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
My Uncle Herbert
Verse of the song from the hymnal "Podersamer Heimatklänge":
When the boy came to the Eger:
"Eger, that is where you hurry to go?"
"At the same," it roars lively,
"At the same" I must make my way! " .
When the boy came to the same,
the answer was content-heavy,
thunder roars back the same:
"And I have the German sea!"
Bamberg
Houses along Canal in Bamberg
The Bamberger Reiter
Bamberg Cathedral
