Day 08 - The break up - Heidelberg & Amorbach Abbey

Today’s itinerary was a visit to Heidelberg where Rob’s family lived for three years. The city has a history of palantine princes, stampeding Swedes, Protestant reformers, raging fires and lightning bolts.

Last night Michele decided she wanted a more relaxed day and would opt out of the all-day Heidelberg tour with the rest of us. Instead she signed up for the shorter Amorbach Abbey and Library tour including the private organ recital. 

We met for breakfast this morning at 7am. While waiting at the omelette station, a woman told Michele that she and her husband missed the boat in Wurzburg yesterday! They were at a cafe and noticed that the boat was no longer in front of them. Michele asked if they had to start running to catch the boat down river. The lady said she is not of Michele’s frame and therefore does not move quickly. Apparently they caught up at the lock and waved their arms frantically.  The crew did not want them to “just jump” on board as she suggested, so the big crew guys hauled them over. The lady said to Michele, “They really don’t wait for you if you are late.” Michele replied, “You need to be on time for the boat!” Apparently this happens occasionally during the sailing season.

Rob, Roy, and Gwyn (without Michele, hence the break up) got on the bus at 8:30am and left for Heidelberg. The ride was about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The route rook a meandering road through the countryside where we saw a lot of farm fields and small villages. We eventually reached an elevation of 1,500 feet before descending to the Neckar river. We followed the river westward into the town of Heidelberg. 

Modern Heidelberg can trace its beginnings to the fifth century. The first reference to Heidelberg can be found in a document in Schönau Abbey dated to 1196. This is considered to be the town's founding date. The city has a rich history marked by destruction during the Thirty Years’ War and the Palatine War of Succession in the 1600s. Heidelberg was left in ruins by French troops under the command of Louis XIV. It was completely rebuilt during the 18th century. During WWII, the city was relatively spared from the Allied bombing campaign unlike neighboring Mainz. This was likely due to the lack of industry in Heidelberg but the romantics like to think it is because of the city’s rich history and beauty.

Our guide led us through the Old Town section of Heidelberg and stayed with us all day for the tour. The Old Town portion has many shops, restaurants and hotels. We made our way to the town center to the cathedral and then walked over to the Alte Brucke (Old Bridge).

It was interesting to see how the church building integrated the shops into its base.

The gatehouse’s gate on the Alte Brucke was actually wood and is used today as modern decoration to mimic the original that would have been metal.

Here is a picture of the Alte Brucke from the castle overlook above.

Although the Bridge was completed nearly 250 years ago, it is young compared to the age of Heidelberg. The nickname “Old Bridge” dates from the construction of the Theodor Heuss Bridge in 1877 (then known as the Friedrichs Bridge). Since the thirteenth century there have been eight bridges on the site; the current bridge is built on their foundations. The bridge gate (German: Brückentor) at the south end of the bridge also dates from the Middle Ages. On March 29, 1945, German troops blew up three of the bridge’s arches and two of its pillars, features that were restored after the end of World War II.

Next, we walked over to this Jesuit church and took a peek inside.

Next we arrived at our restaurant for lunch. Rob was handed a beer as he walked into the building. Now that is great service!

After lunch, we took the train car ride up to the castle. Castle is probably not the right word for this place because in its hey day it was an over-the-top palace.

The king had this gate erected overnight as a surprise birthday present for his wife.

The views from the castle over Heidelberg are amazing.

Inside the castle we got to see two wine barrels. We thought this one was pretty big. 

Then we went to see the bigger one. This one holds 58,574 gallons.

It has a spiral staircase that takes you to the top where you can reach the dance floor built on top. Pretty remarkable.

We made our way back down to the bus. The other side of the river from Old Town is a hillside of fancy homes.

We loaded on the bus and made the 1 hour and 45 minute ride back to the ship which was now at a different location (now at Miltenberg). This morning we got off the ship in Wertheim. After Rob, Roy, and Gwyn left, the ship continued down the river to Miltenberg with Michele on board.

A small group remained on board this morning. Michele took pictures and enjoyed the solitude on the front deck and took in the scenery. Sometimes breaking up is good.

At a lock we shared the very tight space with another ship, a “two-fer” as Rob later said. 

Michele found travelers BJ and Mike from dinner last night and continued conversations about their favorite travel locations. Soon it was lunchtime. Since so few were on board we were served in the front deck. A kind couple, Valerie and Mark, invited Michele to join them. She had salad and rigatoni for lunch with mango sorbet and fruit for dessert. 

