May 25: Bamberg – Domplatz 1

From the Altes Rathaus area I headed over to a netcafe just downstream on Inselstadt and then across the Marienbrücke and uphill to the Bamberger Dom (Cathedral) on the left of the Regnitz. This is the third section of the city, known as Bergstadt (hill town) due to its Romelike seven hills.

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First though I scurried around further on Inselstadt for a bit. Here, a narrow but imposingly tall side street.

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Little house big house.

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Wow! Nice varied levels of scale in that mural.

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A subtle arc of houses.

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Upon crossing the river, an apparition of the Michelsberg Abbey up on one of the hills.

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Another peek at the abbey.

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A cheery bike niche.

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A cascade of roofs.

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On Obere Sandstraße, a narrow little church, Kirche St. Elisabeth, peeks around.

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The end wall of St. Elisabeth leans slightly forward in a Seussian manner. Or at least I remember it that way; it's hard to tell from this angle.

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A door of deep reliefs.

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The hill (Domberg) the cathedral and Domplatz (cathedral square) are built upon is steep enough to require stairs here, up from Katzenberg street.

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As you emerge into the Domplatz from below, as here, the end of the zigzagging Neue Residenz, from the beginning of the 18th century the residence of the bishops who ruled the city and its territory, looms ahead. The shadow at lower left is one of the cathedral's spires.

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But even more looming is the Dom itself.

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The Domplatz lies between the Neue Residenz and the Dom; the Residenz forms the northeast and northwest sides of the square. I quite like the demarcation of the street lanes with little more than material changes.

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Gorgeous stonework. It looks almost like... that maybe Greek sort of candy that's kind of like a more powdery fudge in texture, and it's this color, maybe nut-flavored? Is this just something I'm imagining? I'm hungry. — Edit 1/2/2015: HALVA! Yum.

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The tawniness of the left portal's stone is curious, and so is that bright teal medallion above it. I like how everything's a little off center from everything else.

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The right portal's variegation is odd but nice; it reminds me of a color grid in a graphics program, the yellows fading quasi-smoothly into white at right.

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The Domplatz is a whole universe of lovely irregular rivers of cobblestones.

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A side entry to the Dom from the middle of the Domplatz. (Edit 1/2/2015: Corrected the photo link.)

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Dom spires plus the main gable of the Alte Hofhaltung (Old Court), the residence of the bishops prior to the Neue Residenz.

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The plot thickens: is that yellow paint on the stones? Let me know if you know what's up here.