Würzburg and Rothenburg!!!! YAY!!!:3

Alright,



So I know you have all been just dying, waiting, anticipating my newest update (snicker) yea right!


6-6-08
lol. So anyways, this weekend was quite an adventure for Matthew and myself. On Friday, we woke up early and boarded the 7:29 train for Andernach. We were lucky to find that we only had to make one more switch from Andernach to Koblenz and it would take us straight to Würzburg. In Kobelnz, we actually found ourselves riding the same train as Frau Lucht. lol it was funny to see her outside events and the class room. She was on her was to Dresden to settle some things for our travels there in the next couple weeks. Our train was delayed by 15 mins, so she actually ended up missing her connection in Frankfurt. We felt badly for her and I hope she found another train eventually.



When we arrived in Würzburg, we headed for our hostle, which was not too far down the road. It was about 1\4 of a mile or less. When we got there, we paid, and were shown to our room. We stayed in a Mixed gender 10 person room that night in dorm bunk beds. Lets just say, we met a lot of interesting people. One Brit, one Austrilian, one chinese, one Japanese, one...still not sure, and two other Americans. One American hit it off real well with us, his name was Alex. Alex is 17 years old, but is a sophmore in College. Lets just say...he's been around the globe and because of it is extremely mature for his age (I was kinda shocked).



After we got our sheets on our bunk beds, Matthew and I struck out for the city! It was great! Crazy really, but fantastic. We headed straight for the Residenz. When we arrived there after about a 10-15 min walk, we found that the next English tour was at 3, but that there was a German tour taking off then (1 pm). So we decided to piggy back on the German tour. Our tour was comprised of some older German couples and then a group of young, and sometimes rowdy German middle schoolers. Apparently we must jsut stick out like a big thumb with a sign over our heads saying "Hi, We're American! Take a picture (smile for effect)" lol. Our guide was explaining to us the glory of the entry room of the Residenz with its huge painted ceiling with on each side a civilization. What most Americans mistake to be America when they first see it is actually Europe, then Asia, following Africa, and lastly America (as an uncivilized, exotic nation). I think oru tour guide realized right off the bat that we were Americans, and he good naturedly poked a little fun at us, without drawing any attention to us. Later in the tour, he apologized to me saying in an English accent, lol, " sorry for teasing you, but I just couldn't help it." It was at that point in time, that even though neither Matt nor myself had spoke either a word of English or German, that we must be obvious from quite some distance as Americans.



After our lovely tour of the Residenz (it really was lovely), we decided to look at the Residenz church attached to the left hand side of the Residenz, its left our right, and a quick but wonderful look at the Residenz Gardens. We then set off to look at the Dom! We found the dom with relative ease, because you can basically see it straight off. We found it and looked at it breifly. It was a bit too modern for either Matt or my tastes as to the look of Roman Catholic Churches. When we went out the front entrance, I instanly knew where I was. The älte brücke (old bridge) was was right in front of us about a 1\4 mile off and we headed for it.



Matthew and I walked the old bridge with its huge lovely statues at every 15 or so feet. The Marienfestung could be seen on the hill slightly to our left and we decided to visit it. When going to the Marienburg Fortress, there are two ways in which to appraoch it. There is a 40 min walk up that it very scenic and quit comfortably done, and then there is the heart pounding 20 min climb to the top. Guess which one we did, yup, 20 mins to the top. lol.



The climb was for sure heart pounding, I think maybe even Matthew was winded for a short second, hehe, but not really.



When we reached the top, we set out for the Mairen Festung Frankische Museum, this museum is huge. With tons of paintings, carvings (a good amount from Tilman Riemanschneider), plates, silverware, finery, huge wadrobes and desks (each and everyone of which Matthew had basically made up his mind to take with him. hahaha), weaponry, amory, etc. It was an interesting museum, and though I have now visited it twice, though this time quicker, I was happy to have Matthew see all these things. After the Museum, we proceeded to check out the rest of the castle open to the public, which isn't much.



