Wurzburg and Rothenberg

Another weekend adventure took us to Wurzburg, about an hour away.  This city has one of the most important baroque palaces in Europe.  Construction began in 1720 and was completed in 1780 and was built by one of the prince bishops.  Originally it cost 1.5 million florins (1 florin was a week's wage).  The Residenz, as it is called, was 90% destroyed in 1945 but the country spent 20 million euros to rebuild it.  

Paul snapped this photo of the grand staircase before being informed that pictures were not allowed on the tour.

Paul did sneak this photo of a ballroom at the end of the tour.

The grounds were gorgeous!!!

From  the Residenz we could get a fabulous view of the 

Marienberg Fortress!

A fort was built on this hillside in the 8th century and the 

large castle in the 1200's.  The cars give an idea of just 

how large the wall is surrounding the fortress.

The interior of the fortress...

The view of the city and bridge from the fortress

The gardens and Handsome Paul

We then continued driving south another hour to the town of 

Rothenburg, considered the "most German town in Germany"

It is a perfectly preserved medieval town from the 

17th century...quaint and charming!

Here is the city hall:

There is a famous Christmas Shop in Rothenburg where 

every room looks like this one

The "thing to do" in Rothenburg is to take the 

"Night Watchman's Tour" at 8pm starting in the town square.

There were about 100 people gathered for the English tour but

we got a picture of me and our guide.  He led us through the town like 

a pied piper, telling us stories of life in the middle ages.

We finish our tour of Rothenburg with the setting sun on the city gate.

Next week it is a journey to Marksburg and Berg Eltz!!!