Bamberg, Germany

We spent the first weekend in January recovering from our crazy Christmas break.  We didn't even go out New Year's Eve, even though it was the 650th anniversary of Grafenwoehr, and there was a party in the main square.  We ate appetizers for supper and Carissa and I made it to midnight, mostly because every house in our neighborhood lit up the sky with fireworks.  We tried to wake up the kids, but all three were dead to the world.

New Year's Dinner

The next week the kids went back to school, save Elise who got a second round of the flu.  She missed the entire week, which was a first for her - she hadn't ever missed a school day due to sickness.  Thursday night she was actually feeling better, but we kept her home just to make sure and prevent her from spreading her sickness to her classmates.  

Friday was a movie night, and by Saturday morning we had a bit of cabin fever so we decided to take short trip to explore a small nearby town that we heard was cool - Bamberg.  It's about an hour away on the river Regnitz and is another city that was not damaged by bombing in WWII.  Apparently there was an artillery factory near the city, which meant planes couldn't get close enough to bomb it.

We arrived in town about 1 o'clock, and checked into our hotel, a Best Western.  Carissa had negotiated a really cheap rate over the phone and were expecting something similar to a US Best Western, but this place was brand new and very nice.  We dropped off our bags and headed out on the town.

The first stop was the main town square, which was bustling with people due to the warm weather that had rolled across Bavaria the previous week.  After about a month of almost constant snow and cold temps, the first week in January brought temperatures in the low 40s and rain everyday.  Most of the snow had melted as a result and that Saturday was very mild if overcast day.  After the main square we walked toward the Old Rathaus, which was built right on top of the Regnitz.  Past the Rathaus was Cathedral hill and the Bamberger Dom.  We walked through the church, which seemed to be huge considering the relatively small size of the town, and then back down the hill where we stopped in a little restaurant for some drinks and appetizers.  Bamberg is known for it's breweries (there used to be 27 I think, now there are 8) and also known for their signature beer, Rauchbier (smoked beer).  The restaurant was, in fact, also a little brewery and so of course I ordered a Rauchbier.  A very peculiar beer - it literally smells and tastes like campfire smoke is infused in the beer.  

Bamberg Main Square 

Old Rathaus 

The Regnitz

Bamberger Dom

We spent another hour or so wandering our way back to the hotel, let the kids rest a bit in the room and then went out to find some dinner.  We tried to eat at four different places (one was closed, the others were full), almost bought dinner at the grocery store, but ended up at a restaurant directly across the street from the hotel.  A good meal, if a little pricey, but we were getting desperate.

Sunday morning we got up and ate the complimentary breakfast, which we expected to be similar to our previous hotels - cheese and salami slices, rolls and coffee / tea.  Instead what we found was a lovely spread of food including champagne, espresso, cappuccino, eggs, sausage, bacon and a huge assortment of pastries, cereals, yogurts, meats, cheeses, and juices.  We were quoted $100 for the night, but after seeing this wondered if we had heard it wrong.  A breakfast like this would probably run 40 euro minimum so it made no sense.  We told the kids to eat up because it might be their only meal of the day!  Turns out the price we got was correct.  As a result, we may visit Bamberg again just for the breakfast.  

Amazing Breakfast

We thought about doing a bus tour of the city, but the kids really wanted to get home for Sunday school (imagine that) so ended up going to the Naturkunde-Museum Bamberg instead.  It's a great little Natural History museum - entirely in German, but still very interesting.  We walked through all the exhibits, watched a short movie on the environment and rising population growth and spent a lot of time in their expansive collection of animal specimens.  The collection dates back to 1791 and includes an incredible variety of animals, from beetles and butterflies, to reptiles, birds and even larger animals - a male lion and an adult orangutan.  The kids got a little souvenir from the gift shop and then we drove home to Graf.

Cool rocks

Dead Animals