The Long and Winding Road thru’ Beautiful Bavaria



The Prince Bishop's Redidence - Bamberg


You may well ask the question, was ‘Winging it the right answer? Well naturally I’m bound to say, ‘Yes, absolutely’ - In truth it was hopeless. We tried at least 4 if not 5 different towns along the way and even off the beaten track, in all instances the hotels we enquired of, were either full or just too expensive. At around 5pm we arrived into Bamberg, tired and a bit cheesed off, we pulled over and decided to have a drink and just chill for a while before starting the search again. Well, I guess we were just too tired to start looking around, so we bit the bullet and paid the going rate at what turned out to be a second class hotel charging a first class rate. The positive out of this? Bamberg is home to eight breweries an unusually high number for a city of 70,000 residents. It is known for its smoked Rauchbier, the most famous is Schlenkerlas Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier from the Heller brewery, I did try some but regret to say it tasted s—t, probably an acquired taste. We finished the evening in a tavern not far from the hotel and enjoyed a good meal, washed down with a couple of jugs of good kellar wheat beer with a carafe of Franconian white wine for Ann. We slept like logs that night!


Bamberg St Peter & St George Cathedral


The following morning we were away from the hotel just after 9 am. The weather was glorious and the temperature had snook up to 27 degrees on the ole barometer. We knew that Bamberg had a Cathederal, a Romanesque building with four grand towers andbeside it the old and new residence of the Bishops, with a beautiful rose garden all of which we were keen to visit. We spent a couple of hours admiring the sites and eventually finished up at a nearby monastery with a lovely church attached.

At Mid-day we turned our backs on Bamberg, and headed due west to the City of Wurzburg about 110 miles away. We had no accommodation booked, so we were keen to get into the City to find the proverbial needle in a heystak!! Wurzburg has a population of around 134,000 and became famous as the centre of Franconian wine production. It has one of the oldest and most traditional universities in Germany with a student population of 25,000. It is renowned for the ‘Residenz’, (Prince Bishops Palace) regarded as one of the finest palaces in Europe and a high point of Baroque art. Another famous landmark of Wurzburg Germany is the mighty fortress Festung Marienberg, from where you get a great view over the famous sights of Wurzburg and the pilgrimage church Käppele and the The Dom (Wurzburg Cathedral). So many incredible buildings the list goes on and on – a bit like me yawnnnnnn.


The Dom - Wurzburg Cathedral.

It is hard to believe, that on 16 March 1945, about 90% of the city was destroyed in 17 minutes by 225 British Lancaster bombers during a World War II air raid. All of the city's churches, cathedrals, and other monuments were heavily damaged or destroyed. Over the following 20 years, the buildings of historical importance were, according to records, painstakingly and accurately replicated. Those who rebuilt the city immediately after the end of the war were mostly women – Trummerfrauen ("rubble women") – because the men were either dead or taken prisoner of war. After the war, Wurzburg was host to the U.S. Army, before being withdrawn from Wurzburg in 2008, bringing an end to over 60 years of U.S. military presence in Wurzburg.



Juliusspital


From Bamberg we travelled through some glorious countryside and finally arrived just after 3pm into the city centre. After a visit to the TI, and some investigative work by D. I. Cronin, we managed to find a modern hostel offering a large room with it’s own bathroom. We unloaded our kit and within an hour of arrival we were out and about, experiencing some of the more significant & historic buildings within the old quarter of the city. The first of which was the magnificent Juliusspital (Hospital), an impressive Baroque building with a castle-like feel to it.




Ann moving the trees about in the Royal Gardens

 We followed a recommended walking tour through the old town and finished up at the Residenz Palace, which unfortunately had closed for the day. We settled for a tour of the beautifully manicured gardens at the rear, which were a joy to behold. Whilst not large, we must have spent over an hour thoroughly enjoying the whole ambience and took many pictures. As we left we promised ourselves that we would return the following morning to tour the Palace itself, as there was a daily English speaking tour which commenced at 11 am. We walked back through the old town, and decided to stop for a beer and something to eat at a bar only a short distance from our hostel, just as it started to pour with rain. We tumbled out an hour and a half later, a little worse for wear, walked round the corner to the hostel and retired to our room for a well deserved kip.



