Bremen and Hamburg

On the way to Hamburg, I stopped over in Bremen because of the Grimm Brothers folk tale of the Town Musicians of Bremen. The city has a statue depicting the four animals. Although, in the story the animals never arrive in Bremen, but take over the house of the thieves and live happily ever after, free from the cruelty of humans.

Evidently I also took a walk down the main shopping street.

In Hamburg the youth hostel had a view of the harbour. I didn't explore Hamburg at all because the guidebook didn't mention much culture there—it being a city of commerce, and its entertainment district had a seedy reputation. This is unfair to Hamburg; I'm sure it's pleasant enough but it was competing against cities like Vienna and Munich. Perhaps I should give it another chance. In the event I spent the evening playing chess on a floor chessboard with a couple of Irish girls.

Cologne

I arrived in Cologne late in the afternoon. I walked out of the train station, and there it was, the famous Dom (Cologne Cathedral). It was under renovation but it still looked very grand.

To me Cologne is associated with Eau de Cologne, and the number 4711, which was the house number of the maker's home. The next day I bought a small flask of 4711 from a pharmacy in the city. I still have it in my toiletry cabinet and it still smells as good!

Evidently I took a walk down the shopping street at night.

A night time view of the Dom from the other bank of the Rhine.

Down the Rhine

Eurailpass holders could also avail themselves of an included Rhine cruise from Mainz to Cologne. So that's where I betook myself next.

You can just make out a vineyard near the top of the photo. The sign tells us we are looking at Rüdesheim, and the Internet tells us it's in wine making territory so that must be right. :)

We passed many picturesque river towns. Given that the last photo was taken near Rüdesheim, this might be Bingen, a bit further downstream.

A search shows this is probably Pfalzgrafenstein Castle near Kaub, a ship of stone.

The Lorelei is a prominent rock on the bank that is a navigational hazard because of the strong currents due to the narrow neck of the river. It has given rise to the myth of a siren that lures sailors to their death.

The myth has been set to poetry and music so they played, nay blared, a distorted version over the ship's PA system as we passed.

Whew, we cleared it.

Sankt Goarhausen. Wonder how we worked that out. :)

On the hill is Katz Castle.

Heidelberg and Mainz

If I recall correctly, this picture of Heidelberg Castle was actually taken the same day as the Romantic Road bus trip. I decided to make a flying visit to Heidelberg before sundown on the way to Mainz. I knew a couple of things about Heidelberg: its university was world-famous, being the oldest in Germany, dating from 1386. Also the musical The Student Prince was set here.

Heidelberg's old bridge over the River Neckar.

Quite likely the view in the opposite direction taken from the same riverside walk; the road barriers look the same.

I overnighted in Mainz. This is the Osteiner Hof in Schillerplatz in the middle of the city.

This appears to be the Christuskirche.

The banner is a clue that I am still in Mainz.

The Romantic Road

The Romantic Road was a marketing term coined by German tourism promotion agencies back in the 50s. Sounds tacky but the bus tour does take in many picturesque German towns. What's more, Eurailpass holders received a discount, so warum nicht?

There are two sections of the Romantic Road from Munich. The southern section goes to Neuschwanstein, the fairy-tale castle of Ludwig II of Bavaria. Unfortunately I didn't have time to travel that section so I opted for only the northern section, to Würzburg.

In actual fact, all the pictures here are from the town of Rothenberg ob der Tauber where the bus made an extended stop (for lunch perhaps). We had free time to wander the town afterwards.

Rothenberg's chief attraction is the medieval city wall. It looks ancient but a lot of it is reconstructed. Allied bombs destroyed a large length of it during WWII. After the war, donations from all over the world funded the reconstruction. Donor names are commemorated on bricks.

An elevated view of the main street, possibly from the Rodetor.

The buildings in previous pictures were contemporary but here is an older one, the Rathaus (Town Hall).

This seems to be the Plönlein with Kobolzeller Steige and Spitalgasse. Very much photographed as you will find lots of pictures of them on the Internet.

And just outside the wall is this quiet garden.

Munich

So there I was, in Munich, the capital of Bavaria. With relatively warmer climate than the north, the people are supposed to be merrier and more fun-loving. Octoberfest and all that, you know. So I guess this street band suits that reputation.

On the official side, there is this New Town Hall.

As I am interested in things technical, I visited the Deutsches Museum.

Inside are a lot of whizzbang displays, including this model of an atom with orbiting electrons.

The English Garden afforded a couple of hours of soothing wandering. This is the Chinese Tower, a pagoda.

I probably did try some of the regional culinary specialities and almost certainly one of their famed beers, but I don't remember any of that.

I do remember the name of one of the U-bahn stations: Münchener Freiheit. It was probably one of those hey I understand what that translates to moments. And I was there before they renamed it in 2009 to omit an extra e, so my spelling is what I saw.

Würzburg and Nuremberg

I expected the first photo in the next roll be from Munich. Instead, there was a mystery market and cathedral. Did I spill the box of slides and mix them up? No, the numbers were in sequence. Some detective work with online photos and travel sites later, I worked out what I had done: going to Munich would not give me enough sleep on an overnight train so I deliberately overshot it and went to Frankfurt (I think) then caught a day train back, sightseeing along the way. This turned out to be Würzburg cathedral and market.

Fortunately for photo searches they do not change the shape of churches often, though it seems to have acquired a new lick of paint since I photographed it.

This is Marienberg Fortress, above the city.

Next city on the way back was Nuremberg. This is the façade of the Frauenkirche with a market in progress.

I am an admirer of the engravings and prints of Albrecht Dürer, and this is his house.

Well, that was fun and made it worth my while digitising my photos. So I have been to places that I'd forgotten about.