Look at this beautiful morning in Wurzburg! Despite what looked like a beautiful day on the boat we chose the optional tour to Rothenburg. Today there was no included tour so we decided to pay for the optional day long tour to this famous Medieval town.
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| View of Wurzburg |
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| Onion Domes...that is what this style of Baroque turret is called, also viewed from the Port in Wurzburg. |
By 9:00 a.m. we boarded bus #2 with Florian (yesterday's wine connoiseur) as our guide! The 4 of us managed to get the front seats and we couldn't have picked a better day to do this. All the buses used on our tours were comfortable with large viewing windows but nothing beats the front. We travelled on one of the region's most beloved roads, called the Romantic Road. This took us through small and picturesque towns, farm land and vineyards with Florian commentating. He was very funny too. One of our fellow travellers asked him if he had considered doing stand up comedy in the off season. His sense of humour was dry and you would never know by the tone of his voice that he was a comedian. You really had to listen to get his subtle humour and I am sure I missed some of it. This mixed in with local knowledge and wordly knowledge made him one of my favourite guides. Not hard to look at either. It was interesting to learn that he made more money as a tour guide than as a teacher which was his original vocation.
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| One view of a town through bus window. Didn't take too many, just enjoyed the ride, the maypoles in every town and the talk. |
We had been hearing about "Sleeping Beauty" for a few days and today Florian was filling us in even more. Rothenburg has been compared to the fairy tale because for a period of history nothing happened there and that included limited destruction. Maybe something to do with the plague as well. So in many ways it is now one of the best preserved examples of a town of the Middle Ages. This makes it a premium tourist destination but all the people were not a bother at all. To me it was a vibrant and active town as I am sure it was in its hey day in 1274 when it was declared a free Imperial City. The Thirty Years' War (1618-48) ended that and it declined into a provincial backwater. This war was fought mainly in what is now Germany and left a swath of destruction so the sparing of this town makes it even more amazing. This war was complex but largely a result of fighting between Protestants and Catholics. Rothenburgs' historic value was recognized again in the 19th century and its preservation was safeguarded. Florian really hates the fact that modern vehicles have access to the town but I liked the juxtaposition.
After his tour we went off on our own for lunch and had the rest of the afternoon to explore on our own. We were to meet up with Florian again at 4:30 to go back to the bus and then meet the River Queen at Gerlachshausen Port.
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| Florian took us to the Marktplatz to get oriented and then on a walking tour. |
Here is a slide show of some street scenes in this most amazing town. This is a wonderful place to shop but I was more interested in the buildings and scenery than the wares being sold in them.
One typical Medieval feature of Rothenburg is the encircling fortress wall and watch towers. From the "back" wall the views of the town and valley below were magnificent.
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| This fancy bakery sold a specialty called Schneeball (snowball) made from dry dough wrapped around itself, deep fried, dusted with sugar and cinammon or dipped in chocolate or lemon icing. Flroian thinks they are horrid and should be banned. Apparently most people agree. I didn't try it but Gisele had a sample and kind of liked it. But the shop was lovely and all the shops in this town had charm. |
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| Laughing so hard we were crying. It's a long story. |
Florian's tour took us past the Christmas Store and Musuem, Doll and Toy Museum and Medieval Crime Museum. After lunch John and I decided to climb the town hall tower and walk on top of the wall perimeter so did not have time for these but Grant seemed to enjoy the Crime Museum. Figures. And Gisele enjoyed shopping.  |
| Can't help but look up. |
We had lunch on the patio across from the Cathedral at this lovely restaurant. The menu was a bit hard to decipher but you couldn't go wrong with typical Bavarian Fare. The waiter recommended this sausage sample plate.
Franconian Sausages are as good as their wine!
Yes! Another incredible Cathedral. This one houses a famous carving of the Last Supper. The size and detail was mind boggling. It is very old and carved out of lime wood.
After touring the Cathedral John and I went to the town hall and climbed the tower. The view of the town from here was well worth it.
From here we walked toward the town entrance to take the steps up to the parapet where you can walk for quite a long distance on the town wall. What a great way to get a perspective of this town!
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| From one section of the wall we got a good view of the tower we had climbed. |
We left Rothenburg and took the Autobahn for a faster ride back to the ship and of course another wonderful dinner and enjoyable evening on board. On to Bamberg!
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