Day 12: Thursday, 19 May 2011

Mom and Dad are both sick today, which makes me sad. I hope they get feeling better soon.

After breakfast, I headed up to the sun deck afterwards for the scenery again. (BIG SURPRISE, I know, but I love the sun deck!) I made some more new friends! I am really having fun with the people on board.

We keep going through more locks. We have now gone through 35 of the 68 locks between Amsterdam to Budapest, but I find that I am still fascinated with it all. We have already had 2 really low bridges to pass under this morning. YIKES! No one hit their heads fortunately.

We had a mid-morning lecture with Dr. Daniel Gürtler on the Main-Danube Canal. I don’t quite understand the canal and the locks in general, but basically, the canal and locks offer a stair step approach to going up and down the watershed. Daniel is a good speaker and kept the lecture very interesting!

Before lunch, we docked at the industrial area of Bamberg. We then had lunch, and then it was time for the Bamberg walking tour. Aunt Peggy and I walked ahead to the buses and then stood outside directing people to their proper buses. Seriously, I think I have a tour guide role in my future! I love it!

Bamberg was not touched during WWII, and so a lot of the structures are original. . It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.  I particularly liked the Bamberg Rathaus (or City Hall), which is built on an island. It’s a lovely building!

Our guide led us up the hill to the 11th-century cathedral. The cathedral is a late Romanesque building with four grand towers. It was founded in 1004 by the emperor Henry II, finished in 1012 and consecrated on May 6, 1012. It was later partially destroyed by fire in 1081. The new cathedral, built by Saint Otto of Bamberg, was consecrated in 1111 and in the 13th century received its present late-Romanesque form. The cathedral is 94 m (308 ft) long, 28 m (92 ft) broad, 26 m (85 ft) high, and the four towers are each about 81 m (266 ft) high.

A treasure of the cathedral is an equestrian statue known as the Bamberg Horseman (German: Der Bamberger Reiter). This statue, possibly belonging to the emperor Conrad III, most likely dates to approximately 1200. The statue also serves as a symbol of the city.

We stepped into the rose garden nearby for a few minutes, and from there we could see the Benedictine Abbey up another hill. It started to rain, and so we quickly made our way back down the hill. We did some shopping in town and also stopped to watch a street performer.

Dinner tonight was great again. It was just Aunt Peggy and I, and so we sat with some friends.

We had another trio for our evening entertainment, the Gunzenheimer Swing Band. They were quite entertaining. I headed back up top to watch the ship embark from the dock after dark.

Favorite Thing or Funny Moment

Me: Making new friends on the sun deck and having to duck down for the low bridges!

FEELING: A bit down…I’m hoping that Mom and Dad feel better tomorrow.