Residenz -Prince Bishops Palace Wurzburg

 Next morning, Thursday 28th July, we packed our kit away and booked accommodation at Nurnberg, 64 miles to the south east, better known to some as Nuremberg, our next destination. This allowed us to relax a bit and gave us more time to explore Wurzburg. We called to the Dom St Kilian Cathederal which sadly was closed and has been so for over 12 months, due to extensive refurbishment, nobody seemed to know when it would re-open. Right next to the cathederal was The Neumunsterkirche, a magnificent Romanesque Basilica with many religious artefacts and treasures, including a Sarcophagus containing the remains of St Kilian in the Crypt, beneath the main church. We ensured our timely arrival at the Royal Residenz for the English tour at 11am. In full bike kit, along with a group of 20 or more people we spent two hours thoroughly fascinated and enthralled by what we saw and what we heard regarding this incredible palace, and always at the back of our mind was the undeniable fact, this building along with many others in Worzburg had been virtually destroyed during WWII. After some lunch, we completed our sight seeing across the River Main, at the Marienberg Fortress and museum, where we spent a further 3 hours absorbing more of the ancient history of Wurzburg.



Marienberg Fortress and museum - Wurzburg



Typical street in the Old Town of Nurnberg

 At around 5.30 pm with the clouds gathering and thunder in the air, we left the Fort and Wurzburg. Fortunately for us it appeared we also left behind the imminent thunderstorm. With the help of the satnav we arrived without trouble into Nurnberg at about 6.45pm. Nurnberg is situated on the Pegnitz river about 105 miles north of Munich and has a population in excess of 505,000. We booked in, unloaded our kit, showered and were out walking into the city centre, an hour or so later. We found a restaurant and over a decent meal and a glass of wine, we planned our itinerary for the following day.

So Early next morning, we packed our kit together and left it behind reception for safe keeping till our return later in the day. We got ourselves a tram day ticket and set off on the No 6 tram (like a couple of excited kids), heading into the old town centre about 5 mins away.









The Schoner Brunnen Fountain


 I have to say we were both absolutely bowled over by what it had to offer, some of the buildings had great architectural merit with a long history to match, there was the Church of Our lady in the main square, and beside it, The Schoner Brunnen or Beautiful Fountain, standing 19m tall like a Gothic church spire andaround the corner, the Town hall with its medieval dungeons which in days gone by, served as holding cells for prisoners awaiting execution; and the piece de résistance, The Imperial castle - standing imperiously on the rocky promontory above Nurnberg. The whole experience was completely unexpected and thoroughly enjoyable, reinforced with a beautiful blue sky and temperatures in the high 20’s. Time was pressing and we were anxious to get out to the Richsparteitagsgelande, an area several kilometres south east of the old town, better known for its historic connections as the former ‘Nazi Party’ rally grounds.








'The Vision' of the complete rally Grounds
 What it might have been (Congress Hall - centre)

The Unfinished Congress hall. The exhibition is housed in the
building bottom  right



Guess Who?

 
We were not prepared for what we saw. The plans and thinking behind the whole concept, was somebody’s incredible fantasy/vision, whose ultimate aim was a lust for power and a need to impress the world. The scale of it was incredible - The plans, had they been fully implemented would, most certainly, have been impressive. This was an early and manifest statement of Adolf Hitler’s evil intention, his undoubted and overriding desire for power and glory to ‘Dominate’ the World. The North wing of the unfinished Congress Hall, designed to accommodate 50,000 people, and now occupied by the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds museum. The permanent exhibition “Fascination and Terror” deals with the causes, interconnections and consequences of the National Socialist tyranny, from start to finish within an exhibition space of 1,300sq m. There were many many items of information documenting the historic events leading up to and beyond WWII. Significantly, for me, in one of the last rooms of the exhibition was a film of the post war Nuremberg Trials. This was something I had never experienced before, seeing and hearing recordings of the trial, incredulous, as the main protagonists denied any knowledge of what was going on in the “Death Camps”, it was pathetic listening to their denials.

 Blimey, do I get a sense of ‘Deja Vous’, or what? That same familiar ring, with some of the current ‘modern day’ dictators, as they loose their grip on power, when the people finally rise up against the despots and their regimes...... OOOpps, sorry, I’m getting on my soap box!! What we saw in that room, was truly profound and hugely meaningful, there was even pictorial evidence of Hitler’s leaders (unpublished in the UK), lying on slabs with rope around their necks, having been executed!!!!

Those immortal words written above the door of one of the prison blocks in Auschwitz; “Remembering and Learning from History” kept ringing in my ears.

