The Residenz is actually a palace that was built by the Prince Bishop of Wurzburg as a display of wealth to his city-state. For a long period of time, Wurzburg was it's own independent state with it's own laws and own currency.
Inside the Residenz we were not allowed to take any pictures, which is why we have so many!
Kurtis holding up a car in the parking lot or the Residenz.
The very pretty royal garden.
The entrance with the grand staircase.
Kurtis looking up at the worlds largest vaulted ceiling fresco painting.
This room was enormous.
The green room, my favorite in the whole palace.
View from the rear gardens.
The rooms in the center section of the palace were original with restoration, but the two wings of the building were completely destroyed in a mysterious fire in 1945. I am of course joking, it is not mysterious at all, but it would seem that the German way of dealing with WWII is to not talk about it.
When we finished up at the Residenz, we headed back to the Hauptbahnhof (train station) to pick up our packs which we had stored in a locker. We were now headed towards Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber.
A visit to Rothenburg was recommended to us by Kurtis' uncle Bill who had visited the walled medieval city during his time in service. We reached the city and found a place to stay for the night, a nice little pension (bed and breakfast). Then we set out to explore the city.
One of our first stops was to the tower in the center of town where we climbed a rickety old staircase and then eventually even a ladder to get up to the top. It was a tiny lookout space around a big bell, but the view was amazing and it was turning out to be a really beautiful day!
We took a stroll on top of the medieval walls around the city, going through areas that haven't changed in almost 1000 years.
Riding on a canon.
Kurtis scaling the fortress wall.
We also came across an amazing antique shop (the first we had seen with reasonable prices) and we bought a really cool old map of Bayern (bavaria). We heard that the city was especially beautiful at night (which is why we chose to stay the night) so we headed out for a walk just after sunset and managed to catch a part of the night watchman's funny tour.
Kurtis in front of the window of his dreams.
Rothenburg at night.
When we woke up the next morning we were delighted with our lovely breakfast selection (so delighted that we packed some up for lunch!) and we got all packed up and headed back to the train station to head to Nuremberg for the day.
In Nuremberg we pretty much just wandered around. I was feeling sick (maybe food poisoning?), so we just took it easy for the day. Our friend Mattias put us up for the night in the nearby town of Erlangen. Kurtis made us an American meal of hamburgers and French fries, which we once again ate before taking any photos!
And that brings us to today! Right now we are riding on a train to Fussen, the city closest to castle neushwanstein, which we will visit tomorrow. On Sunday or Monday we will travel to Munich and Kurtis will finally be able to say that he has been to Oktoberfest! We are so lucky to have met so many really great Germans who have hooked us up with a place to stay in Munich. It is very hard to find anywhere to stay during Oktoberfest and VERY expensive (150 euro per person per night for DORM beds in a hostel!!!). So a big thank you to everyone who has helped us out!
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