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The icon of Bamberg, the brigde over the river Regnitz and in the middle the old town hall. On the brigde to the right you can see a coulisse from the movie "The Three
Musketeers" (featuring Orlando Bloom, Mads Mikkelsen and Christoph Waltz) which is being filmed in the town for the moment.
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Another bridge over Regnitz.
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A view of the cathedral and the "Domplatz", the religious centrum of Bamberg - Rome of Franconia.
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Courtyard of the old residence. Before the construction of the "Neue Residenz" this was the dwelling of the prince bishops of Bamberg.
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"Neue Residenz" in Bamberg - from 1703 to 1803 the residence of the prince bishops of Bamberg.
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"Hall of Emperors" inside the palace.
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A view down a small lane. In the background the towers of the cathedral.
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Church and monastry of Saint Michael at the Michaelsberg.
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Marienkapelle at the market square.
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The old town hall and its bell tower and below this the café "Rathauskeller".
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The bridge over the river Main there offers an astounding view to the fortress Marienburg.
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And vice versa: from the fortress there is a no less impressive view over the city.
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The main gate of the fortress Marienburg.
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A view from Marienburg to the south along the river Main.
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The bishop's garden on the eastside of the Marienburg.
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The central bridge over the river Main. It's almost like being in Prague!
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"Würzburger Residenz" - the palace of Würzburg, one of the most harmonic palaces of the baroque era.
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This must be the most beautiful staircase in the world! The grand escalier in the palace of Würzburg.
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From the garden at the Emperor's castle, in the background the twin towers of the cathedral can be seen.
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Inside the Emperor's castle. To the right the "Sinwellturm".
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Close-up of a very neat building within the castle.
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The blue-white flag on the top of the tower is the flag of the free state of Bavaria.
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The city hall of Nürnberg.
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A view down the river Pegnitz which flows through Nürnberg.
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The former congress hall of the Nazi party's "Reichparteitagsgelände".
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The Zeppelinfeld where Hitler gave some of his most (in)famous speeches.
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Wagner's world famous opera house "Festspielhaus" about 1 km north of the city centre. It is only used in August during the annual
Wagner festival. In the rest of the year it is empty.
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A view of the old palace in the centre of the city. It was to a large extend destroyed in 1945 and is now houses the ministry of finance of the local government.
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The "Festspielhaus" is not the only opera house that Bayreuth has to offer. Here the facade of the Margravial Opera House in the centre of the city. One of the
few baroque opera houses in Europe which have survived to our days.
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The interior of the Margravial Opera House is nothing less than breathtaking.
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The picture speaks for itself.
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The new residence in Bayreuth. It was build when the old palace burned down in 1753.
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A view of the new palace from the garden.
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Wagner's house "Wahnfried" (which can be translated into "where my delusions found peace") in Bayreuth. He and his wife Cosima are burried in the garden.
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The cathedral in Fulda. A baroque masterpiece.
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One more picture of the cathedral and the huge square in front of it.
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Inside the cathedral.
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The little "Dom-Museum" next to the cathedral.
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The palace of Fulda. The former residence of the prince bishops of Fulda. Now housing a museum as well as the city council.
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The palace seen from the palace gardens.
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The hall of mirrors inside the palace.
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The breakfast room of my hotel in Fulda. Here I've had breakfast!
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And this is the breakfast room as seen from the garden. It is actually the former Orangerie of the palace.
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A street in the city centre of Fulda.
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The market square in Eisenach.
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Lutherhaus in Eisenach. Apparantly, according to legend, Martin Luther lived here 1498-1501 while he was a student at a nearby school.
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In the yellow house to the right the composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685.
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The castle Wartburg, about 2 km southwest of Eisenach. After a visit here, Wagner was inspired to his opera Tannhäuser
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The castle gate.
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Another view of Wartburg. The forrest in the background is the Thüringerwald.
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Inside the castle.
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The room where Luther lived 1521-1522 and translated the New Testament to English, after having been "abducted" by the Elector of Saxony, Frederik the Wise.
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The shopping street, Anger. The yellow building is the Anger museum.
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This small street here is actually a bridge, Krämerbrücke.
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Krämerbrücke from an angle where it actually looks like a bridge. It's the Erfurt equivalent of Ponte Vecchio in Florence.
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The city hall.
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The icon of Erfurt, the cathedral to the left and the church St. Severi to the right.
