Black Forest and Würzburg

P1000976


24/9/12

Woke up to clouds and rain, but bravely took off on a 10 km walk after a good country breakfast.

And sure enough the skies opened up and we stripped off our rain jackets. The walk to the village St. Mäergen led over sunny cow pastures and through moss carpeted pine forests. The only challenges on this walk were to push through the gawking cattle and avoid their splashy excrements. But- aah! The good country air!!!

Something else is good here: the food!!! We had heaps of the seasonal mushrooms called Pfifferlinge (not available in Oz) usually served in a cream sauce over Dumplings or hand made pasta, called “Spaetzle” – yum!

By the way, our guesthouse is a pure family run Hotel/Pub/Restaurant. There are 7 kids between 17 and 30, all lovely and all working in some capacity in the “business”. Where do you get so obedient, loyal kids??? Just kidding, Lisa, Jules and Nin!

 

25/9/12

We reluctantly left the Black Forest, but not before stopping at a roadside stall to purchase some smoked Black Forest Ham and Pine Forest Honey. The elderly farmers couple insisted that we also try some the Kirsch. Poor us!

At 13.30 we crossed “the boarder” to Bavaria (also called “The Free State of Bavaria”). You see, the Bavarians classify themselves as special and independent from the northern part of Germany. Is this right, Christiane?, John?, Mario and Eva???

Mind you, they allowed me to live in Munich for 3 years, though they got rid of Austin after 6 months.

Driving on the Autobahn Austin got the most out of our hired Renault Clio at 170kmh while Mr. Audi, Mercedes and BMW swooshed past with at least 200kmhs. I calmed my nerves by listening to hits from the early 60ties like “Schöner fremder Mann”, “Spanish Eyes” and Wenke Mhyre on Radio Baden Baden.

So we headed to Würzburg at the top end of the Romantic Road.

 

26/9/12

We started this morning at the Residenz Palace, where from the early 18th century the Prince-Bishops lived. They combined church and political power and were only displaced by Duke Ferdinand of Tuscany when secularization abolished episcopal rule. Later it became part of the Bavarian Kingdom. It is described as the most significant baroque palace of Germany, even Europe and was inscribed in the UNESCO world heritage listing.

Luckily, most of the furniture, doors, paintings and wall carpets escaped the fires in the two wings after bombing at the end of WW2. Therefore everything could be reconstructed with its original items.

Unfortunately the Dom of Würzburg was closed for renovations, and so we crossed the “Main” River and climbed the steep hill to the Fortress Marienberg. Here the Prince Bishops used to live from the 12th century until this fortress became too small and insignificant in their eyes.

The way down from the fortress lead right through the vineyard, and we couldn’t help ourselves and picked some of the small very sweet grapes  (if you want to get us in trouble you need to write to the State of Bavaria who owns the vineyard).

Determined, as we were this morning, to change our diet and making a good start with the grapes,  our tourist map had to lead us straight to the local market and the stall with “Currywurst and Pommes”!!!  


27/9/12

Today we are heading back to Remscheid and Ahlen to catch up with my family and friends.

We will be "out of office" until approximately 7/10/12 when we fly to England.

© Austin Robinson 2019