Bamberg

The long overdue post

I spent much of my Easter holidays in the state of Bayern (Bavaria). To many people, the state Bayern = Munich. Although there is a tendency for me to see why this is so, I do not really agree. And it is also this reason which also led to other German towns rarely explored. And Bamberg is one of such places, although I think there are other cities which are more ulu than this one.

Altstadt

The town of Bamberg was lucky to escape from the WWII bombings. Its beautiful Altstadt and magnificant Dome made it to be recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I could still remember I arrived at Bamberg on a Sunday afternoon. The Altstadt was seemingly quiet, with the exception of coffee cafes open. It took me quite a while to reach the Altstadt from the train station, about 20minute walk, during which I have to cross two rivers to reach the Altstadt.

This photo was taken from the side of the Altstadt. On the other side where you see the houses above, this row is fondly known as the Klein Venedig (small Venice) because it is taught to resember a part of Venice. Have not been to Venice yet (that will be done in June together with Ying, Peiyong n Teresa!), I am not sure how much of a resemblence it is.

The most popoular site of Bamberg has to be this building. It is the Altes Rathaus (old city hall), which is today a museum. It is beautifully painted, but the main attraction is that the building is actually perched on twin bridges over the river, as seen below.

The Dom in Bamberg is a gigantic Cathedral which overlooms much of the Altstadt.

The Kloster St Michael (Monastery Church)

It was however the Monastery Church which received more of my attention than the Dom. The monastery, in terms of heights, is built at a level higher than the Dom, which means climbing and climbing again. But it was worth it because of the interesting content inside the monastery church:

The church ceiling's not the typical ceiling you'd see at all other churches here. The painting are plants, or to be more precise, medicinal plants. In fact if you walk along the church grounds, you could still see the plants being grown and labelled, not for practical purposes but rather more for display purposes.

Rauchbier (smoked beer)

This is a speciality of Bamberg. At first look it appears very similar to the dark beer which we always drink here. However, the taste is somewhat different. To me it is a taste which has to be accquired, just like smoked meat. There is a smokey pinch of the beer like as though there's smoke in my mouth. And when I swallow it, the feeling is almost like smoking a cigarette, the period after inhaling and before puffing out.

I saw a rainbow in the train along the way to Bamberg. Its nice to see rainbows here because of the long spread over the fields, something which I do not see in Singapore.

http://picasaweb.google.com/vintagebin/16MarBamberg