Wurzburg was the first stop on our trip down the Romantic Road. We found t
he Residence Palace without too much trouble and parked in the huge lot in front of the 17th/18th century building. The palace is probably known best for the world's largest unsupported ceiling fresco by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Unfortunately for us, there was a huge renovation project going on that had a good part of the fresco covered by a large picture of what it would look like if you could see it. We did get a peek at some of the workers with tiny brushes carefully repairing li
ttle spots that were deteriorating with age. The unsupported ceiling was designed by architect and engineer, Balthasar Neumann.
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We caught an English tour of the palace and wandered through elegant and unique meeting
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Our tour over, we crossed the parking lot to find some lunch. We never tired of the outdoor cafes and found one a block away from the palace. Much to my delight, I got to practice my German again. Our waitress spoke little English. I ordered deep fried camembert cheese cakes with cranberry sauce. They were absolutely delicious and I found them once or twice again along the way during our trip.
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A short drive brought us to Fortress Marienberg, used as the residence for the local prince-bishops from 1253-1720. Obviously they weren't concerned with keeping out the riff-raff anymore. The moat was dry and planted in grass with a few trees. The structure was very interesting, as was the 8th century Marienkirche, but we passed on the museums. We needed to move along to our evening destination--Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
Along the Romantic Road are 27 towns and villages to visit. Unless you plan to spend the good part of a week, you cannot see them all. We stopped on our way to Rothenburg at Bad Mergentheim. The former town of residence of the Grand and German Masters of the
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It was almost six when we arrived at the Best Western Hotel Merian. The hotel was on the second floor over a carpet store, small but very nice. We got directions to a restaurant that was just outside the gate to the town of Rothenburg obT. It was a lovely meal but in the customary style of Americans, we were in a hurry. The night watchman tour was to begin at 8 p.m. and we were getting nervous about missing it. I don't think our hostess was pleased with our impatience.
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