We found that there was some sort of event going on there, there were teenagers, and then some who were in their 30's, 40's, and possibly 50's. They were doing archy, and pretend jousting. Lol. they seemed to be having a blast. Matthew and I watched for a while as the adults rode a wooden stake pony (you know, like the ones you played with a kids, when there is like a wooded broom handel and then a stuffed fleece head with yarn for hair. lol. it was a riot. Matt and I could hardly contain ourselves as we laughed at how dorky the scene below us was. hehe. Silly Germans, how we love them!



After the Marien Festung, we decided to find a place to eat. I was set on finding a restaraunt\winery that my mother and I had found last summer. It is called "Burger Spital Weinstub," And boy oh boy is the wine and food there fantastic!



Matthew and I found it with pretty relative ease. We first went into their winery store, where I proceeded to buy two bottles of wine (they have really good wine) one for my mother and another for myself! We also joke around with the man who was running the register. He was quite a jolly old fellow and I must admit, a sweetheart. He made a little joke saying I should buy a bottle for myself, my mother, and then for the two of us to share. Matt and I laughed, but then he asked if Matthew was my boyfriend and when I said yes he said, oh no, he's stronger built, taller, and younger than I am and the laughs were begun anew because of how funny he was!



For dinner, we did decide to eat there. Matthew had a pork stake with french fries, and a side salad. I had some meat tatar thing with roasted onions on the top! It was amazing! Matthew and I were both terribly pleased with our meals! We even spilt a bottle of their wine between us for a very decent price!



After dinner we were about spent, but we decided to check out a local concert held at the univeristy church of neubach for the performance of "Carmina Burana". We bought tickets, a glass of bubbly, and settled in for a lovely performace. Though I must say, I am sure Nordic choir did it much better. Not to say that the choir was lacking, by no means. I just think that Nordic can produce a more fulfilling sound. The soloists however were fantastic. Matthew did and did not like the Baritone, I thought he had a lovely voice, the soprano was enchanting, and the tenor I am pretty sure was actually a counter-tenor. I'm sorry but normal tenors of that age do not sing that high for that long a period of time. He was a counter-tenor for sure!



It was a fun time, and afterwards we got ice cream and headed back to our hostel! When we got there we stayed up quite some time talking with Alex, exchanging stories and finally, it was bed time!

6-7-08

Today was also an adventure. We got up, checked our emails, went into town with Alex to get soem breakfast, and separated ways. Alex has to update all the places on his list for the touring book company he works for, and Matthew and I had already been to all the places on his list.

So Matthew and I decided to go to a builiding which looked quite impressive from the outside, but I must admit, I wasn't too terribly impressed with the inside; again it was too modern for Matthew or my tastes of Roman Catholic Churches.

After that, we wandered a bit, got an ice cream cone, and then eventually headed back to the train station after Matthew had spent some time in a German Nato shop looking at army wear. He didn't buy anything, but only because the coat he tried on was too small. Poor Matty.

So we road the train from Würzburg to Steinach and then from Steinach to Rothenburg ob der Tauber! YAY!!!! I know Rothenburg is completely touristy, but I must be honest. I love it!

When we got there, we were immediately attacked (not really) by a German man trying to get us to stay in his hotel. We told him several times that we already had booked accomodations. Finally in the end he gave us a freee mapp, with the way to his hotel highlighted and told us to check it out if we wanted to. We did not, but it was nice to get the map.

We walked to our hostel after taking one wrong turn by me. It looked like we were suppoed to take a right, but really, we were jsut supposd to curve with the road.... oh well.

When we got there we waited around for a while and then realized that the reception was open from 9am-1pm and then 2pm-10pm. Guess what time we got there. Thats right, the one hour in which they had a break. lol. So we decided to go back into town and knock a few things off our list. with all our luggage. Now granted, we each only had one backpack. But think of a backpack streched to its limits, bulding over and extremely heaving because it held towels, bed sheets, clothing, numerous books, an umbrella, various other knick knacks, and two very heavy bottles of Würzburg Franken Wine!!! Lets just say, I was dying. lol!

