Euro Trip 2013 - Germany - Egerquelle & Bamberg

On one of my first days in Gefrees, I visited my Uncle Herbert and my Aunt Gabi. Uncle Herbert took me out to see the Weißenstadt,  the Egerquelle and some of his hunting spots. The Egerquelle marks the source of the Eger River which is a tributary of the Elbe River in Bavaria and Bohemia. It rises at Weißenstadt in the Fichtel Mountains and flows into the Elbe at Leitmeritz. Because of the ease of accessibility, the source had already been marked in 1850 with a single stone that read "Egerquelle 1850". In 1923 the monument you see in the pictures was erected. The head stone was kept slightly larger with the word "Eger" and the coat of arms of the old imperial city. The other stones of the source version bear the names of the places that helped to finance the project. The water flows through the little drain that starts the Eger on it's 325 km long journey. After our trip around the snow covered country side and some 4x4ing we went back to my uncle's house for some lunch, which was when I first found out my power converter didn't work. The next day and half I took four pictures. Thankfully my Aunt and Uncles daughter Silke drove to a bigger town and picked me up one!

With a fully charged battery Elisabeth and myself set out for Bamberg which is 75km South-East of Gefrees. We visited the beautiful Bamberg Cathedral which has the only Pope buried outside Italy and France. Then we had lunch at an old pub which served a Bamberg original Rauchbier which is a smoked beer. After that we froze our butts off by the river and then headed back to Gefrees. 

Bamberg

Euro Trip 2013 - Germany - Dinkelsbühl

After a wonderful visit with Heidi, Jasmin and Daniel it was time I headed south towards Gefrees and Kornbach (my Oma and Opa's hometown). So Heidi loaded me on a train in Hanau to go see Elisabeth, another one of my moms friends. So we said our goodbyes and I loaded myself onto the train, found a spot, pulled out my book and got comfortable. After sitting in the ICE train for 10 min without it moving someone came on the intercom and announced in very fast and mumbled German that the train had broken down and we would need to transfer onto another train. When the next train arrived it was pretty funny to watch the people's faces as they saw the platform of people about to barge themselves onto their train. But we all got on and I was finally on my way to Würzburg! When I finally arrived in Würzburg 45min late I wondered how the heck I was going to find Elisabeth in the mass crowd of people and without her cell number. Lucky for me I spotted her right away! After hugs and hellos we headed down to Dinkelsbühl to meet her son Oliver and his family.

   Dinkelsbühl is a Medieval city in Bavaria along the Romantic Road. Surrounding the city is a Medieval stone wall with roughly 17 towers. There is also small patch of parkland which makes walking around the city so beautiful, even when it is starting to snow.  After having lunch at the Goldenes Lamm which was an awesome family run restaurant/hotel, Oliver took us to the church he works at. When we arrived at Heilig-Geist-Kirche (Holy Ghost Church) Oliver took us into the sanctuary to look at the beautifully painted ceiling as well as show me the old organ. On our way to out of Dinkelsbühl, Oliver took us to a graveyard that had these black and gold crosses. After that Elisabeth and myself continued down to Gefrees where we would be met by a fresh snowfall.