Wurzburg

Pictures: 1) in the gardens with the Residence behind me, 2) in the gardens, 3) hiking through) the vineyards on the way to the fortress, 4) with Aleks on top of the fortress wall, 5) with Christoph in a park near the university, 6) with Aleks on the lion bridge with the church we are about to climb up to behind us, 7) the Käppele church, 8) inside the church, 9) the main bridge with the town hall in front (the building with the big clock)

I arrived in Wurzburg at 4:30 on Saturday and my hostel was literally right across the street from the train station, which was great. I checked in and put my stuff down, then decided to ask for a map to start exploring the town. I waited for the hostel worker to check in the some guy first, and I heard that the guy would be in my room, so after I had the hostel guy circle some stuff on the map for me, I went back to the room and introduced myself. His name is Aleks (yes, it is spelled like that) and he looks eerily like my cousin Brian. He is traveling Europe studying cultural wines for his job (taking notes and sending emails back all the time). He didn’t have anyone to hang out with either, so we decided to explore together.

First we went to the grocery store and after dropping the stuff in the hostel we walked toward the Residence. This is where the Bishop once lived and then some king, but neither occupied very long (this was in the 1700s). It is a very beautiful palace, but the inside was closed so we just walked though the amazing rose gardens. From there we walked through the main town square with an outdoor market and wine fest (Aleks was very excited about that!). Eventually we made it to the start of the wine trails that led up through the wine vineyards to the top of a hill with the Marienberg Fortress on top. The fortress was closed as well, but we walked around inside the courtyards of the fortress and then climbed on a wall and sat with a view over the city and the hills to our left to watch the sunset. The whole time we chatted and sung random musical songs. Yes, I’m serious. Aleks was a theater major and he knows the songs in My Fair Lady, The Wizard of Oz, Annie, Sound of Music, etc. It was actually really funny, because one of us would start humming a song, and the other one would start singing the words, then we would both break into song. At one point, as we sung “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow” and got some odd stares, Aleks said, “This is why theatre kids shouldn’t hang out together.” I said, “I’m not a theater kid!” and he said, “I beg to differ.” lol I should have been a theater kid.

After the sunset we walked to a beer garden that the hostel guy recommended and I had spinach and ricotta pasta and he had stake that, as he put it, could come out mooing and he’d be happy. Dinner was really good, and afterward we walked it off on the way back to the hostel. Crossing the bridge over the river was very beautiful, and then we heard the music from the African festival and went to check that out. Unfortunately it was 5 euros to get in, and it was already 11:15, so we didn’t want to pay that much, and we walked home. We looked for ice cream on the way, but didn’t find anything open.

The next morning we woke up at 9:30. I ate my banana milk with chocolate muesli that I’d gotten from the store the day before (they didn’t have normal milk), and Aleks went to get coffee. We met back around 10:15 and headed out. First we went to the market square again and I texted a CSer who had said he could show us around on Sunday. We agreed to meet on the steps of a nearby church in 30 minutes, so in between times Aleks and I went to a coffee shop where he had 2 cappuccinos and I had a bowl of fruit.

After meeting Christoph (the CSer), he walked us to the Residence again (where we’d seen the gardens the day before). Since it was 6 euros, Christoph didn’t go in with us, but waited in the garden while Aleks and I went inside. It was first built in the 1700s and it was really beautiful - most of it has been restored due to damage in WWII, but some of it remains the same. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but I’m sure you can find it online. Inside there was also an exhibition about the effects of WWII on Wurzburg and it really harrowing. Almost all of the buildings were gutted, but the walls remained standing, so it looked like some sort of unfinished model town. Aleks said that sort of thing leaves him feeling a bit depressed, and I agreed.
Read this from Wikipedia about it: During World War II, on March 16, 1945, about 90% of the city was destroyed by some 225 Lancaster bombers in 17 minutes by a British air raid. Most of the city's churches, cathedrals, and other monuments did not survive, while the city center, dating from medieval times, was totally destroyed in a firestorm in which some 5,000 people perished. During the next 20 years, the buildings of historical importance were painstakingly and accurately replicated. The citizens who rebuilt the city immediately after the end of the war were mostly women. Men were either dead or POW. Relatively, Würzburg was destroyed more completely than was Dresden in a firebombing the previous month.

Christoph met us outside afterward and we went to get a lunch of bratwurst in the marketplace followed by ice cream. Then we walked to the main church (the Dom) which was holding mass, but we could stand just inside and look - it was very beautiful. After the at he walked us to the old and the new university buildings (even the ‘new’ one is over 200 years old). He pointed out many things in the town that were interesting and then took us across the ‘Lion Bridge’ so we could hike up this big hill with a beautiful church called the Käppele on top. The church was built by the same architect as built the Residence but Christoph thinks that this wasn’t bombed in the war because it is too far outside the town. The view from up there was very lovely and you could see the fortress well along with all the vineyards for miles around. When we left we walked across the main bridge (Alte Mainbrücke) with statues lining it. The bridge offers a wonderful view of the town hall and walking toward our left we saw this old crane that was built to load and unload boats by the son of the guy who built the Residence and the church on the hill. It is still there and looks pretty technologically advanced for the time but still antique.

After that we went to this little town within the town - it is sort of walled-in and looks medieval. Finally we went to this church that looked old-style architecture on the outside, but inside it was a strange blend of modern minimalism but there were still old paintings and statues - very strange. Around 5:30 Christoph left us (after giving us pieces of his homemade blueberry cake) and Aleks accompanied me back to the hostel to pick up my stuff and walked with me to the train station. I was sad to say goodbye for we’d had a very nice time together (and who else will sing musicals with me? Lol) but perhaps I we will see each other again in the Netherlands (he plans to go there while I’ll be there with Lieselotte).

The train to Frankfurt was only about an hour and I arrived at 7:30 pm, and walked to my hostel which was very close (three minute walk). However, I was almost asleep when the train arrived, and in my sleepy confusion I left my big black sun hat under my seat. I’m SO pissed because I have been carrying that thing all over Europe thinking “it will be worth it in Spain because it will be so hot and we’ll go the beach and such.” Urrg.