The Ugliest Rathaus in Germany

Rathaus is German for city hall, and in every German city the Rathaus is usually on the list of sights to see. That's because it can be a really amazing building like these from Munich and Aachen. 

Even if they're not architectural wonders, though, they can still be known to have a certain charm about them. Like in Forchheim and Bamberg.

But even then, if they lack both the spectacle and charm, they tend to at least be nice looking buildings. For example, in Berlin and Düsseldorf.

On my recent trip to Bayreuth, however, I laid my eyes upon the worst excuse for a Rathaus I've ever come across in this country. 

Congratulations, Bayreuth. You have the ugliest Rathaus in all of Germany. 

Climbing on Statues with Wagner

Before you start to believe that Gemma and I spent my entire 5 day trip to Forchheim in our PJs (I'm sure I don't know what would give you that idea), let me confirm that we did not! We spent one day visiting the city of Bayreuth.

Bayreuth is most well-known for being the home of Richard Wagner back in the day and the current location of the annual Bayreuther Festspiele, a summer festival where only Wagner operas are performed. I therefore referred to Bayreuth as Wagner-land for the entire day.

And we did get to visit all the Wagner highlights. We saw the Festspielhaus (where the operas are preformed during the festival).

We saw his bust in the Wagner park. 

But we did miss visiting his grave because we were too busy taking this picture...

You have to admit, it was kind of worth it. In fact, aside from Wagner sight-seeing, we spent most of our day staking out spots (usually involving climbing on statues) for a good photo op or two. I'd say we were pretty successful.