Bamburg and Dettelbach

We had a busy and enjoyable couple of weeks! Bob is feeling better after his bad cold. We have been attending two sets of Church meetings for the past three Sunday to help Monika get used to her German Branch, as she had been attending the International Ward with us. We had three families over for dinner and were happy to be invited to a new couples' apartment.for a delicious dinner. She had drawn my name from the basket at Relief Society for our July "Not-So-Secret-Sister" activity. President Kapischke and his wife gave sweet parting messages at our devotional, as they are moving to Utah. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I taught at the Kindergarten, which will now be off for three weeks. Thursday evening we said goodbye to our dear friends, the Asplunds, who are returning home to Utah. On Friday evening we went out for Vietnamese food with the Dearings, and on Saturday, we took our P day to Bamburg. Our first stop was at the local flohmarkt--a great way to start a Saturday morning!

 

Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany located on the Regnitz River, founded in the 10^th century. For a short time, Bamberg was the center of the Holy Roman Empire. Parts of the old stone wall are still standing.

We walked along this little river into town.

As in many European cities, the doorways are very short, as people many years ago were not as tall as we are today.

Bamberg has many colorful, winding streets.

St. Elisabeth Church

Saint Michael's Church

We went on a tour of the Neue Residenz that was built between 1698-1704. It was initially occupied by the prince bishops and from 1864-1867 by the deposed King Otto of Greece.

 

 This is a huge bedroom with a very small bed.

The ceilings were beautifully painted and ornately framed. This ceiling was done in Tromp-l'oeil, which is an art technique involving realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion of three dimensions. You can see the painted second story "balcony" and then the "open ceiling" that takes the eye to look into the Heavens. This technique was often used to make rooms look larger and grander.

All of the ceilings were spectacular with their framed paintings and chandeliers.

Me in the mirror.

The hallway had a series of doors that opened up into each room.

The inlay on the wood floors was exquisite.

Even a porta-potty. I told Bob he'd better wait.

A view of St. Michael's church from the top.

The Rose Garden below.

There is almost always a wedding everywhere we go!

We walked through the city streets to see colorfully painted buildings.

We came upon this darling shop that I didn't even dare go into.

Cute socks!

An over-sized and off-center wall sculpture.

We walked back along the peaceful river and left another darling city behind.

Grapevines along the way to Dettelbach and what a glorious sky!

Coming into Dettelbach, we discovered another charming little city with surviving stone walls and a cylindrical guard tower and an entry tunnel.

And very narrow, winding streets.

Houses are built right into the old rock walls that surrounded the original city.

A beautiful little canal ran through the city. They had built housing right on top. Can you imagine how wonderful to sleep to the sound or running water?

An arched tunnel had a tribute to Jesus inside.

As we travel through different areas of Germany, we see  unique styles of architecture. They must have had a lot of flat rocks available here, because many of the homes were made of stacked stone. 

This house is painted to look like a half-timbered house.

We climbed the stairs to this little church.

And sat on a bench, enjoying the peacefulness of this quaint city as we enjoyed double-decker ice cream cones of chocolate and nougat for our lunch.

We saw this old grape press and a cool window with a  fountain, and then headed back home.