An added bonus was arriving in Wurzburg early this morning, as the program had allowed anything up till 12:00 noon as our arrival time. Wurzburg (which is spelt with two dots above the first u) is the capital of 'Wine Franconia'. This city was also ruled by a Prince Bishop and therefore included the usual palace and cathedral. This palace, called the 'Residenze' is a declared world heritage site.
This beautiful building is the House of Falcon, the best example of a Rococo style building in the city.
We found three public gardens in Wurgburg
but only one was well maintained, probably because government offices surrounded it.
The fountain in the garden.
I love these shop signs! This one was attached to the red building in the picture below.
This is the 'Residenze', built for the prince-
bishops of the Shonborn family. A baroque palace, it is one of the largest. In Germany and was built by a famous architect of the time named Balthazar Neumann.
The tree spoilt the shot as it covered up the gold detail!
A church in Wurzburg.
The view on the other side of the river. The
grape vines are grown vertically on the steep slopes for two reasons - the vines will receive more sun than if they were grown in horizontal rows and the air flow around the vines is improved with this layout.
River view.
The bridge was lined with statues each side.
Looking back from the bridge to the town.
The afternoon was spent in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, ob meaning up in German so the name means Rothenburg above the Tauber River. There is another Rothenburg which is situated below the river.
The city of Rothenburg was so poor after the 30 year war they were so poor that no modernisation of the buildings was possible. This is why the medieval style of the buildings is so well preserved.
During World War 2, 40% of the city was bombed. After the bombing campaign ended, the Allied Army was scheduled to invade and destroy the city. However, these plans were thwarted by Assistant Secretary of War, General John McCloy. McCloy had a fondness for Rothenburg, because his mother had once visited the city. She brought back a painting of Rothenburg which hung in the living room and was always telling McCloy stories about how wonderful the city is. It was this love for Rothenburg that led McCloy to instruct General Jacob L. Devers to negotiate with the Germans rather than continue to bomb. The Germans surrendered the city and no further damage was inflicted.
This van is parked outside the Christmas shop and museum. We had free entry to the museum but waited until nearly the end of our free time as
there was so much to see. The shop was enormous as it occupied 2 shops behind the front one as well. Christmas markets are a big thing in Germany and many cities hold them. The museum was interesting, but not as interesting as the town!
Flower decoration on the window sills of buildings is common in Austria and Germany. The pots are taken inside during winter and treated with TLC as it is very competitive as to who has the biggest display.
Rothenburg is protected by the city wall. This view is through one of the defence holes.
You can walk along the ramparts in many part of the wall. The city could not afford to rebuild the wall after WW2 so they put out the call world wide asking for sponsorship. Those who sent money were promised a plaque detailing how many metres of wall they had helped to rebuild. You can see the plaques if you climb the ramparts in the right spot.
The view of the valley from the wall.
A lovely medieval shopping strip.
The mask that you can see in the middle of the tower had an important function. Hot tar would spew out from the mouth if you were an unwanted guest.
Picturesque.
The valley below.
The town hall.
Medieval architecture.
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