Bamberg

After a morning cruising along the Main (pronounced here as "Mine") River we docked near Bamberg at lunch time and were bussed into town for a walking tour.

The cruise was made more interesting for the tour group by first an extended morning tea of local food stuffs - too many sausages of unknown pedegree for us, together with a wide range of sweet things (not much help to a diabetic!).This was followed by a guest lecturer talking about the European Union and its future. Who says these tours are not educational. By and large we gave both of these a miss and entertained ourselves very well in our own way.

We really ejoyed the walk and especially the old buildings. Many of the streets are narrow, cobbled and simply oooze character. No wonder it is World Hertiage listed! One portion of the old town, right agauinst the river, is called little Venice. It is where the fishermen lived, their houses right against the water line. Quite photogenic, even with the developing rain storm in mind. Even saw a gondola "parked" by one of them.

The Old Town Hall (Rathouse) shown on the right, is, just as is appears, built right in the middle of a serious river through the middle of the town - quite a concept. Many of the streets are entirely cobble-stoned and generally the central old town is absolutely picture postcard stuff.

Although we did walk the length of the Christmas market here nothing tempted us. What we are finding is that though a few have featured artistan/craftspeople/products, generally there are many of the same products at each market. Only a few really local differences and then mainly in the way they serve their sausages or occassionally have a specialty sweet cake or biscuit. We are getting a bit tired of seeing Kathy's Christmas shops everywhere (prices higher than everyone else).

It's the special things that most appeal to us.

...Today was the day that REALLY roadtested my wonderful raincoat... and the "waterproofness' of my Gortex boots - couldn't be better! Just wish Arthur had had a hat.

Given the wet weather though this part of the visit came to a very damp end and we rushed for the bus and then the boat.

A nice touch, we were welcomed back on board with a cup of hot tea or mulled wine - ideal for the soggy crew we were by that stage.

This may not be the best news for Colleen and Tony but we gave the soprano (evenings entertainment) a wide berth (except that we chatted with her before dinner).