We pulled into Miltenberg at 1:55pm, having some river traffic today that slowed us a bit. At 2pm our small group of 17 loaded the van for the Abbey tour for a short 15-minute drive to the town of Amorbach. 

Amorbach Abbey was a Benedictine imperial abbey of the Holy Roman Empire beginning in year 732.

It was later the residence of the rulers of the short-lived principality of Leiningen before that became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria, and its historic buildings still belong to the princely family.

After a turbulent history of invasion and wars in the area over the centuries, in the 1740s the site was completely refurbished in the late Baroque/early Rococo style. The abbey was dissolved in 1803 and given with its lands to the Princes of Leiningen as compensation for lost territories occupied in 1793 by French revolutionary troops. In 1818, the widowed Princess of Leiningen married Prince Edward. They resided at Amorbach until April 1819, returning to England so that their daughter, the future Queen Victoria, would be born on British soil.

The high altar has six red marble columns supporting black beams topped by a Holy Trinity.

The pulpit is unusual with its two curving staircases (one on either side of the column).

An important feature of the church is its Stumm organ. It was built in 1776–82 by Johann Philipp Stumm and Johann Heinrich Stumm. 

The organ has 5,116 pipes and 30 percussion devices shared across 66 stops, and is played from four manuals and one pedalboard. Pipes range from 6 inches to 30 feet. 

We were treated to an amazing private recital of four pieces by Pachelbel, Bach, Schumann and Pierné. Michele was in heaven. 

After, we visited the library built in 1790, an elaborately decorated two-storied room with a gallery. The oldest book is from the 1500s. A book with an entire play by Mozart is housed there. The wood floor is an optical illusion of three-dimensional posts or books depending on your perspective. We had to put on large slippers over our shoes to protect the floor. 

The ceiling fresco features allegories of wisdom, virtue and science. 

There are also large cracks in the ceiling, but we were told they are stable for the time being. 

The upper gallery stairs are cleverly hidden behind faux bookcase doors.

After the Abbey, we enjoyed cake and tea/coffee at the cafe across the street. We drove back to the ship arriving with the big buses from the Heidelberg tour.

We rested in our rooms until dinner at 7pm. There were rumors on the ship all day that the crew were planning a special German dinner night. The waitresses were dressed in traditional dresses. The food was authentic and a festive spirit filled the room. We sat with sisters Mary and Kathy from Georgia, kind ladies who shared memories of their Ireland travels. Check out how much food Michele has in front of her! Soup, a smorgasbord of dishes, and a pretzel on top of the spaetzle because she ran out of room. 

Pretty sunset views from our table.

After dinner we all opted to skip the second trivia night and go to bed. Tomorrow is a walking tour and dinner experience and we dock in two different cities. 

Day 07 - Wurtzburg arrival, Rothenburg sights, Wurtzburg Castle

Today had two unique sights: a medieval walled city and a palace.

Last night we sailed from Bamberg to Wurtzburg, arriving this morning at 9am. Since our tour did not leave until 9:30 we did not have to wake as early as on previous mornings. Michele was a hungry girl today and had two breakfast courses: the omelet and the french toast. Despite Rob ordering the blueberry pancakes for her, they brought out french toast. No matter, she happily consumed them. Roy and Gwyn joined us and we had a leisurely breakfast. The maitre’d, Jerome, talked to us awhile. He is the relief maitre’d for another staffer on vacation, but prefers his regular job mixing drinks at the bar. He worked on the big cruise ships for 8 years.

Our excursion today started with a one-hour bus ride to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the best preserved medieval walled town in Germany located in the Franconian region of Bavaria. The drive, considered the grandfather of Germany’s scenic routes, the “Romantic Road” from Wurtzen to Fussen, was beautiful through rolling hills and farmland.

In the Middle Ages, Rothenburg was Germany's second-largest city with a population of 6,000 compared to 11,000 today. There are very few places elsewhere in the world with so many of its original buildings dating from the Middle Ages as in Rothenburg.

A brief history: Settlement occurred in year 970. The first castle was built in 1070. The first fortification was built around 1170. The city became a free imperial city in 1274. The 1600s were especially turbulent with the 30 years war and other battles. In 1802 the city lost independence and became part of Bavaria. Artists discovered the town in the 19th century and their paintings beautified the town, attracting tourism for the first time. 

Our tour guide gave us a brief overview of the city layout and major sights. Then we all went to a local restaurant for an authentic Franconian lunch. It was lightly peppered meat wrapped in boiled cabbage with mashed potatoes. Dessert was creme caramel.

