June 14, 2015

Monuments Men and Monuments to Bishops

We are in Wurzburg, a two hour drive south of Weimar. The sun is out and hot by German standards. Since it is Sunday, the Autobahn was almost empty. We still managed to get passed by many going much faster than my sluggish 80mph or so. Tom found the hotel and we got oriented. 

We drove up the Festung Marianberg, a fortress dedicated to Mary and featuring the bishop who paid for its construction in the late 17th Century. The place is huge and overlooks the Mainz River. Vicki and Dave will soon be found there on a cruise ship. We missed them by a week or so. Peggy told me to not let on to too much stuff or I might spoil it. Let me just say to bring comfortable walking shoes, sun hat and sun block. 

This is the way up the tower

By the early 18th Century, the Prince Bishops who ruled this part of Franconia decided to build a more modern crib on the other side of the river. So on the hill above the old 11th Century Romanesque Cathedral or Dom, they built a new Residence. Needless to say they spared no expense. Neither did the RAF that firebombed the city in March of 1945. The Nazis tried to hold the town against the Americans for four days which added to the destruction. The world’s largest ceiling fresco by Tiepolo was in danger of destruction from the elements. A young 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army assigned to protect Monuments somehow managed to build a temporary roof over the exposed parts of the structure. 

   
                               Restoration folks have been working to put Humpty Dumpty back together eversence. There is a nice tribute to the Lieutenant in The palace. I will need to get some pictures from the Internet as they would not let us take photos inside.

    
Peggy finally got a pretzel

Local Wienstube for an afternoon refresher

           We wandered around the old part of the city. It is very live able today. We had a nice stop at a Weinstube for a glass of dry Pinot Grigio tasting wine made by a winery with a 700 year heritage. It was OK. I was getting tired of beer. Don’t worry Dave, there is still plenty of beer to be had. 

The bridge over the Main, the Cathedral and city Hall or Rathaus

Dinner at the local riverside restaurant…beer hall

This is Sunday so we missed the Friday special…fish on a stick with Pretzels and lots of beer