Eventually, my back and shoulders couldn't take it anymore and I had to resort to putting my backpack on my front. Lets just say, I got many intersting looks from people.

We went to the Marktplatz and took a couple pictures. Afterwards, we headed off to the Käthe Wölfahrt Store (again, bascially Christmas town!!! yay!!!).

Matthew and I did each buy at least one thing from the Christmas extravaganza store. It was fun looking around in there. It was here that I switched my backpack to my front. lol. I probably think it was better this way, beacuse at least I could keep my huge load in check with all of those expense breakables in front of me. If my backpack had stayed on my back, I could have seen myself turning a corner and taking out a whole self with me. Thank god that did not happen!

After Käthe Wölfahrt, we went to the Analise Friese Store. They were nice, but maybe not as nice as I remeber them in the past. I told them about Rick Steve (the guide book, where fi you mention his book, then you get a free map of Rothenburg that is very pretty). They told me I could leave my bag there and go about my business for the day and come back for it when I wanted to, but I said no thank you.

We then moved onto an amoury store that Matthew had seen on our way back into town. The girl who worked there was extremely nice, let me take my bag off while we were there, she even let me use her internet to make sure that the Hostel really did open back up again at 2. Which it did. The store was really neat, all kinds of weapons lay at our finger tips. Cool katanas, fake royal style pistols,suits of armour, chain mail body pieces, etc. Matthew loved looking at it all, but good for him, he did not buy anything. Boy certainly do love toys. There were even a few things I found appealing. Like a daggar that I thought might go very nicely with my renniasance costume, but it was also a bit above my league in the price category.

We went back to the Hostel, had a few surprises there, and were shown to our rooms. This time Matthew and I were separated into boys and girls wings. Matthew ended up getting a 6 person room all to himself, no one else showed up. I had a 6 person room with two other girls, one from Spain the other from Japan.

When we were settled and after Matthew had showered, it was about 3:30 pm. So we had to get started because shops only stay open in Germany usually until 5-6pm.

We went directly to the Midevil Crime and Punishment Museum. I have been there once before, but thought Matthew would enjoy it. He did! There were all sorts of torture devices, weaponry, shame masks, documents, illustrations, etc. It was a good time for us, and we went through it all in about an hour. When my mother and I were there last year, I swear we were there for 3 hours.

After this, Matthew and I were a bit hungry, so we went to look for the place that had been reccomended to us by my mother. When we got there, the woman said the kitchen did not open until 6 pm. It was...4:30 or so by this time and we were quite hungry having had only a roll for breakfast and no lunch.

So we went in search of other places. Turns out, this seemed to be the theme everywhere we went. Finally, we found a restraunt on the Marktplatz right next to the Analise Frise store. Matthew and I each had one beer and I had a bottle of water as well. Matthew had Spaghetti Bolognesa with french fries and I had the Käse spatzel with a side salad. (Don't judge me, I know I have been eating käse spatzel on this trip none stop, but it is just so tasty, I can't help myself!)

By this time, huge clouds had rolled in with thunder and lighting (but thankfully, no rain) it passed us over, and it had become quite cool. So Matthew and I went back to the Hostel, changed into our warmer clothing, and walked a bit of the Stadtmauer (city wall). The unique thing about Rothenburg is the fact that the stadtmauer is bascially totally complete. It envelopes the old city, which actually our youth hostel was inside the city walls. yay!!! Liek I said, is envelopes the old city and is can be quite tall in the areas where more protection was needed, and there are areas such as the valley area, where the walls were shorter because no one would ever be insane enough to try to reach Rothenburg for an attack by that steep valley wall!

