Happy birthday (Würzburg and Rothenburg, Germany)

When we travel on our own, dear reader, we build in rest days to catch up on the mundane, washing, planning excursions, emails, blog posts and so on. While we have been afforded some down time, it has not been to the extent we would like and one medieval town is beginning to morph into another. Fear of missing out keeps us moving forward but maintaining the blog is somewhat taxing. Yes, yes, first world problems, but then all of my problems are just that.

I prefer sailing

We sailed into Würzburg at first light on a very special day. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you - no, not you, dear reader, Jayne. Today is August 19, the most special day of the year. Although this was to be kept secret from the rest of the passengers under pain of death ... or worse.

Würzburg's burg

The buses were waiting for us at 9:15am to transport us to Rothenburg, an hour's journey through the countryside. Our guide, Caroline, a local resident, was originally from Ireland. She explained the difference between 'burg' and 'berg' something that we had discussed that very morning. 'Burg' means castle and 'berg' means hill, so while there are towns that have a castle on the hill, the castle is given prominence.

Rothenberg wall

Rothenburg was another medieval town but with its perimeter wall intact. The cobblestoned streets were less challenging to walk on than Bamberg even though they were wet from the morning rain. The weather may have impacted on the photo opportunities but that was all. A little bedraggled, we still managed to climb the fully intact town wall to the parapet and walk a section of the perimeter.

Wet cobblestones

On the walk into the heart of the town, we stopped at a house where we were introduced to the specially designed Rothenberg wine bottles, flat like a Mateus bottle. These bottles were apparently modelled on the shape of a goat's scrotum, with the aim of being able to carry the bottle of wine, tucked neatly into your bag, alongside your bible. Personally, I'd take two bottles.

The offending bottles. They must have big goats.

The main church, St James', has twin spires that are not symmetrical. While this is not unusual in medieval towns because of later additions to buildings, this was not the case here. The builder instructed his apprentice to complete one spire and he would do the other. Now my dear reader, there can be only one outcome from two possibilities. Either the apprentice does a half-arsed job and messes it up, or, the student outperforms the master. In Rothenburg, it was the latter, The builder was so despairing that the townspeople preferred the apprentice's tower that he climbed his own spire and jumped to his death. Sadly, his faithful dog followed suit and is now commemorated high on one wall of the inferior steeple.

The builder's spire

The apprentice's spire

The poor dog immortalised as a gargoyle

We also visited the Christmas shop. It was akin to IKEA, one way traffic only, but wandered up stairs, meandered down stairs and led you into dead-end nooks. We found some snow domes but they didn't seem to have a lot snow action. Climate change has even impacted on the snow dome industry. I was beginning to get that Hansel and Gretel feeling when I espied the exit sign. Purchases made, illegal photograph taken unwittingly, we emerged into the daylight to find the rain had dissipated. Good news.

There is a Medieval Crime and Justice Museum that requires around four hours to do justice (what a pun) to the exhibits. It is something I would like to see even though I know I will find it disturbing. We didn't have time to go in but snapped a couple of photos from the outside.

A nice contraption for dunking people in the river

Our time was up and all the APT people commenced moving back towards the bus. Picture cows moving to the dairy in the afternoon.

Back at Würzburg, we had a quick lunch, dropped the pack and walked into the old town along the river. Agriculture is the main deal in this area, particularly grapes for wine production. Never have I seen vines planted up and down a mountain side. In Australia, it is customary to tier the rows of vines to stop soil erosion. A decent Australian thunderstorm could remove half a vineyard.

The old town is quite picturesque. Also quite crowded and in parts, dangerous with the trams ruling the main street. There was, of course, a cathedral and numerous churches. We found a Pandora store and purchased a memento of Germany to add to Jayne's bracelet. Following that it was up onto the Old Main Bridge where locals and tourists all hang out together to drink. There are no chairs or tables and you have to queue to get your wine, but it is in a glass.

The main street of Würzburg

The walk back to the ship was unremarkable and it was into the lounge to finish this blog and celebrate Jayne's birthday with a bottle of Moët. Cheers.

The Old Main Bridge

Of course, no-one was to know it was Jayne's birthday. Until dinner when the staff appeared with a special cake with happy birthday written on it. They then gathered around our table and sang happy birthday. I was receiving looks from Jayne that would have killed a lesser man. My protestations of innocence were ignored until one of the women having dinner with us revealed her birthday was last week and she received the same treatment. Phew. Off the hook.

