Wurzburg, Germany

After a leisurely breakfast at our hotel, we caught a train (with air-conditioning) to Wurzburg to see another UNESCO heritage site, the Residenz.  This palace, for a prince-bishop, is a magnificent Baroque structure, supposedly one of the largest and most beautiful in Germany.

Tiepolo painted the staircase vault.  I mis-read the signs at the entrance thinking that only flash was prohibited inside.  A guard came at us shouting something intense in German and we realized that no photography was allowed.  Unlike when we were in Egypt and the guard wanted to confiscate our camera, this guard was more lenient but did follow us for quite some time.

The visit was absolutely stunning.  Make sure you go on one of the guided tours as only the guided tours get to visit the Imperial rooms.  The Mirror Cabinet room is unreal.  Gilt-coated mirrors have paintings on the back side so that the painting shows through the mirror.

Over 80% of the town was destroyed in WWII and the palace sustained severe damage.  Most of the furnishings including chandeliers, tapestries, doors, etc. were hidden off-site to safeguard them.  The restoration was a herculean effort.  The mirror room alone took over 8 years and money was not raised for it until 1972.

We then walked the equally beautiful gardens.  It appears that it is the happening place for weddings as we witnessed at least two of them.

Time for lunch.  Jeff ordered a goat cheese and spinach tart and a flatbread pizza was delivered.  Translation, translation, translation.

Down the street from the Residenz is St. Kilian's Cathedral.  The interior is very modern filled with unusual altar pieces of artwork.  The brochure for the Cathedral says "after the town fire on March 16, 1945" (hmmm, I wonder what caused that town fire), the original Baroque interior was changed.  Around every corner was one amazing piece of artwork after another.

Exiting the Cathedral leads you to the pedestrian street and ends at the Alte Mainbrucke, the bridge over the Main River.  Wine tasting appears to be the thing to do on the bridge as lots of vineyards are on the other side of the river.  As we were deciding if we wanted to try some wine, the dark foreboding clouds above made the decision for us.

And then God said unto them, let there be wind, let there be rain and run from this land back to your train station.  Which we did immediately.

Downed bikes after the wind storm

Two heads are better than one on how to get home

We finished off the evening at a wonderful restaurant, Goldener Pudel.  The tuna and salmon tartare appetizer with wasabi sea foam was outstanding.  Now it is time to pack up and head tomorrow to Dresden.

Goodnight.