Bamberg - Fishing in a German village!

I saw Bamberg and all of my ideas of a German village came true. Brightly colored buildings, flower boxes in every window, bier gartens on every corner and of course, a wealth of history.

I went on a guided walking tour of the city with so many little stories and tales. Bamberg is on a river and used to be the fishing capital of Germany. Many of the fisherman houses are marked with a tin fish on their door. The river was used for transport - boats alone with the current and boats pulled by horses against the current. There is a former slaughter house that sat on the river and built in openings under it to dispose of the unused meat parts. The first hospice in the entire world was started in Bamberg at a former monastary. There are three main bridges across the fast flowing river that create famous whirlpools around them - making it easy for the fish to get caught not only in the underwater tornado, but also in the fishing pole! Every time we turned a corner, Robert had another story for me - it was so fascinating. The highlight of the tour was entering the Dom Cathedral and hearing the Boys Choir practicing - it was magical!

We ate dinner at a famous Bier Garten, Schlenkeria. Robert, of course, had a story! This brewery was operated by Monks in former times (as the Germans say) and one day, the brewery caught fire. Everything burned, except for the Hops in a pale on the roof, which now had a smokey flavor. They decided to reopen the brewery and are now famous for their smokey beer! Along with a smokey beer, I tried Schaeufele - traditional Franconian food. As we continue our Germany tour, I realize I am seeing and learning so much. In the region of Bavaria where I'm staying, there are several counties - Franconia being one of them. Much like in the US, there are characteristics about the landscape of people in each one. I find it so fascinating because, unlike the US, these counties are very close together. It would be like saying Maricopa County residents are different from Pinal County residents - which in some ways they are, but not like this!

I am so grateful to have seen Bamberg today - the tiny cities have a certain European charm that I've been looking for - and more history that I could have imagined. I even bought my first beer related souvenir, but as it is a present for a blog reader, that's all the info you get right now! :) After dinner we headed out to several other breweries to get the full effect of Bamberg, and of course, another story. A fella showed up in a what I considered to be an old time carpenter outfit - it's actually present day. In Germany, if you want to be a carpenter, you spend your first year on the job shadowing other carpenters and trolling around the city in your fancy outfit looking for work.

Tonight, we headed back to the VW Camper and I slept on the top with the pop-up - it was like my own mini-tent above the car and it felt just like camping with a certain fella back home. :)