There was no need to set an alarm, since our excursion
was not until this afternoon. The sky was overcast and the temperature was
about 10 C.
The satellite Internet connection was faster for loading
photographs and most of yesterday’s photos were loaded when we returned from
breakfast. We sat with the couple from Long Island, New York. I had taken my camera so that I could show
them the hummingbird photo from yesterday. We were also joined by a couple from
Arizona. Just before breakfast we passed
through the Ottendorf lock and two hours later we passed through the Knetzgau
lock, which is 14.5 km further along the river.
At 10 a.m., Karl Ittig, owner and
master glass blower from Wertheimer Glaskunst and the bon-apart shop in Wertheim, gave an informative and entertaining
presentation on the art of glass blowing, both flame working and hand glass
blowing. Part of the demonstration included a shot (39 ml bottle) of Jägermeifter
for everyone. Jägermeifter is a German
digestif (35% alcohol by volume) made with 56 herbs and spices. He brought many
of the company’s products, including necklaces, earring, bracelets, vases,
bowls, shot glass/napkin holders, Christmas decorations and more. We learned that hot glass does not stick to
graphite. Different processes are used
to create different shapes. To add colour, different mineral powders are added.
There was still a line of people waiting to buy the glass wares an hour after
the presentation concluded. His raw glass supplier is Corning of the United
States. In the Wertheim area there are nearly 1,000 glass blowers working in
area factories, making insulation, and fibre optics to name a few products.
We went to lunch before the ship’s arrival at Hassfurt.
After lunch we got ready to go on the afternoon walking tour in Bamberg. It is
a city of 70,000 residents. Everyone was ushered on one of five buses, four of
which went to Bamburg and the fifth was going on a scenic bus tour of Franconia
in the Bavaria countryside. We have noticed an increase in the colour of the
leaves changing and the amount of leaves falling from the trees. It was about a
25 minute bus ride into Bamburg, where we met our tour guides just after 2 p.m.
The sky was still overcast and only a 12 C temperature. A road sign showed just
64 km to Nuremburg, Germany, tomorrow’s stop. We started the walk on the cobble
stoned streets of Bamburg which was established in 1007 and was primarily a
Catholic town for most of its history. After a few streets we arrived in the
Green Square, which is on a small island, where the vegetable, fruit and flower
market was in full swing. We stopped at
the fountain, for some history and to let the group know that this is the place
to meet at 5:30 p.m., to assemble to catch the buses to take us to the ship’s
mooring in Bamburg. We walked a route to
the hill side, the oldest section of the city, across the old bridge. Under the
bridge is a whitewater kayaking course. There are also gondolas with passengers
on another arm of the river. The old area is built on seven small hills. In the
middle of the bridge is the Rathaus, the Council Chamber rooms. The bishop
several centuries ago allowed the people to build a council house, but not on
the bishop’s land so they built it over the river. Attached to it was built
another building that is illustrated with a scene that incorporates a cherb
sculpture at the top and another painting of a cherub at the bottom, but with a
sculptured leg attached to the painting to give a 3D effect. In the old town we
saw many baroque style buildings and an even older bakery established in 1396. When we received Pillar Square, we were told
of the Jewish history of the town. There
were three synagogues built, the first in this square, then replaced by a Roman
Catholic church on the same location.
The last was a modern building built in 2003. We stopped by a building with green shutters
that is the home of the Bamberg smoked beer - Schlerferla tavern. It also has a wrought iron sign that includes
the six pointed star, the symbol of the brewers guild. Next we walked up the street to the Dom Platz
or Cathedral Square. In front of the
Cathedral was the blue and yellow Bamberger tour bus. The first cathedral built
in 1012 was destroyed by fire, as was the second, then the present stone
cathedral was built in 1237, known as the church of St. Peter and St.
Paul. The tomb of Pope Clement 2 is
located in the church. He was pope for
less than one year. In the early 1800s the church interior was stripped of
colour in an effort to purify the church.
There are six and seven hundred year old paintings on some of the
furniture. The choir area is covered in
beautiful dark work and has an altar area dominated by three life size golden
figures. None of the windows were decorated by stained glass. There was a massive pipe organ on one wall. Across from the cathedral was the 13th
century residence of the king, and across from it, was the new residence that
another king built in the 18th century, inspired by Versailles. The new residence was only partly finished
with two of three wings, since he ran out of money. There are cafés, art galleries, museums and
government offices in the former royal palaces today. We visited the courtyard
of the old residence, with its flower lined balconies that serve as places for
people to watch annual plays performed in the courtyard every summer. Next we entered the Rose Garden with over
4,500 plants and 65 different varieties of roses, which are at their peak in
the summer. From the rose garden we
could see the old St. Michael’s Monastary, which is no longer used as a monastary,
part of it houses a personal care home.
Our 90 minute tour ended with good directions on how to return to the
Green Square. We first visited the
interior of the Cathedral, since guides are not allowed inside on weekends.
Then we followed our own path back over the water seeing one of the gondola
boats with passengers pass under the far bridge. We stopped at the Christmas store open year
round, which has cuckoo clocks, that ranged in price from 375 Euros to 1895 Euros
(Cdn $600 to over $3,000), and many different tree ornaments. We continued back to the Green Square and
looked into several cafés, which were all full, late on a Saturday
afternoon. We walked through the market
as the sellers were packing up their stalls and found a café where we could warm
up with a coffee and Danish. The wind was about 15 km per hour, the skies were
still overcast with the temperature only 11 C.
We returned to the meeting point and at 5:30 the group of 150 or so
people walked the 10 minutes to the street where the buses were parked to take
us to the ship. What a surprise greeted
us! We rounded the corner and two Viking
ships were docked, the Baldur was furthest away and on the veranda of the top
level were the staff bundled in coats with a few dozen coloured balloons, waving
and cheering as the passengers made their last return to the ship of the
cruise. There lots of smiles on
everyone’s faces. Passengers went to
their rooms to warm up and get ready for the daily briefing and dinner.
The daily briefing was at the usual 7:15, since most of
the passengers did not return until after 6 from Bamburg. The ship was cast off by 6:20 almost 30
minutes ahead of schedule. Claus told us about Sunday’s agenda and recited a
humorous tourist’s prayer.
Dinner was at 7:30 p.m. due to the later arrival from
Bamberg. We managed to sit at our regular table with our regular group of 8, and
enjoyed the welcome of the same wait staff that have served our dinners, on the
first half of the trip. For dinner we all
started with chicken satay then, the appetizer of Caprese Bread Salad or
chilled roast beef, next for entrées, Weiner Schnitzel accompanied by German
Riesling or Pinot Noir wine – two glasses. Then for dessert, we had an almond
pastry with a cream filling and coffee or tea.
At 9:30 Lazslo, the pianist, was playing, in the lounge. There were more
people in the lounge than the previous night, and dancing too! We left after
the first set and went back to the cabin to pack for the switch to the Magni
tomorrow.
Final steps total = 9,690, about 8 km.
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