After this, we just sat down on the Marktplatz and waited for the "Nightwatchman's Tour" to begin at 8 pm. We saw him right away, because a local pointed him out to us. He was poking his head out of one of the side buildings, from quite far up and was drinking a glass of wine, seeing how many people he had attracted from that nights "show" lol. One moment he was up there and then the next thing Mattew and I knew, he was down in the square. We never even saw him leave the window. It was intense!

He came down to us, all dressed up like a midevil watchman with a candel lanter, warning horn, hat, and cape. Now this man really plays up this tour. He is fantastic, funny, sarcastic, pauses in all the right places. Music majorsfrom Luther might think of him as a modern day cult figure like how Paganini used to play up his violin acts with capes, etc. like this, except this isn't for music, this is for history. hehe.

The tour winded on through the city for about an hour, and I think Matthew really enjoyed it!! We learned a lot of fantastic Rothenburg history while still being entertained.

After the tour was over, we went to a restaraunt called "Zum Hölle" Which means "to Hell".
It even has a little gold sign outside with the shape of the devil on it. The building itself is from the 15oo's, however, the basement Keller is from the 900's. We got to eat and drink in the Keller. It was so cool. I kinda felt like Hell, but in a fun cool way, not a ....scary way.

Matthew and I each ordered some wine and enjoyed ourselves at our huge barrel like table. This was eventually shared with a couple who was originally from Romania, but who now had lived in the states for about 14 years. They had two children a nine year old and a four year old. We chatted with them the whole time. They were extremely nice and our conversation was quite relaxed, but with some serious topics at hand, like communism for example. ( Just a word to the parents, they brought it up, we did not, Matthew and I have been careful about speaking to the effect of policital topics.) But the two seemed very open to talk about it and by the end of it, Matthew and I were sorry to part ways with them.

By this time it was around 11 pm and we decided to retire back to our rooms for the night. I took a much needed shower after two days of traveling (I again forgot to bring shampoo and conditioner, sad panda).

After the shower Matt and I talked a bit about the days adventures and then we went to sleep.

6-8-08

Today was started earlier, with breakfast at 9. After breakfast, matthew and I checked out. Went and took some more pictures around town and finally headed back off to the train station because our train was scheduled to leave at 11:09 am. We got there in plenty of time, and spent the entire day on the train. This day had many train switches, in which we ended up missing one of our trains but found anotehr seconds later just leaving for Koblenz. After that, we reached Andernach where chaos ensued. Two trains were at a stand still in Andernach for at least 45 mins I would say. No one had any idea what was going on, and when our train finally showed up, the two trains were still there. Poor people and poor German railway workers (neither had a clue what was going on, it was like all communication had been lost).

We arrived back in Mayen at about... I believe it was around 3-4 pm. Matthew went home to shower, eat, and nap. I stayed here to shower, finish my book, cook käse spatzel for dinner (not a word!) , chat with Marianna about this weekends adventures, and watch the cooking channel with Marianna (apparently she hates to cook, but loves to watch cookign shows, I love oto do both, so it worked out well).

Later on Matthew came over and we spent the time updating things online and watching some stuff online.

Afterwhich, we made our travel plans for Regensburg this weekend, we are goign to leave thursday after class and go and stay with Michael for the weekend. yay. A true Bavarian and a very good friend of Matthew and mine. Matt left at like 12:30 and I proceeded to fall asleep almost instantly.

6-9-08

Today. Well woke up at ) 9:30, ate breakfast, and have been updating the blog since then.

Today, we are not having class becasue we were invited by one of the rotary members to come and see stuff in Kottenheim!!! Yay, I love excursions where we can use our German!!!!

So we are all meeting at the Mayen train stations and taking off for Kottenheim! I might update later tonight with how that went.

P.S. I let Matthew take most of the pictures when we were in Würzburg and Rothenburg this time, and Matthew takes far less pictures than I do.

But we will update pictures, hopefully tomorrow from our travels this weekend!

Much love to you all, and I hoep you are all doing well!

Biss Dann! ^^