Germany 7: A Reddit meetup in Bamberg and the journey to Saxon Switzerland

   It was an hour drive to Bamberg, where I first stopped at Castle Altenburg.  I parked a ten minute walk away from the castle, took a quick walk around, and went back to my car.  

  I parked at my hotel, which was a low end hotel, but had an excellent desk!  Prior to my trip, I made a post on Reddit's Germany forum, detailing my itinerary and asking if any locals had interest in meeting up.  One person responded, from Bamberg, and so I messaged him again the night before.  We met up at 1:00, a short walk from my hotel.  Max is a thirty three year old who has spent the past twelve years in Bamberg.  He works as a University Librarian.

  The first order of business was to bring me to a local cafe, which specializes in pretzel sandwiches.  I am sure that there is a more proper name for them, but I do not recall what it is.  Essentially, they sliced pretzels in half, sideways, and then make a sandwich out of it. I chose a tomato, mozzarella, and pesto.  It was amazing.

  He brought me along a path that passed what he described as a very old brewery, again with the brewery symbol, that looks like the Star of David.

    Next, he brought me to the Bamberg Cathedral.  He gave me details that he had learned when he had taken a guided tour on his own.

  Across the street is the Neue Residenz.  We sat for a couple of hours in the courtyard, at its cafe.  I had a cheesecake, which was shockingly good, along with two coffees.  We spoke about the town, his job, dating, video games, hiking, and travelling.  

  Finally, we walked around town, as he pointed out the major landmarks.  The old town area is massive, without any cars.  Every day it hosts a farmer's market.  he also took me into the local comic store, where he used to work.  It was cool seeing old favorite in German.

  We ended up spending about five hours together before departing ways.  The next day, I left for Rathen, in the Saxon Switzerland National Park.  It began raining during the drive, and so, I had to pass on visiting Klaffenbach Water Castle.  Eventually, the weather cleared up, and so I stopped near Konigstein Fortress.  It was big enough of an attraction that I had to park in a parking garage.

  It was a short walk up to the fortress.  I did not expect such a huge complex.  I decided to begin by walking the outer perimeter before walking around the buildings toward the center.  I skipped the small museums in the buildings.

  A thirty minute drive from the fort was my hotel, just a few minutes' walk from the Bastei Bridge.  This was the view from my hotel room.