Bamberg

Tom Cruise, in Operation Valkyrie, often speaks of his character's wife and children hiding out in Bamberg. In reality, Stauffenberg and his wife were actually married there. While much of the movie was historically accurate, Tom's pronunciation of this city was not (it should be more like BAHM-behrg). Chris had been here during his Humboldt tour last August, overnighting (German verb - a good one) in a converted palace and watching the night crowned by fireworks. Daisy and I spent two nights in Bamberg upon his recommendation, mainly since it was equidistant between two other cities that I had interest in, Bayreuth and Würzburg.

Some trivia: Bamberg lies on the canal between the Danube and the Main rivers. There are some other waterways in the city, too - I crossed 3 rivers heading away from the train station. It is a fast moving current, making a fantastic whooshing sound under all the bridges one needs to cross to get from one side of town to the other.

You might notice the authentic gondola with gondolier in this picture. Bamberg is one of the many cities which either claim to have a "Little Venice" or title themselves "Venice of the ___." Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Bruges, Colmar, Bamberg...Sure, they have canals, but they are all far cries from Venice.

Bamberg boasts highly decorated buildings in its old Altstadt. Here's just a snippet of what was around every corner:

 

St. Cunigunde

Old Town Hall

Bamberg has an impressive, old cathedral, dating from 1004 but not completed until the 13 century. In the mood for some more trivia? All past popes are either buried in Italy or France...except Pope Clement II (1005-1047), buried in Bamberg's cathedral. St. Cunigunde is also buried here, in a tomb carved by local master Tilman Riemenschneider. Also, a famous statue, until recently an "unknown horseman" with a long history of fabricated identities, has been identified by interpreting colors used in the remnants of paint: the 11th century Hungarian Christian king, Stephen I. We saw monuments to him in Budapest last year. I'm so impressed with the tools our modern society has at its disposal: finding paint on this?

Bamberger Reiter

A little tired of German food, I opted for a chic Italian place that squeezed me in between reservations. I think that servers in Europe (at Italian restaurants) actually speak Italian to their customers way more than they do in the US - it was fun to practice the five words I actually know. Daisy had her orange juice and liked dipping bread in the (delicious) tomato soup. All in all, dining here with Daisy was one of those memorable surprises that you can't plan on ahead of time.