Day 6 Sunday, May 29/11 Wurzburg

This morning we continued sailing down the Main and negotiating locks.  The upper deck has not been raised and the wheel house goes up and down according to the height of the bridges.  Rik gave an interesting talk in the lounge about the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal.  This canal was not finished until 1992 enabling River traffic to go all the way to the Black Sea.   Attempts to build a canal date all the way back to Charlmagne in 793!  To see the fascinating history of this waterway check out Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine%E2%80%93Main%E2%80%93Danube_Canal

Deck surfing was a favourite passtime when cruising the Rivers. 

A marina.  We have been seeing more recreational boats on the Main.

Tenting and fishing. 

We arrived at the port of Karlstadt around 1pm during lunch.  From here we would board a bus to Wurzburg and then the ship would sail there to meet us later.  You could have stayed on board but then you would miss the tour of Wurzburg.  Port talk was early today since we would be back on board just in time for dinner.

It was a short bus ride to the UNESCO World Heritage sight of the Wurzburg Residence.  It was built under the patronage of the Prince-Bishops Lothar Franz and Friedrich Carl von Schonborn.  It was built and decorated in the 18th century by a team of famous architects and painters.  This Palace was unlike anything I had ever seen in terms of opulance with artistic frescos and unbelievably ornate decorations.  The size was overwhelming.  What wealth and power these people had!

This is Wilma another well informed and entertaining tour guide.  She is a PHD archeology student.   Parts of this Palace actually house students as part of the University Campus.  Unfortunately, the portion we toured would not allow us to take photos inside some of the rooms so the interior pictures I have found online.  

Detail of part of the entrance fresco.

This is a photo from Wikipedia showing the incredible entry and part of the fresco on the ceiling.  I really wanted to lie on my back and study this.  It was amazing and told a story.   

Unbelievable!!  

After touring inside we went down to the wine cellar for a tasting.  Now this was an experience!  Wilma had told us that even though we were in Bavaria, one of the better known states in Germany, we should not call it that or we would risk insulting the locals.  We were actually in Franconia a renowned wine growing area.  Franconians are very interesting.  Think of the Franks, of Charlmagne, to be frank - honest and somewhat non-emotional.

Four hundred candles lit the way to long tables in one of the world's largest and most famous wine cellars.  Apparently Napoleon tasted wine here during his invasions.  The cellars are in working order and though they once belonged to the church they became state owned during secularization.  We tasted 3 Franconian wines with Florian as our wine tour guide.  He was not a typical Franconian since he liked to smile and to get smiles and had a great sense of humour.  "Zum Wohl"!  This is a more refined toast to your health when drinking wine.  Luckily Florian would be our guide tomorrow at Rothenburg.  Thank goodness since the more time spent with him the better!

The wine festival was huge with many places to eat and drink wine, 

These brides were walking down toward the famous bridge.  They were modelling wedding dresses.

We could see the River Queen from the famous Wurzburg Bridge

The old and beautiful bridge of Wurzburg. 

A nice little biergarten on the way to the boat.

After leaving the wine tasting we walked up town and enjoyed the sights and sounds of a wine festival in progress.  Instead of taking the bus back to the boat, which had moved to Wurzburg while we were touring; we walked.  Along the way we found a nice biergarten.  When we got to the boat we had another amazing dinner and then a dance in the lounge.  The band only played for 1 hour so we had to dance the whole time to take advantage of it!  Great day and evening.