After dinner there was a round of trivia in the lounge. We had assembled a strong team which was split into three because there were too many of us. Our troika of teams finished first, second and third. It was quite a fun night, despite some contentious questions.

After another big day, it was time to retire and, awaiting us on the bed in the cabin, was some towel art and a card wishing Jayne a happy birthday. The title? Let's go with The Beatles version.

Until tomorrow.

Oompah (Bamberg, Germany)

Today, dear reader, we awoke to an unfamiliar vista. It certainly proved that all stops on the Magnificent Europe River Cruise are not picturesque. We sailed through the night to arrive in the dark and opened the curtains to see, industrial Germany. Our destination today was the medieval town of Bamberg, but the port is all 20th century industrial. It won't win any world heritage awards, unlike Bamberg itself, which has been heritage listed since 1983.

Not the prettiest scene I've woken to on this trip.

It is a relatively easy day today, a visit to Bamberg for a walking tour and some free time in the morning and then an afternoon cruising to Wurzburg. The sundeck on the ship is closed due to the low bridges. There are points where we have only 7 cm clearance. We thought the locks were a tight fit. Speaking of which, the locks have increased in frequency although we are going down, not up, and the drop appears to be about half what we experienced on the Danube.

Better than the industrial look.

There was a 9am bus ride into town with a 75 minute guided walk around the medieval town centre. The old city is on the other side of the river and we were dropped at the Opera House. It looked nothing like I expected. The last couple of houses of opera we passed, were massive sandstone block structures with statues and gold leaf. This one was modern, an interesting juxtaposition.

Former fishermen's residences.

From there we crossed one of the many bridges into the cobblestoned streets of the old town. It is really is something to behold. Some of the buildings seem to lean in towards you as you walk past and when you reach the top of the village, the sagging rooflines of the older houses are quite visible. Despite this, they are still standing.

At the outset, we were very clearly informed by our tour guide, that Bambergers are Franconians (region), not Bavarians (state), who apparently like to yodel and do other strange, non-Franconian activities. They still have not come to terms with the annexation a couple of hundred years ago. It was Napoleon who gifted Franconia to Bavaria during the Napoleonic wars. Once this none-too-subtle delineation was noted, we commenced the walking tour proper.

Wasp tarts, they have a real sting to them.

Bamberg is known for its symphony orchestra, a current phenomenon and it's smokey dark beer, a not so recent invention. We didn't have the opportunity to hear the BSO but we could try the Malken. It's a big sale point, beer that has been smoked and has a smoky bacon or ham taste. Or not. Each to their own. We drank the beer. The smoky bacon was stronger on the nose than the actual taste. It was a dark beer, a little lighter than Guinness. I prefer the latter.

The pub with the smoke flavoured beer.

On the tour, we saw the cathedral which houses the bodies of 3 saints - the Emperor Henry II and his wife, as well as Pope Clement II. Next to the cathedral is a castle where the bishops resided in grand style. Apart from the size of the building, which had external walls that were painted to look like stonemasonry, the view from the manicured rose gardens at the back was panoramic.  We looked over the old city skyline which has not changed much since the first town map was produced in the 17th century.

The Sainted King and Queen in state

Stunning and they had Papa Meilland roses.

The two sections of the lower town (bishops on one side and common people on the other) are separated by a swift flowing river. On a man-made island in the middle of the river, is perched the Town Hall, originally constructed in the 14th century. Legend has it that, while it had been agreed that the people wouldn't have to pay any taxes, the bishop had refused to grant them any land to build their town hall. In response, the people rammed stakes into the bed of the river to construct the platform on which the building has sat for centuries, connected to the banks by two bridges.

The Town Hall or Rathaus

After a quick walk around the surrounding streets, it was time to head back to the bus and then the ship. There is no time to waste and after we boarded at 12:15pm, we were heading for the first lock before 12:30pm. With a light lunch over, and a couple of glasses of wine to aid with digestion, we went back to our cabin to sit on the balcony and watch Germany float by. Very pleasant. The industrial world has once again succumbed to the rustic.

Rustic is better than industrial

Despite the fact that we spent the day in Franconia, the theme for tonight's dinner was all Bavarian, including a mini-Oktoberfest and traditional biergarten music. The two Bavarian musicians are known as lock hoppers because they get on the ship at one lock and leave at the next. The distance between two locks has never been so far.

For your listening pleasure, or otherwise, here is a genuine Bavarian oompah band. Clearly this is the reason for today's title and while oompah may not actually be a song title, it's as close as I could get.

Until tomorrow.