We awoke early on Monday morning to make the long trip from Schweinfurt to Bamberg. We took Sam’s temperature and it was a high 39C. So we decided to put him on Tamiflu in case he had caught Swine Flu on the plane. Sam stayed in bed as we worked our way along the last part of the River Main arriving at last in the picturesque city of Bamberg. We had a good mooring just out of town and in a quiet location. Next morning, the Tamiflu had kicked in and in the afternoon Sam felt well enough to walk along the river into Bamberg.
Bamberg is a very very pretty city virtually untouched since the middle ages. A pretty part is called Little Venice where houses sit with the river lapping at their feet.
We wandered around the town and Sam bought a special beer glass to take home.
Next day we left Bamberg for Forchheim our base for the next 5 days as we visited Nick and Monika and their two children Vivien and Leslie. Nick is Wendy’s brother. The weather was lovely as we sat into the night chatting in Nick and Monika’s garden and having a great BBQ. Next day Sam had to leave for NZ, so we went with him on a short walk to the railway station and sadly waved goodbye as he took the train to Frankfurt Airport and his flight home.
That night we headed to Forchheim and explored this lovely old town whilst Vivien and Leslie went to ballet school. It has a lovely Rathaus (town hall)
In the evening Nick met up with us on the outskirts of Forchheim at the ancient Kellerberg beer garden. What an experience! It is on the side of a hill with perhaps 20 different beer gardens there. Each has its own tunnel going into the hill to keep the beer cool and tables and chairs under the trees, where you can drink delightful locally brewed beer, and eat very well and very cheaply.
It was packed with hundreds and hundreds of people each enjoying the warm evening ambience and delicious food.
On Friday Wendy and I had to go into Erlangen by train. Wendy to have a temporary filling and me to have my shoulder looked at. I waited two hours at the orthopaedic specialists and after an X-Ray and ultrasound was diagnosed with bursitis. I was given a cortisone injection and voltaren which so far haven’t worked very well. Oh dear!
After the appointments we headed to “The Berg” in Erlangen which is another huge beer garden like the Kellerberg. We had more freshly brewed beer and a picnic of Bavarian specialties that Monika had put together. In the evening we sat outside in the garden while Nick and Monika prepared and cooked flammekuchen, sort of like a pizza, in a special wood fired oven outside.
On Saturday we all caught the train to Nuremberg which is a delightful old town that you would scarcely guess what almost obliterated in WWII, and has been rebuilt stone by stone in such a way you wouldn’t know.
Whilst Monika and Leslie went shopping the rest of us wandered around the lanes and and old houses, walking up to the castle that dominates the old town. We met some strange characters in an old shop.
On Sunday we had a champagne brunch to celebrate Nick and Monika’s wedding anniversary and in the evening we went out to a local Schloss Restaurant for a typical Franconian meal. The girls dressed up in their traditional dentelle dresses.
Today is Monday and we have left Nick and Monika ,and continued along the Main-Danube Canal to Nuremberg. This week we head to the Danube, which is in flood at present, and visit the UNESCO designated city of Regensburg.
