Saturday, June 22, 2013

Churches, snowballs, and one dead pope

Today we had the entire morning (until around 13:00) to spend however we wanted in Rothenburg. I spent a great deal of time in St. Jakobi. Holy moly. The organ was nothing to get excited over but the art in there and the altar and stain glass was spectacular. I sat there and stared and stared, unable to wrap my mind around what I was seeing. 



I eventually left to walk around the city some more. I did a lot of shopping for gifts and just enjoyed the sites of the city. Right before I left, I had to try a schneeball which this city is sort of famous for. Basically it is scraps of pie dough mashed into a softball size ball and fried and covered in sugar. Now they have every flavor imaginable but traditionally it was just powdered sugar. It was good, but I decided not very sweet and would have been much better with some hot tea to dunk in. I was glad I tried it, though, since it is a local thing. 


Then it was back on the bus for a long drive. Fortunately, since my friend Julie is on this part of the trip ( she is the one who invited me to join her choir for this) the drive sped by since we were chatting away and making jokes. Ross and I and Julie and her family claimed the back 3 seats of the bus for the entire trip. It was great fun and I enjoyed getting to know her family better as well. We joked that the cool people sat in the back. :)

We ended in Bamberg and got to go walk around the city a bit. I don't much care for this city, I decided. Very touristy and not that much to see. They have a "Little Venice" which was nice, but I wouldn't go all the way the just for that. When we went in the Bamberg Cathedral, there was a men and boys choir practicing. I'm sorry to say, but I am totally biased when it comes to boys choirs. Boys voices are so pure and they are different from girls choirs or mixed choirs. It was absolutely delightful to sit there and listen to those voices effortlessly soaring to the heights of the cathedral.  Like a bit of heaven on earth. This cathedral is famous because Pope Clemens II is buried here and it is the only papal burial spot north of the Alps. 

We had a great dinner then back to the bus and to our last hotel of the choir part of the trip. 

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