March 19

 Day 9:  Bamberg & Travel To Nuremburg

Today was a "pivot and adjust" day because currently we cannot sail up the Main River to Bamberg and on to Nuremburg because the locks are under repair.  So the plan today to try and keep the itinerary as close to normal as possible was we left the ship this morning and drove the about 3 hours to Bamberg.  Had a stop halfway there.....got off the bus, had a walking tour (which we would have had normally) then had about 90 minutes to explore and have lunch.  Back on the bus and an hour on to Nuremburg.  Normally we'd have spent this last night on the ship, but now we are in a very nice hotel.  And because on the ship the dinner and drinks would have been included, they are included here at the hotel.  Tomorrow we will have the Nuremburg excursion as we would have normally and then bus on to Prague for the final two nights of the itinerary.  But we will then go on to Poland for five more days.

The walk around Bamberg was very nice and the weather was coolish in the 50's - and sunny.  Was a quaint town with several good photo ops, especially the view from high atop the city at the Bishop's Residence (see banner above) and then city hall which sits in the river.

Goodbye to the Viking Idi

One last visit to the Sun Deck....we'll return to Viking cruising in the fall

Shots from the old town of Bamberg

The Bishop's Residence - note the blocks sticking out

(lower left close-up) These are the "Waiting Blocks" as the residence was supposed to continue on but they ran out of money and never finished it!

"Little Venice" - the most picturesque section of the town

The oldest brewery in town (there are 14 still) - note the inset, this was originally opened in 1405!  Their specialty is "smoked beer!"

City Hall sitting in the middle of the river
(NOTE the leg sticking out of the wall - see close-up below)

No one knows why the architect did this, our guide said it was because he wanted to leave behind his "legacy" Ha ha ha :)

Of course we had a photo-op where the guide said it was the most picturesque