I reckon we spent almost 4 hours in the exhibition, reading, watching and listening to all the information, pictures and some fantastic and fascinating historic archive film on the history of Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist Party (NSDAP). Stuff, I’m really glad to have seen, which has helped me piece together the jigsaw, and given me a much clearer picture of the history of WWII.

We eventually returned back to the hotel at around 6pm to collect our belongings. I’m sure the staff thought we’d forgotten to collect our kit and I suspect they were startin to get a bit worried. A quick change and fifteen minutes later we were on our way, heading south east to Regensburg about 55 miles away. We had an overnight hotel booked just outside Regensburg, it was brand spanking new and the rooms looked terrific in the pictures, (who said the camera never lies?) When we eventually got there, we discovered there were no facilities near by, so, due to the weather (it literally started to pour minutes after our arrival) we ordered in a pizza and ate in our room. The room was like a shoe box, I kid you not, standing in the centre of the room I could virtually touch the walls of the adjoining rooms, there was no more than 3inches to spare either side. But hey, it was a room and almost within budget!!


Regensburg, St Peters Cathedral



We were up and away from our kennel (sorry, Hotel), early on Saturday morning 30th July. We had booked in advance, 3 nights accommodation in Munich,(our next destination), but wanted to find out what the Old Town of Regensburg had to offer before we left. Regensburg did not suffer the same fate as Dresden during WWII. It was left unscathed, and apparently since 1945, is the only intact medieval metropolis. it has a population of 135,000 and like so many other cities, has many important historic and Religious buildings, it also sits beside one of the largest rivers in Germany The Danube (which runs all the way to the Black sea). St Peters Cathedral dating back to the 13th century is a very fine example of magnificent gothic architecture;







The interior of Alte Kapelle

and in the main square just around the corner from the Cathedral, The Collegiate Church of Our Lady, the Old Chapel “Alte kapelle”, which has the most stunning interior, a lavish abundance of the rococo, which hopefully the pics will show. What was also significant about this particular church, the parish priest happens to be the older brother, of our current Pope Benedict XVI. Unfortunately we didn’t get to meet him as he was in Rome visiting his brother. It so happened, whilst we were there, we discovered that a wedding was due to take place in the Chapel, so in true Irish style we invited ourselves and enjoyed a German catholic wedding ceremony in our full bike kit!



Mein Hosts - The Bride & Groom.


 I’m sure the bride and groom, must have thought it odd when we were shaking their hands and congratulating them on their marriage, that two of the wedding guests had not bothered to put on their finery and couldn’t even speak German!!!! I suspect the give away might have been when I asked where we were sitting at the reception Hehehehe.

We left Regensburg at 3.30pm just as the heavens opened, fortunately for us (not so fortunate for the Bride & Groom), we left the rain behind us as we joined the autobahn and headed 70 miles south to Munich. The satnav performed admirably and took us to our hotel, situated just outside the main city, we booked in and were given a superb room on the top floor with our own private roof terrace, which was bigger than the chuffin room at the last hotel, what a contrast. It was too late to visit Munich city centre so we stayed local and found ourselves a great pub/bier garten around the corner from the hotel, we had ourselves something to eat and a beer or three, to wash it down with, before retiring back to our room for a well earned kip.


The Bavarian State Chancelleory

  As the capital of the Free State of Bavaria with a population of approx 1.35 million residents, Munich is an important political centre in Germany and the seat of the Bavarian State Parliament, the Staatskanzlei (the State Chancellery) and of all state departments. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps and is the third largest city in Germany, behind Berlin and Hamburg, the city was heavily damaged by allied bombing during World War II. Munich, as some of us will remember, hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics during which eleven Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian terrorists in the Munich massacre, when gunmen from the Palestinian "Black September" terrorist group took hostage members of the Israeli Olympic team. It was also one of the host cities for the 2006 World Cup.


