Amberg (Part 2)

Last weekend we ventured outside the old city walls of Amberg. Just around the corner, we found a beautiful park area. We enjoyed sitting there by this beautiful fountain and people watching. At least we enjoyed it until we noticed a older gentleman who was quite casually standing by a statue taking a tinkle! Apparently this is not an uncommon sight here. This does not make my list of things I love about Germany...lol! Needless to say we moved on from the park at that point. Here's the fountain and a few more pictures from outside the walls.

We also found some small playgrounds that the kids couldn't resist. Who am I kidding? Neither could I! I love to swing!!

As you're driving toward Amberg, you can see a beautiful church steeple high up on a hill right outside the city. The pilgrimage church, Maria Hilf, was built in 1633 when the townspeople were dying from the Bubonic Plague. The story goes that they prayed to the Virgin Mary for help and promised they would build a church in return for their salvation. As with the other churches we've seen here, this one is absolutely beautiful. The walking path up the hill leading to the church was very steep, and it just about got the best of me, but I'm so glad we went. The path was lined with the stations of the cross, something that was new to us, not being Catholic. When we stopped at the first one, I went to take a picture with my camera and realized I didn't load my memory card before we left the hotel. Thankfully I had my phone!

Once we got to the top, we discovered a wedding was about to take place in the church. I snapped this picture of the bride and her father about to enter the church!

We obviously couldn't go into the church at that point, so we were pleasantly surprised to find a little restaurant off to the side of the church. It offered a spectacular bird's eye view of the city of Amberg!

After the wedding was over, we thought we would finally get to go inside the church, but would you believe that another wedding was lined up right behind the first one?? I sat on a bench outside and watched the wedding party pull up in a limo and took a few pictures because what's more picture worthy than a beautiful bride in a beautiful dress outside a beautiful church?

Finally after the second wedding was over, all the wedding goers cleared out and we were able to go inside. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

So much beauty and history! I think Laurel and I could just sit in these ornate old churches all day and be quite content!

We've not done much exploration this week, as we've been tied up taking care of business on post for the most part. We did, however, come across something interesting last night after we had dinner. As soon as we walked out of the restaurant where we had eaten, we were greeted by the sounds of "Okie from Muskogee". Naturally we had to go find the source of this great American tune. In the city's center marketplace, there was a three man band set up playing old country music! We've heard so much old American music since arriving here - mostly old country and 80's pop/rock - in restaurants, on buses, and on the streets. It's definitely not something we expected to encounter, but you won't hear any complaints from me!

This weekend we plan to take our first train trip to a nearby city and spend the day seeing the sights there. Hope everyone back home has a great weekend!!