Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Wednesday, 7 June. We woke up in a fog so thick the ship was limited to a very slow pace. By 09:00, though, it had cleared up, and it turned out to be a nice, sunny day.
Thanks to a comment I made to Katy about Franken wines, she arranged a wine-tasting of Franken whites on board at 10:00. There were only three wines, and I didn’t care for any of them. I then realized that there was a huge variety of Franken wines, Unfortunately, I didn’t remember any details about the one I had enjoyed so much back in 1971, so I abandoned any thought of buying one like it when we got to Würtzburg, as I had intended. Lunch was moved up to 12:00 and the ship arrived in Würtzburg soon after. As the ship entered the city, we saw the Käppele (1748), a pilgrims' church, on a hillside above the river. Our bus tour to the Residenz left at 13:15. The Residenz (1744) was the palace of Würzburg's powerful prince-bishops. It is noted for its spectacular grand staircase with a fresco ceiling by Tiepolo. It was heavily damaged in World War II, and only a few of the original rooms survived (including the staircase, Imperial Hall, and the White Room.
Our tour included those and a few other rooms, including the spectacular Mirror Room, which was probably the most difficult to restore. (Jane and I had visited the Residenz in 1971, before the extensive restoration was completed.) Leaving the building, we had half an hour of free time to see the gardens.
We gathered in front of the Residenz at 15:00, and each group was assigned a local guide. Our guide then led us on a walking tour of the old city. It was just a couple blocks to St. Killian’s Cathedral, constructed (1040-1225) on the site of an earlier cathedral dedicated by Charlemagne. It’s named after a 7th century Irish missionary martyred in Würtzburg. The adjacent church, the Neumünster, was supposedly built on the site of his murder and burial. We then walked down Domstrasse, the main street, toward the river. We passed the old Town Hall (13th century) with an impressive Romanesque tower. Then we came to the river, spanned here by the Old Bridge (1473-1543), adorned with statues of saints. From here there was a great view of the Marienberg on the hill above. Early fortifications on this hill date to about 1000, with numerous additions over the centuries. The fortress was the Residenz of the prince-bishops from1253 to 1719, before they moved down to the city.
The walking tour ended on the bridge at 15:30. Jane and I walked down to a sidewalk along the river. We found a bench in the shade where we had a marvelous view of the Old Bridge and the Marienberg. After a long while, we finally got up and followed some narrow side streets to Market Square. There we visited the Marienkapelle (1480). Just behind it, on a very busy pedestrian street, was the amazing Falkenhaus, a baroque mansion covered with rococo stucco-work in 1751. We browsed through the market and looked in a few shops before returning to the ship about 17:00.
After dinner we went to the lounge at 21:00 to hear a local artist play the pan flute. He was quite talented and we love the pan flute, but his selection of songs left something to be desired. Before the ship left Würtzburg at 23::00, I took my camera on deck for a shot of the Marienberg at night.
|
