Villa Albert Bad Kissingen

We were taken to the palace of the Prince-Bishop. It remined me of a smaller version of Catherine's palace in St. Petersburg, where one room flows into the next, each one more oppulent.

The temperature is in the 40's and windy. Prior to our trip all sources indicated it would be in the 50's and 60's. Oh well.

Last night there was dancing to the music of Sasha- a Bavarian born, one man band who's English sounds like one run on sentence ...

... 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.

... most important cities in the Holy Roman Empire and in 1248 work began on its mighty cathedral, designed to house the relics of the Three Wise Men. Known as the Dom (pronounced dome), it was once the world’s tallest building and is arguably still the world’s greatest Gothic edifice, attracting pilgrims from all over Europe, even though it was not to be completed for another six centuries. It is still Germany’s most visited attraction.

... job, well done.

We then strolled through the town, took a look in the two main churches and then headed out looking for a camp ground.

We found one just outside of the town, it is along a canal with barges going up and down the waterways and rows and rows of vineyards on the hill sides. Just a beautiful setting. We had diner in town so we just set up for the night with our canopy us. It looks like rain again.

... and videotaped the Glockenspiel going off at 5 p.m. The free tour guide told us it is the second most overrated tourist site in Europe, after the astronomical clock in Prague. I am inclined to agree, even though I'm very happy I can now say I've seen it. The bells were good, not great, and the dancing people were cute. The bird at the end was a bit pathetic, and I'm not sure why it hooted like an owl. Unless it is an owl. I'm clearly not sure.

So we packed ...

... down into the wine cellar which is 260 years old.  It was a dark tunnel under the palace lined with barrels of wine and when we came to the end two long table all set up with glasses and 400 candles burning just like old times and we sat down to a wine tasting.  We tasted 3 different wines while we were told of the history and after an hour we left there to walk home to the ship as very happy little ...

... towering walls, we realize that our hour and a half break is more like 3 hours! I swear, we can burn time like nobody's business. Reaching the front of the castle, we soon realize that our hour long trek up the side of a small mountain, through a vineyard and over gravel/dirt roads could have been a mere 20 min climb by a nicely finished staircase to the front gate! OH brother. Moving along....we continue our drive to Koln cathedral.

... side of the road takes some getting used to but so far we are managing, it was freeway all the way out of Holland at 100kmh limit then the road signs just changed language and we crossed into Germany then it was eyes in the mirror all the time looking for low flying BMW and Porche the fastest we saw was a BMW M5 it went past so fast that the bike shook, no speed limits on some autobahans. We had to refuel twice at 1.52 ...

... means). Some of the rooms had intricate plaster designs covered with gold leaf and others had giant baroque paintings. The colors were really soft and easy on the eyes. There was also a hall of mirrors, which was kinda cool. The lavish decorations kept us busy for a while. We then left to check out the Old Town (every city, it seems, has an Old Town. I don't think we ever saw the "new towns." I ...

... 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 ...