Castles and Cathedrals

Yesterday we did more exploring with the girls. We went to the old part of Bamberg to visit Bamberger Dom (the cathedral) and the rose garden.




The roses were beautiful, and Ellie and I had a nice time wandering through and stopping to smell the roses.



In the cathedral Ellie took me on a tour and lit some candles. She made sure to tell me several times that we needed to be very quiet because we were in a church. :)

I loved seeing the old buildings with the traditional medieval woodwork. I could imagine the people who have lived and worked there over the ages. It's strange that we now drive cars around on the cobble stone streets where monks lived or knights rode their horses.

After Peyton's nap, we visited Altenburg, an old castle on the highest hill in Bamberg. The view from the tower was beautiful, and the buildings were even older than those at the cathedral we visited earlier in the day. We saw a strange cage where apparently the Bamberg Bear used to live. You could see where the moat used to be, and there was a dungeon and a drawbridge. There was even a man singing midieval songs just past the portcullis. It was great fun.





After a visit to the store, we drove home and took a short walk down the street to visit a carnival that had been set up because of some small holiday being celebrated here. We thought it would be a fun spot for the girls to play games and get some treats, but it ended up being a pretty lame little setup. Ha ha. There were only about three stands, the game ended up being a BB gun shooting game (not too great for little kids), and the people operating the games were puffing away on their cigarettes. But, there was at least a little merry-go-round and chocolate covered strawberries that made the girls happy.

Today we attended church, took naps, and went for a walk through the forrest. The girls put on a dance concert, then climbed and jumped all over the furniture, each other, and me! They are super cute and super exhausting! :)