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Inside the cathedral.
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A view of the two churches from the fortress Petersberg.
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A small street with half-timbered houses, of which Erfurt is so rich. This particular street is called Waagegasse (i.e. Weighing Street).
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The Augustinian monastry in Erfurt where Martin Luther was a monk 1505-1511.
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The Spital Bastion, the southmost gate of Rothenburg.
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The renaissance-styled town hall.
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The town hall square. The Danish king Christian I stayed in the yellow building February 9-16 1474 on his way to Italy (where later the pope
granted him permission to found the University of Copenhagen).
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The castle garden.
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A view from the castle garden to the southern part of the town ("Spitalviertel").
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The famous Siebers Tower to the left and Kobolzell Gate to the right.
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The city walls are impressively well-preserved.
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The Siebers Tower seen from the wall.
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A street with half-timbered houses. Notice the hooks at the top of the gables. This was for storing grain at the attic: every household should, by law of the city, store
grain in an amount corresponding to two years comsumption.
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And finally, the top of the Röder Gate commands a great view over the town and the landscapes to the west.
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Regensburg and the Stone Bridge over Donau, to the left the cathedral dedicated to St. Peter.
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A close-up of the cathedral.
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Inside the cathedral.
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The old town hall of Regensburg. Since 1663 this building was the permanent seat of the German-Roman "Reichstag".
It remained so until the abolishment of the council following the dissolution of the German-Roman empire in 1806.
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The plenary hall of the Reichstag. In the middle the throne of the emperor, next to him, on the red seats, the
electors to the left the ecclesiastic, i.e. the archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Cologne, and to the right the secular
i.e. the King of Bohemia, the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Count Palatine of the Rhine and the Duke of Saxony.
On the benches along the walls to the left were the seats of the bishops and to the right the seats of all other
princes. On the floor where representatives from the independent cities.
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The "Haidplatz".
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In the yellow house, the astronomer Johannes Kepler died in 1630.
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Regensburg is rich in baroque churches, one more splendid than the other. Here the church St. Emmeram which is part of a vaste palace complex.
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Another baroque/rococo church, the "Old chapel".
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The view to the northeast from the top of tower of the "Frauenkirche". The yellow church is the Theatiner church
and the large building complex to the right is the "Residenz".
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From the same tower here the view of the Marienplatz. From the left we have: the new town hall, the old
town hall, Holy Ghost Church and the Old Peter's Church.
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The new town hall seen from Marienplatz.
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Theatiner church.
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The palace garden and in the background the Theatiner church.
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The north facade of the Munich Palace. To the right the palace garden.
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Inside the palace: the so-called Antiquarium, named so because of the busts and statues of
ancient Greek and Roman politicians.
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The Ancestral Gallery of the palace.
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The famous brewery, Hofbräuhaus.
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A masterpiece of the baroque: the Asam church, named after the brothers Cosmas and Egid responsible for the construction.
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A view of the Theresienwiese, where the Oktoberfest takes place.
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The "Kniepenkerl", the typical Westphalian.
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The Lamberti church at the "Prinzipalmarkt". In the towers lives a hornblower who every
quater of an hour during the evening blows his horn to mark the time.
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Inside the Lamberti church.
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The "Prinzipalmarkt".
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The "Prinzipalmarkt" once again, this time from the other side. In the background the Lamberti church.
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The town hall at the "Prinzipalmarkt" where the Peace of Westphalia was signed in 1648.
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In the foreground the official home and office of the bishop of Münster (which is a catholic city)
in the background the "Überwasserkirche", i.e. the above-water church-
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The botanical garden and the palace of Münster (now the main building of the university).
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The old bridge over the river Neckar and the city gate.
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A view along Neckar to the east.
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The view over the city as seen from the castle.
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Courtyard of the Heidelberg castle.
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In the cellar is home to the largest wine barrel in the world (measuring 6,5 m hight, 9 m length and containing 228.000 l).
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During the War of Palatine succession (1688-1697) the French troops captured Heidelberg and the castle. When they were later forced to retreat, Louis XIV ordered
them to destroy as much as possible of the fortifications. As is apparent, the soldiers did quite a good job.
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The castle and the city seen from the castle gardens
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The city hall and in the background the castle.
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The old brigde over the river Neckar again.
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The town and the castle seen from the top of the "Heiliggeistkirche".
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