From Germany, to Paris.

My trip to Germany was fantastic. It was great to catch up with my friend M, got very spoiled being chauffeured around everywhere in new fancy cars - so apprently new Mercedes can talk to you and you can talk back, who knew- and had lots of wonderful food, and visited a new city.

Plane ride over was interesting, I boarded two tiny planes and it always worries me a bit when you can see the propeller out of the window. But I love flying so I took it in stride, and took a photo:

I love Germany, and Germans- they are efficient, and do everything well! Upon my arrival at Frankfurt airpot to get my connecting flight to Nuremberg I found this great fancy shop: Dallmayr

It was a gourmet food shop, a bit like Harrods crossed with the French store i love Oliviers & Co. But They even had Limoncello! yes the famous Italian after dinner liqueur. I could not believe it a traditional German house would make this, but I truly believe there is nothing the Germans can't do. 

As soon as I got off the plane, M and I went shoe shopping. Yes, something only women can do- and as FF would say , that's just how we roll. It was wonderful.. especially because as the Dutch are the tallest people in the world, I can never find my shoe size here- 36 here in Amsterdam. I found great shoes on sale, armed and ready for the weekend.

We went to Bamberg, which is a gorgeous medieval city about an hour away, there was a beer festival there and the town was happening.

 It had a castle and all, this gorgeous river running through the centre of the town..

Party town

Here is the castle, although that's not me pointing up at it:

 The sides of the castle were all decorated and painted:

We walked around to the old square which was full of toursits and admired the goodness of Medieval German and Romanesque architecture.

 

Ye olde Catheral

Even more exciting was the Old Palace-occupied by bishops who kept flour on the top floors for storage and food, and miraculously this is all preserved exceedingly well. I think, don't quote me on this, M and I had walked a lot by then and don't let the clouds full you, it was 26C and very hot. Coming from 14C Dutch weather it was a big shock to the system.

We then kept walking around and it was time for a late lunch and refreshments. Just follow the guy with the pretzels..

 

You know you're in Germany when..

 More shots of the old palace

M knew a great brewery nearby, apparently the beer from there is famous. I wouldn't know because I don't drink beer- I know this would be enough to get me kicked out of Germany! but thankfully M's husband doesn't drink at all and he's German, so I just stick to wine and carry on.

Shot of the famous German steins- big beer glasses

I'm also a vegetarian- I know, this would be enough to get me kicked out of Germany definitely, but we surprisingly found two vegetarian dishes on the menu amongst the 20 other meat ones and we shared it so I could try traditional German food- a rarity at being vegetarian.

We walked around a bit longer and sat by the water to admire the gorgeous scenery and soak up the atmosphere..

Then walked around the old style shops, where we came across this gardening store. I love garden gnomes and these were so cute and different, I wish I had a garden..

Then it was finally time for one last drink- I tried a traditional German drink called Hugo- a very old style recipe- elder flower made into a syrup and then just add Prosecco. Perfect on a hot afternoon..

Sunday was back home to reality of clouds and cold Dutch weather. But I can't complain Germany is so close and has so much to offer, I can't wait to see more of it.

This festival reminded me of the German Christmas market tour we did in December- minus the snow and freezing weather. I will post about that soon.