Bamberg, Germany

I had heard a lot of good things about Bamberg, and the drive isn't too bad (about an hour) so we went there one Saturday in October.  People really rave about this town, and now I know why!

Almost as soon as we got out of the car, we saw this graffiti. I HAD to take a pic.  Months later, the kids were still talking about this!!!  Shhh!  Don't tell my mom!

 Nat looked so cute here and I love the architecture of the building behind her.  Too cute!

A view down Dominkanerstrasse.  The building to the right (in yellowish on the FAR right side) is the Heller-Trum Brewery (Schlenkerla).  It dates back to the 1300s and brewes Rauchbier.  If you've never tried a Rauchbier, you're in for a REAL treat.  Two words:  Smoked. Sausage.  Yes, it's like you're drinking a liquid sausage.  Todd and I (along with our friends Chip and Dara) tried one years ago at the Brickskeller in Washington, DC.  NEVER AGAIN!

This is the beautiful Bamberg Dom (or Cathedral).  I feel like at any given time, half of Europe is under reconstruction.  There's scaffolding everywhere!  This church was completed in the 1200s, and houses the grave of Pope Clement II.  It also houses the marble tomb of King Henry II (later Saint Henry) and his wife, Queen (and later Saint) Cunigunde. 

 And here they are!

This guy is the Bamberger Reiter, or the Bamberg Horseman.  It's thought that he was modeled after Stephen I, a Hungarian King in the 1100s, but no one knows for sure.  To quote wikipedia, "The Nazi's thought he was a knight who symbolized German perfection, looking toward the east for new lands to conquer."  Except that he's not even looking east, so show's you how much those dumb Nazi's know!  Anyway... it was thought to be a pretty strong Nazi propaganda.  

Once we left the Cathedral, and we headed toward the Rathaus, I saw this!  From 1554!  Please do not drink the water.   (What you can't see on the far right is "Kein trinkwasser.")  Apparently the brewers used to get their water from here, because it was much cleaner (at the time) than the water in the nearby river. 

Water control structure!  Water control structure!  I'm SUCH a floodplain management geek.

Me and the hubs in front of the Bamberg Rathaus (Town Hall) which is on an island in the middle of the river).  It was built in the 1300s. Super cool!

As I was walking along the cobblestone streets of Bamberg, I occasionally saw these small little plaques on the ground.  This was only three of a bunch that I saw.  These are known as Stolperstein's and they are all over Europe.  "Hier wohnte" means "here lived."  To date, there have been more than 53,000 Stolperstein's placed in cobblestone streets all over Europe.