After lunch we were on our own. We spent time walking a portion of the top of the 1.5 mile fortified wall that encircles the city. The wall connects five medieval gates with guard towers dating from 13th to 16th centuries.

The whole of the walled town is a museum, scarcely changing in appearance for hundreds of years. We walked the streets and enjoyed the characteristic half-timbered buildings, whose attics were once filled with grain and corn to enable the town's inhabitants to survive any siege. The cobblestone streets and mix of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque houses and fountains offered us something to see at every turn. 

This is the most photographed spot in town. 

About 2,000 of the 11,000 town inhabitants live inside the walled portion of Rothenburg. It is a touristy town and most shops were open even today, Sunday, just for the tourists. Roy and Gwyn went in search of the best chocolate shop in town, while Rob and Michele went in search of the aqueduct. 

We met our guide before 2:30pm to walk back to the bus together. Next up was an hour drive, partially on the Autobahn, to the Wurtzburg Residence. 

It was begun for Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn by a young and unknown architect at the time Balthasar Neumann (1687-1753). The shell of the palace was built from 1720 to 1744 and the interior completed in 1780. By the time the massive building was finished, the gifted architect had also served the brother and second successor of Johann Philipp, Friedrich Carl von Schönborn, and the two following Würzburg prince-bishops. The building costs amounted to a total of around 1.5 million florins – at a time when one florin represented a week’s wages for a day laborer. This was a massive sum.

The interior of the Würzburg Residence was the finest of its age. At the Würzburg court three generations of artists and artisans from all over Europe produced an independent variation of the rococo style. The staircase, in Baroque style, was part of a formal reception room. The staircase spans its vault, an area of 18 × 32 meters, without pillars.

The first flight…

And the 2 second flights turning back on and flanking the first flight.

The highlights of the interior decoration were created by the Venetian Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and his son with the ceiling frescos in the Imperial Hall and above the staircase, completed from 1751 to 1753. It is the largest fresco in the world. The ceiling represents four continents: North America, Asia, Europe and Africa. Each continent is represented by a typical landscape and animals (or the painter’s vision of these animals) and a female allegorical figure. This ceiling is one of the only ceiling frescos to survive the Allied bombing of WWII. Although the roof of this section of the building burned down, the vault below held and protected the fresco.

This one represents the African continent.

The European continent.

The Asian continent.

The American continent.

The White Hall in Rococo style was used as a ballroom and for playing cards and is dominated by the stucco decorations of Antonio Bossi. 

What look like flowing curtains of fabric in the ceiling are molded plaster and painted. 

The white stucco works on a light gray background are composed of a large quantity of rocailles, a French style of exuberant decoration, mixed with images of military items and even a dragon. This room is surprisingly the only ballroom in the nearly 400-room palace. The lack of gold and color allows the eye to rest between the splendors of the staircase and the ornate Imperial Hall beyond.

The Imperial Hall was used to receive visiting dignitaries, including the Emperors-to-be on their voyage to Frankfurt and on the return trip to Vienna. It was created in 1749–1751 at enormous cost. The walls of the Imperial Hall consist of stucco work marble in shades of red, white and yellow. Our guide told us the marble is synthetic to better control the placement of color.

The dome is decorated with golden stucco work and also frescoes by Tiepolo, showing an idealized history of the diocese of Würzburg. 

We walked through a few other rooms, seeing historic furniture and impressively large tapestries. 

Plenty of 23 karat gold decorates this room.

The palace was heavily damaged by Allied bombing during WWII and 20 million Euros needed for restoration. Since 1981, the Residence has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its outstanding Baroque art, design, and architecture.

We didn’t have time to visit the gardens. A quick drive back to our ship and we relaxed for two hours before dinner. A couple from Florida joined our table and we shared experiences in travels. Tonight we all enjoyed the schnitzel main course. 

At 9pm a local German glassblower joined us as guest speaker. He brought his beautiful creations for sale and demonstrated creating two objects. 

One object was a candleholder with an unusual teardrop edge that he invented. He surprised Michele by giving the finished piece to her. Boxed up, she will hand carry it home on the plane. (Here it is safe at home!) 

Another lady received a blue sphere, seen here as he is blowing the hot glass. The maitre’d Jerome said he always gives a creation or two to ladies on the ship after his demonstration. 

We were all so tired from the day that bedtime was right after. Tomorrow we visit Heidelberg.