Germany Log

I am going to be updating my blog about everyday with the places I've gone and things I've done in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. It's more of a travel log than blog posts but I really want to share it with you guys. Some are kinda long and most are dull and I do not expect anyone to really read them all. I'm more posting them more for myself. I'm going to start with the first couple of days and move from there to now. I hope you enjoy!

Germany-Bavaria

Day one trip to Passue
6/22/2009
Monday

Passue is surrounded by tons of old Gothic walls. It includes and amazing tower called Schaiblingsturn, build in 1250. The town of Passue, like most european towns, are busy and modern, but everywhere you go you can see remainders of old churches, houses, bridges and more. My family spent the majority of our time at the amazing Dom St Stephan, or St. Steven’s Cathedral. It was built by and amazing Italian architect Carlo Lurago to replace the original Gothic structure that was destroyed in the 17th century but a fire. I find it very sad that many of these great buildings were destroyed, at least partially, by either fire or bombs. We also visited Altes Rathouse, the old town hall dating from 145h-15th century with it’s large Neo-Gothic tower. It was a great town to start my trip with!

Day two trip to Bamberg
6/23/2009
Tuesday

Bamberg is amazing! Our day started out at the Bamberg Cathedral. It was very large and very early French-Gothic. It was built in 1211-1237 but the cloisers were built between 1399-1457. It holds the only papal grave in Germany, where Pope Clement II (who had be the local bishop) rests. This cathedral holds a very famous statue the “Bamberg Rider”. It is a very simple statue of a man on a horse but is famous for being the first statue in German cathedrals to be 3 demential, an accurate size, and it was nature and realistic looking. The Bamberg Cathedral also housed the amazing Tomb of Heinrich II and Kunigunde. It has stories from their life carved on the outside of their sarcophagus. One tells of a time Kunigunde was giving wages to workers and one took more than he earned and it burt red hot in his hand and he was forced to give it all back. The Marian Altar by Veit Stoss and the Marienpforte (stonework that adorns the main enterance with images of the Last Judgement) are also amazing things in the Bamberg Cathedral.
In Bamberg there is the amazing Neue Residenz und Staatsgalerie built in 1695-1704 created by Johann Leonhard and holds amazing artwork by Melchior Steidl. It also has one of the most amazing rose gardens I have ever been to.
Bamberg also has many great ice cream resurants that have odd flavors like cinnamon and chili truffle. A great day and beautiful place.