Gößweinstein

After the long drive of the day before, and the weather being superb, I decided to go out into the countryside. My goal was the village of Gößweinstein. It is in the center of the Fränkische Schweiz and it happens to have a gem of a church. I had been to G. once before but the church was closed then and I never got to see it. The church of the Holy Trinity (a basilica minor, to be precise) was designed by one of the greatest architects of the German Baroque, Balthasar Neumann. It was constructed from 1730-39. How this little burg managed to swing bringing in the hotshot architect of the time is a mystery (a promise of 70 maidens? Whoops! Wrong religion!) But here it is and it's the pride and joy of little G. (It would be like East Cornstalk, Kansas having Frank Gehry design a building for them.) The decor is a bit more subdued, downright ascetic compared to Melk. The color scheme is white and pistachio green. Go figure.
The choice of hiking paths was a bit overwhelming but I chose, without realizing it, just the thing for a hot day (it got to the upper 80's -- too hot for hiking, actually). The route kept me mostly in a cool, serenely quiet forest preserve, by a pretty brook and up the hill again. By the last stretch, on a country road, I was sopped and panting like a Saint Bernard. But it was worth it. The predominant tree of the forest is beech. The area is famous for its outcroppings of huge boulders (see pic). My short Wanderung through the German forest brought back memories of happy times long ago, and gratitude for the happy time of the now.
It was still only the middle of the afternoon and I wasn't too far from Bamberg, another place on my list of destinations. So, to Bamberg I went. And here, dear reader, I must confess that driving is not all fun and games. I got into another traffic jam and inched along for quite a while. It took me a lot longer to get to Bamberg than I anticipated. I filled my tank in G. for the first time. It cost 60 euros (= $75). Boing. And it's a small car.