only to meet Beth's group at the Dom. In the Dom there was a statue of a man on a horse, but no-one could remember who he was. There was much activity in the square outside the Dom with stalls (travel, parenting, anti-abortion and climate change etc.) and some musicians playing.

The nearby monastery is now an old folks home.

The Town Council building, Rathaus (I love that name, "haus" is pronounced "house") was highly decorated and stands in the middle of the Linker Regnitzarm. The Prince Bishop was opposed to democracy and would not make town land available for the Rathaus so they built it in the river. How I wish we could take all that water home with us! The stream beside the Rathaus is called "Little Vienna" and has Venetian type gondolas on it. Locals say that Venice is the Italian Bamberg!

A poor tailor here was having trouble providing for his family so he got a passport and went to the USA. His name was Levi Strauss, and we know that he did well in USA.

There were 9 breweries in Bamberg and 80 nearby. It was said that the Allies did not bomb it during the war because of the breweries there!

When the group headed for the brewery we went shopping for some lace.

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