Just What the Doctor Ordered

Saturday, May 16th

Just finishing up a really nice day in Bamberg - just what the doctor ordered. Bamberg is a smallish city north of Nuremburg, still in the Free State of Bavaria. It’s one of Bavaria’s “oldest” cities, still retaining some of the original wall and all of the original streets from Medieval times. And, it apparently came out of World War II unscathed, which isn’t typical for many of Germany’s cities. Many of the biggest, most important cites in Germany were bombed to kingdom come during The Second World War and were largely rebuilt afterwards. Bamberg dates back over 1,000 years and was a city in Bavaria that was part of the Roman Empire, ruled by Emperor Henry II. It was built on a series of seven hills, just like the capital city of Rome. It is also fondly known as Germany’s “Little Venice” due to the many canals and tributaries that intersect the city.

At this point I’m on the train – as it seems I always am while I write – on my way back to Starnberg. Unfortunately, my ICE train – Germany’s “fast” train – broke down somewhere north of Bamberg, so instead of being on the fast train, I’m on a regional train bound for Nuremburg where I will switch trains and grab a different high-speed one for Munich.

This past week was quite uneventful, with the exception of a visit to The Nazi Documentation Center in Munich with friends, Frankie and Helen from school. This week was the first week that museums in Bavaria were allowed to open, and Tuesday night was the first night this particular museum opened its doors. We had the entire place almost solely to ourselves. It was a good museum, chronicling the rise and fall of the Nazi party in the 20s, 30s and 40s. Much of the information I had learned in other contexts, but it was quite special to learn about this history in the belly of the beast, in the city where a lot of this awful shit went down. Seeing the photos and learning about major events leading up to the war, I could identify many of the locations in Munich where those events took place and where I have walked multiple times. Eye-opening and scary to see how easily Germany turned into a fascist, anti-Semitic, terrible place. Then, to see, after the war, how it all quickly returned to a civilized, prosperous, democratic society.

Okay, so back to Bamberg. I really just spent a lion’s share of the day wandering around the city. In addition to that, there was a large farmer’s market spread out throughout the old town. I looked around in the morning, took some pictures and what not, then came back later in the day to grab some lunch. I had a pork sandwich and a kebab wrap. I know. Weird combination, right? The pork was okay. The wrap was outstanding.

The city of Bamberg, as I said earlier, is dotted about on seven different hills, making for a really nice wander. It seemed at every turn there was a beautiful garden, a monastery or a 1,000-year-old church. The place is gorgeous. After my lunch, I spent some time in Bamberg’s stunning botanical gardens – including a much-needed and pleasurable nap - then set out on my bike along the Regnitz River. Biergartens and restaurants are still not allowed to be open, but take-out is approved, therefore when I came upon a spot on the trail where I could see dozens of parked bikes, I knew there was a needed stop ahead. I wasn’t hungry, but of course I had to get a beer.

A little further upriver, I came upon something fun. With no bicycle bridge in the vicinity to cross, the locals have devised a little bike ferry to get cyclists across the river. It was so cool. I waited for a few people ahead of me, struck up a conversation with a fellow cyclist, then boarded the ferry for the 2-minute voyage. It cost me a whopping 1 euro. It was quite a little cultural experience. Masks on, the ferry captain reminded me.

By the time I made it back to the city, my day was about up. And what a great day it was. I’d maybe like to come back to Bamberg, when the restaurants, museums and hotels are open. We’ll see. Maybe one of my long weekends coming up or maybe a summer travel stop.

Sunday brought a different adventure. This one was with my cyclist friend, Lynne. We’ve both been cycling so much in the Starnberg area over the past couple of months and were just itching to check out some different scenery. So we hopped our bikes on the train and headed south toward the Alps – Mittenwald, to be exact. It was another great day. Sorry I say that so much. But, in all honesty, I have had quite a few “not so great” days during the past couple of months. I just don’t blog about those!

We first set off for Austria, knowing that the border was technically closed but wondering if we could sneak across on our bikes. Restaurants were open in Austria, so we figured we’d try to get ourselves a proper meal – and check out the scenery, of course. We actually managed to cross into Austria, but as soon as the trail intersected a main road, there was a large fence with border patrols on the other side. So, no dice. But, we can still say we went into Austria when no one was allowed to. Big deal, I know.

The rest of our day involved cycling into the mountains near Mittenwald, specifically to the lakes of Lautersee and Ferchensee. It was stunning. This is actually the same region where Sammie and I did some hiking back in the winter. So to see it now, all green and filled with flowers, was pretty spectacular and quite different from the white winter wonderland Sammie and I had experienced. At one of the lakes we stopped for a schnitzel sandwich and a couple of beers. It was awesome.

While enjoying our beers we suddenly heard a loud noise, only to turn and see a huge flock of sheep descending into the valley – bells on each of their collars. It was quite a racket and they drew quite a crowd. Super fun to see.

By mid-afternoon we made our way back to Mittenwald – including an adrenaline-rush-filled 400-foot descent down a winding, twisting, forested highway. Loved it! We grabbed some coffee and cake (the thing to do in Germany in the afternoons) then boarded our train back to Starnberg. Awesome, awesome day.