Saturday morning we all got up and got ready for another weekend of sightseeing. We took Rick and Sandy to Bayreuth to walk the town and visit the Bayreuth Hermitage - a large garden/park that was built back in the 1700s as a getaway spot for the royals. The flowers both in town and at the Hermitage were incredible.
Outside the Wagner Museum
Bayreuth Palace flowers
Hermitage Labyrinth
Bayreuth New Palace
In Graf that evening the town celebrated the coming of spring by raising the town Maibaum (Maypole). The raising of the Maibaum has been a tradition since the 16th century in Germany. The symbolism of it us up for debate, but typically the Maibaum at least in Bavaria is a freshly cut tree trunk stripped and painted in Bavarian colors (blue and white). It's topped with a wreath of pine branches and decorated with emblems that depict local crafts and industry. Rumor has it that Grafenwoehr is one of the only towns left in Bavaria that still raises their Maibaum by hand (as opposed to using a truck with a winch). It was quite the ceremony. First the Maibaum was paraded through town escorted by a marching band. Once it reached the park everyone gathered around to watch (after a visit to the beer tent). It was pretty interesting to watch, although it took probably 45 minutes to raise. Afterwards we went out for mexican.
Marching Band leading the procession
Maibaum
Getting it positioned
Lifting by hand
Sunday we travelled to Waldsassen to show the Knights the Basilica and also to visit the Abbey library. The library was built in the 1700s and contains extensive woodcarvings throughout. They have tours of it every hour or so and won't allow you to take pictures which is too bad but you can take my word for it that it was pretty incredible.
Entrance to Library
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