 The Hofbräuhaus am Platzl, arguably the most famous beer hall worldwide, is located in the city centre, where we had a great meal and a litre jug of their beer. Evidently, it also operates the second largest tent at the Oktoberfest, one of Munich's most famous annual attractions. For two weeks, the Oktoberfest attracts millions of people visiting its beer tents ("Bierzelte"),apparently in excess of five million litres of beer are consumed over the 16 days of the fest. I’m trying to persuade Jonathan (son inlaw) to arrange a visit to this years feste, taking place from the 17th September to 3rd October. Actually persuading Jonathon is not the issue, for he immediately recognised the potential business advantages . No, it’s more a question that Jonathon has to convince Lisa (my daughter), what a fantastic opportunity this is to enhance and extend their business into new European markets!!!!!! Keith Enstone, Marky Elsmore & Pauly More, take note – the same business opportunities await you..... hehehehe.
The city is an inspiring mix of historic buildings and impressive architecture, we spent two days walking around exploring as much of it as we could, there was so much to see, it really is a beautiful city and certainly one we would recommend for a visit. I’m not going to bore you with all the places we visited, hopefully the pics will illustrate how desirable the city is.


Marienplatz - New Town hall



Dancing in the Moonlight

 We did visit the Hoffgarten or Royal Garden, this historic court garden has conserved its original design. In the centre was a small domed temple from which music and laughter were coming from, when we got there we found a large group of young people dancing and jiveing to music from decades past, it was like stepping back in time, absolutely marvellous. Some of them were dressed in the style from the thirties and forties. The ole foot started to tap, my natural rhythm was kicking in, I was startin to rock. For some reason I could feel Ann’s growing unease, she knew it wouldn’t be long before we were in there mixing it with them. I had a real hard time stopping myself from joining in, I was sure I could impress them with my ‘rock n roll’ skills, swinging Ann around like a paper doll!! Then Ann stood on my tapping foot and quietly whispered in my ear “you can’t jive” BOooooom my bubble burst, Damn it, I remembered – I can’t jive, but it was fun while it lasted. The kids were really cool, and I was everso slightly envious at their dance skills.



The Olympiapark Structure, with the 290m high
Olympic tower in the background.



BMW World and Museum

 On Monday 1st August the weather was dull and cloudy so we decided to visit the nearby Olympiapark and the BMW headquarters at the northern end of the park. The olympiapark, with its steel and glass roof, like a huge spiders web, is still a very impressive sight, though it is starting to show its age. Damn it, we discovered GB and the Take That boys had only been performing at the 70,000 seater Olympiastadion on the Friday night, and we arrived into Munich on the Saturday, we consoled ourselves that it was a sell out and we wouldn’t have gotten tickets anyway. The BMW HQ on the other hand, with its state of the art production plant was massively impressive and so futuristic, a real 21st century creation.


Ann's New Bike - Note the caption


We were lucky to obtain tickets to be able to tour the production plant – a full two hour tour, absolutely jam packed with details, facts and info relating to the production of BMW cars coming out of this factory – every 54 seconds a brand spanking car, made to specification, rolls off the production line, At the moment,1000 cars are produced every single day (the amount can be increased) and every car is already sold as it leaves the factory (mainly dealerships), 600 tonnes of steel used every day..... I also enquired where the BMW motorbikes were produced, and discovered the Berlin plant was the sole producer with an annual figure of 100,000 bikes rolling off the production line. I have to say how impressive the tour and the production plant was – Outstanding Technology, Spotless, Efficient and Pure German Brilliance at its very best.
We really had our eyes opened, even in these recessionary times, here was a classic success story, an example of what can be achieved with a loyal and committed workforce who recognise what they have. Boy oh Boy, we lag so far behind them. What have we got left? All the crown jewels have been sold off, and for what?? – We’re now just a service industry!! How sad is that....... OOooops there I go again.... We left the plant and returned back to our hotel, we found ourselves a nice little Italian restaurant opposite the hotel and had ourselves a pasta dinner with some German wine!



Isartor gate.



Justiz Palast - Justice palace, Karlsplatz



Fountain in the main Square.

The following morning we were leaving Munich to head 80 mile south east to a small German resort town of Bad Reichenhall, known for its salt thermal waters and only a short distance from Salzburg in Austria.

That’s all for now, sorry it’s a long one this time, but internet access is not always available. Just before we go a big shout of congratulations to our youngest daughter Katherine on achieving an ‘A’ grade in her recent exam, she now has another bunch of letters to add behind her name – well done me duk!! Also lotsa hugs and kiss for her birthday on the 11th August, while she’s away enjoying herself in Chicago with big bro Ciaran. Also to wish our Romanian friend and workaholic Daniel Ragojan, a very happy birthday too, he celebrates his birthday on the same day as Katherine!!

With luv to everyone back home, missing you all, The Easy Riders xxxx