SUNDAY MEMORIES
Judy Wills
Thursday, November 12.
Reblog
Since we hadn’t reached Bamberg yet – scheduled to arrive about 1:00 p.m. – and it was another sailing morning, we slept in, getting to breakfast at 8:00 a.m. Before we finished, Richard, Judy, and Lucy arrived. They got their breakfast, and we visited until 9:30.a.m. We went through several locks, which was fun to experience.
Carl West, Program Director for the Gefjon, gave detailed information about the tours in Vienna, Budapest and other cities, which Fred attended, followed by lunch in the lounge.
At 1:30 we left the ship on a bus transfer to the city of Bamberg.
We went on a walking tour of Bamberg, seeing many beautiful and unusual types of architecture and statuary.
We saw beautiful churches and buildings, including St. Michael’s Abbey for the training of the clergy.
We even saw a “Green Goose” pub!
It always seemed funny to us to see English words in a German town. We even found a Kätie Wohlfahrt Christmas store in town! We walked through a garden, with a few flowers still in bloom.
According to the info sheet from the ship: “One of the few cities in Germany not destroyed by World War 2 bombing, Bamberg is the largest Old Town to retain its medieval structures…Along with its Gothic, baroque and Romanesque architecture, the city was laid out according to medieval planning rules as a cross with churches at the four cardinal points.”
Ever since we lived in Germany, I have been fascinated with the hotel/store/restaurant signs. Back in the days when the “common” folk were more or less illiterate, the signs were posted so everyone would know just what the establishment was. If it was a bakery, there was a pretzel within the sign.
The butcher could have an animal within the sign. The drug store or apothecary usually had a mortar and pestle within the sign.
You get the picture. But the signs were usually quite ornate and beautiful. I looked for them above each store and took as many pictures of them as I could.
While in Bamburg, we stopped in a Karstadt department store (comparable to our Dillards, and one of our favorite places to shop when we lived in Germany) to purchase some socks. I walked up to a saleslady and said, “Entschuldigen (excuse me).” She smiled at me, and then I said, “Ich habe nur ein bischen Deutch. (I have only a little German) Haben sie….?” and pulled up my pant leg to show her my knee socks. She immediately took me to where the women’s socks were. I thanked her profusely. They were lovely, soft socks, and I enjoyed wearing them.
Here is a picture of a plaque with a date.
Our guide asked if we understood the date. It looks to be 1867 – but we are told that’s not correct. The “8″ is not complete – and therefore is actually a “4″ or half of the “8.” So the correct date would be 1467. Interesting.
We were all to meet at Neptune’s statue, to get back on the bus for the return trip to the Gefjon. While waiting to get to the bus, I was “baptized” by bird droppings while sitting under a tree.
We had dinner in the ship’s restaurant again, and to bed by 10:00 p.m.
~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~
Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.
Old Things R New 
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