We get up kind of early today. After breakfast we say goodbye to Dawn’s grandparents and head towards Nurnberg, but first, on the way we stop of at Wurzburg to visit the Wurzburg Residence which is a palace built by the prince bishop of Wurzburg circa early 1700’s. Evidently at those times the bishop was also vested with the local secular power so he became prince bishop instead of just bishop. The residence was bombed during WWII, but they have spent a lot of time restoring the building. This place is big, ornate, and very baroque. We took the tour that include admission into the private residence within the palace. As you work your way into the inner sanctum the rooms become increasingly more gilded and ornate. Unfortunately photography is not allowed inside the residence. Trust me, it’s over the top. The grand finale is a room done entirely in painted mirrors and gold gilding.
The palace has a number of huge painted dome frescoes. One of the most interesting one is near the garden and has a dog painted near where the ceiling meets the wall. It’s designed to be viewed from the entrance from the adjoining room. Our tour guide instructs us to keep looking at the dog and walk across the room. The further across the room you walk the fatter the dog gets. It’s a crazy perspective trick the artist used and it’s good fun. I fattened the dog up multiple times.
After the tour we stopped to have lunch in the cafe/restaurant associated with the Residence. It’s white asparagus season here in Germany. You see signs for it everywhere. I noticed the special of the day was white asparagus with butter. We both ordered the white asparagus special. Dawn orders a cappuccino and we both order a glass of red wine. The asparagus is very good, not quite as grassy as normal green asparagus. During lunch I look at the bar behind Dawn and keep thinking I kind of recognize a bottle on the shelf. It’s driving me crazy. Eventually I put two and two together and realize the reason I only kind of recognize it is it’s a Pappy Van Winkle bourbon bottle. I've been looking for it in the States for the last two years. I've never actually seen a bottle in person. After lunch we order a glass of Pappy Van Winkle and toast the excellent taste of prince bishop of Wurzburg, mirror room and all.
Later we walk the palace gardens which are impressive and immaculately kept.
Next we drive to Nurnberg. The traffic as we enter town gets down right nasty. Dawn is a trouper and gets us to our new hotel and checks us in. The hotel is very nice and the hotel attendant is super nice. We get situated and then go and drop off our car rental. Dropping off the car is a piece of cake. We still have the parking ticket from Bamberg to take care of. We’re sent inside the airport to ask the car rental folks about it. They send us to the police (thankfully also in the airport). The police tell us the ticket is from the city of Bamberg and not the police of Bamberg so they can’t help. The ticket has to be paid with a direct bank transfer… which is evidently common over here but we have very little hope of being able to complete it in the next few days. We end up back at the rental car folks and they claim then can take care of it if we’re willing to pay them an extra 18 euros. We agree. That parking space in Bamberg. Best. Parking Space. Ever.
After dropping off the car rental we ride the subway to the old town portion of Nurnberg and walk around the north side of the town walls. We also walk through the castle gardens, but by the time we make it the castle proper it’s about to close so we don’t get to take the tour. We decide to walk across old town and look for some place to eat dinner. Just about that time there is thunder and sky finally opens up and there is heavy rain and hail. We take refuge in a small shop and eventually once the rain eases back a bit and the hail stops we start to make our way across town. We find a place called the Litertaturhaus Restaurant that speaks to Dawn. We hunker down there and eat dinner while drying off. I order roast beef and potatoes with a local beer. The roast beef is nothing to write home about but the potatoes are great.
Later we hunt down a local beer hall called Barfüßer. This place is a flight of stairs underground and HUGE. The tour book said it was a no nonsense beer hall that is also an active brewery and restaurant. The beer is good and I’m impressed by the scope of this vaulted underground operation.
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