Astoria Hotel Bad Kissingen

Today I toured the town of Wurzburg, which is where the often traveled by tourists "Romantic Road" begins. Along with taking an English tour of the city, which ended up being a private tour as I was the only one who signed-up, I took a tour of the Wurzburg Residence, a UNESCO heritage site, which is a baroque palace of prince-bishops.

The Residence took 60 years to build and at one time there were 400 people ...

... thing I did notice were the German "rest stops". Unlike those we know in the US, these are simply pullovers and nothing else. Nothing else except men peeing along the side of the road, in broad daylight. Come on Germany- Let's invest in some restrooms! At least one of those McClean pay ones would be an improvement.

... one man band who's English sounds like one run on sentence with no chance of being understood. Blessedly, there is some recognizable tunes. Shuls is a dance machine.

We stopped on the main bridge at a cafe with a fire blazing and had coffee. We then returned to the ship for our optional excursion to Rothenburg. A Unesco site that is a completely walled in Medieval village from the ...

... between Budapest and Amsterdam.
We’re now traveling on the Main River. We’ve seen many swans and ducks on the river and the hills have many vineyards. After lunch we docked at Wurzburg , another picturesque town with many church spires and a fortress on the hill. The river is crossed by another old stone bridge with large statues of Bishop Princes and saints lining the sides of the bridge.

The fourth biggest city in Germany, with over one million inhabitants, Cologne (Köln in German) began life as a Roman colony or colonia (hence its name). Its location on the Rhine, at the heart of Germania, was key to its status as capital of the province. The city became a centre for worship, famous for the legend and cult of Santa Ursula, and built several splendid Romanesque churches, which survive today.

By the Middle Ages, Cologne was one of ...

... We are told to go upstairs and the audio guides are available at the entrance.

As we go up the stairs we do see the incredible painting on the ceiling here. It is a huge staircase going up in the centre and then divides and goes up again on either side. The painting is astounding. Then we go in to a side room with chairs in it and look at the ceiling in there, another great master piece. There are some tours ...

... get a guided tour of the memorial site, since it only cost us 12 euro, which included the train and bus ride there and back.

Our guide's name was Kevin and he talked too fast and walked even faster. It didn't take away from the experience too much, but next time we're in Munich, later on in life, I'll go visit without a tour to meander as I please and not be rushed by anyone. To the tour's credit, we just barely caught the bus and would have missed the train had ...

... we certainly had a lot of fun.  I took the video camera and filmed the staff introducing them however once again I started of with the cap on but we figured that one out pretty quickly as I couldn’t see anything much to the amusement of the people around.  Still had lunch at 12.30 but must admit didn’t eat as much because we weren’t that hungry.  We docked at about 1.30 and left the ...

... It was a huge, beautiful place and had a magical big garden. Too think it was all for one lady is crazy as it was gigantic. I can't help how lonely you'd be in a place this big. However i wouldnt say no. Well from leaving this place :o( which is sad as its so peacefull and scenic and so far the prettiest place we've been too. This place is also the start of the Romantic Road for anyone interested in doing that - a great start i must add :o) Goodbye Wurzburg...

... In Lohr, the river Lohr empties into the Main.Perhaps for its geographical location or the fact that two majorvalleys lead into the interior of the range, the town is known as the"Gateway to the Spessart".

The Main river valley is steep with an elevation change from 160 m above sea level at Gemünden dropping to ...