To Rothenburg

We had to say goodbye to our hostel in a castle this morning. It was sad. If you have children or are on a budget, I could not recommend it highly enough.

Today we made our way east to Würzburg where we saw the Residenz – former home of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, answerable only to the Holy Roman Emperor. To be honest, I was a little leery of scheduling this stop. We have seen palaces before, and often the overall effect is a little off-putting. Palaces too often try too hard to impress. They value quantity over quality, and you can’t help but wonder how many commoners were oppressed for the sake of such opulence. I have to say, however, that the Residenz in Würzburg was a delight. The main rooms were quite simply awe-inspiring – not simply for their grandeur, but for the beauty. The plaster carvings and ceiling art were among the best I have ever seen. Meanwhile, the palace was not as overrun with crowds as I expected and that was another plus. Unfortunately, we were strictly forbidden from taking photos inside (and we were watched, too) so we only have photos of the gardens.

The Residenz was heavily damaged near the end of WWII – to such a degree that it would have been reasonable, I think, to have abandoned the notion of restoration. Fortunately, the powers that be decided to undertake that daunting task. For the idealist, it does beg the question of what is and what is not original or historically accurate. And to be fair, that question exists with every centuries-old site since every structure undergoes renovation more or less continually over it’s lifetime or else falls to ruin. But if nothing else, I can state that today, the Residenz I saw in Würzburg was stunning.

We then drove on to Rothenburg, generally considered to be among the cutest medieval walled towns in Germany. It’s cuteness is derived from it’s wealth prior to 1630 as a crossroads of trade routes, and it’s 250 years of poverty after being sacked. The town’s poverty prevented the “improvements” that would have made it look like any other, instead of the unique time capsule it is. This bit of history, and more was passed on to us by the “Night Watchman’s Tour”, a delightful hour of guided tour and storytelling that started in the market square and meandered around the oldest parts of the town center. Our guide has been giving this tour for almost twenty years and he has his shtick down pat. Tourism has once again made Rothenburg a very wealthy town and, I suspect, the night watchman a rather wealthy man.

Our youth hostel is the building in the middle photo with all the eyebrow dormer windows on the roof...