Today was a bit slower day and we just relaxed in the morning. There was a Fruhschoppen held in the lounge before lunch which we skipped. Furhschoppen is a Sunday morning German tradition where people gather in hotels and drink beer and eat sausages. Not being keen on either we just relaxed and watched a movie on TV and I read my book.
After our usual gorgeous gourmet lunch we boarded the buses for a short trip into Bamburg and a walking tour. Bamburg is a gorgeous little town nestled on a picture postcard river with stone bridges and houses right up to the edge like Venice. In fact they call that area of town Little Venice. We walked to the top of the hill to the Medieval section where there was a massive Cathedral and surprise! surprise! another palace designed and based on the Palace of Versaille. We didn’t get to go inside, but we wandered around through the old buildings and carriage way into a beautiful rose garden. The views from here over the little town were great and we enjoyed the garden. It was lovely with all the different colours of the blooms.
Back to the central part of town we crossed the bridge where there was a building that was painted on the outside with baroque fresco style and a lovely view up and down the river. The river flows very fast on both sides of the building and creates rapids, so they practice competition slalom canoeing in this part. Further down the cobblestone streets and we came to the oldest brewery established in the 1400s and we partook of the famous smoked beer that tastes like bacon, at least Michael and Gerard did. It had quite a nice flavour. We had a chat to people from the Viking tour and to some local Germans. The amazing thing is how many tours are going up and down this river at any time. Tourism is big dollars in this region.
Back to the boat and we resumed our travels along the river. Each night we have had a musician and dancing on board but tonight we had a London West End singer who now lives in Germany. She was fabulous and belted out some great tunes.
We are still going through a lot of locks and while the first couple are a bit exciting, they become a bit ho hum after 30 or so.
