Wurzburg and Rothenburg

Day 7 - Wurzburg (September 5)

6:00 AM and dawn is breaking in the east. Of course, it’s cloudy here so I can’t really tell where east is but at least it’s not raining. We decide to have an early breakfast since our shore excursion to Wurzburg starts at 8:30 AM this morning.

Würzburg, in southwestern Germany, in was first used as a fortification by Celts and the site of the martyrdom of Saint Kilian, a Christian missionary, in 689. Founded by christianized Franks it became an Episcopal See in 741. Würzburg has one of the biggest railroad junctions in Germany because of it‘s industrial center. It is also the commercial hub of an agricultural region noted for its vineyards. The city is big into wine and beer, machinery, scientific instruments, paper, pianos, chemicals, and textiles.

Since it was likely to be chilly and rainy we dressed in layers and took our umbrellas. The ship tied up alongside a quay on the outskirts of Würzburg. After leaving the ship we walked to our bus for the short ride into town where we are going to visit a large rococo Episcopal and Ducal palace built during the period 1720-1744. Though heavily damaged during WW II, the palace was fully restored to its original grandeur by 1987. We arrived at the immense square which fronts the palace and exit our bus. Our guide lets us take photos of the outside but informs us that no picture taking is allowed inside. To see what we saw, click on this link:

http://www.residenz-wuerzburg.de/englisch/residenz/tour.htm

Then go to the bottom of the page and click on any room to see photos. We started our tour in Vestibule, then into the Garden Hall and up the Grand Staircase into the White Hall. Next was the Imperial Hall followed by the Southern Imperal Apartments. After completing our tour of the palace interior we went around to the back to see the gardens where numerous wedding groups were doing photo shoots. Then it was back to the bus for the ride to Rothenburg ob der Tauber (Rothenburg above the Tauber River).

One of the surprising aspects of our trip was the road system. Though Germany is recognized for the “Autobahn”, much of the transportation system consists of roads barely wide enough for our bus, no center line, running past agricultural fields and small villages with clusters of 15 to 30 houses and farm buildings. Along with these small country roads, are two-lane roads with 8 foot lanes. It’s really only in the cities and large urban areas that you find the wider multi-lane roads. But this makes sense when you factor in the well developed rail system, and the rivers and canals as major transportation modes for transport of goods. What makes the river/canal system work is the well maintained locks, in fact for our trip we will transit over 60 sets of locks.

After a ninety minute drive through the countryside we arrive in Rothenburg, a well-preserved medieval old town. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City which gave it the right to self governance and not have to send tax revenue to the central government. The town dates from the mid 10th century with the building of the castle by the Count of Comburg-Rothenburg. In 1170 the city of Rothenburg was founded at the time of the building of Staufer castle. The center of town was the market square and Jakob’s Church, our destination for lunch and walking tour.

Arriving in town, we stop in a large bus park and walk into town passing through one of the entrances in the old covered wall that surrounds old town. Our guide takes us to one of the many restaurants where we go upstairs for a lunch of bratwurst, saurkraut and mashed potatoes with a custard tart for desert - very nice. After lunch we go on a walking tour around old town before being released to spend the afternoon exploring on our own.

As we walk around looking in shops and wandering along the many small connecting alleyways, the city has a medieval street festival going on with locals dressed in period costume, with tents and cooking fires, there are displays of blacksmithing, leatherwork, cooking, cloth making and many other daily crafts that were part of day to day living. At one point we encountered a wedding procession about to enter Jacobs church including. Along with the bride and groom there were drummers, several people playing fifes and people waving banners.

We had a really enjoyable time in Rothenburg with sunshine most of the day, in fact we had our jackets off most of the time. At 5:00 PM we all met up at the Market Square for the walk back to the bus. Our drive from Rothenburg took us out of town and onto the Autobahn before dropping back down to the River Main and our ship. After cleaning up and changing we went in to dinner then retired to our respective cabins for the evening. With all the walking and hiking we all decided to try and get a good nights sleep.