Today we spent the day with the Senior Missionaries in Wurzburg which is the second time for us. We invited the Paxton's, the new couple from Cedar City, Utah. They moved in next door to us. We had a lot of fun driving up together. This is a beautifully laid out city on the UNESCO sight. Of course this is a must see for anyone coming to Germany. This city was established through the Franconian Douchy in 650 AD. but the city itself was started in 742 AD. Charlemagne consecrated the Cathedral here in 788 AD. After the revolt of the Peasants in 1525, it was conquered by the Sweds in 1631. In 1720-44 the Residence was constructed by the Bishop where he lived for a while until he felt it unsafe and moved to the top of the hill into the Marienburg Fortress. 
There was a tour scheduled for the Wurzburg Residence at 11:00 AM so that is the first place we went. All of the frescoes were done by Tiepolo from Venice in the 1750's. What is a Fresco you might ask? Good question, a fresco is a painting produced on Fresh lime morter. It is an Italian word meaning fresh. It is done with powdered pigments mixed with water. No binding agent is used only its own hardening of the lime morter. Only those done in this manner are considered true frescos. Now that you know what I am talking about, the ceilings are all covered with Frescos. We were not allowed to take picutres so I had to take a picture of a picture for you. They are outstanding. He is truly an old master of the art. The most famous one is done over the staircase as you walk in. It is called the four continents. Africa, Europe, Asia and America. I hope you can get the feeling for what we saw. Then we were taken into the rooms which started out fairly ordinary, but each room became progressively more elaborate. The Green Salon, the Hall of mirrors and the white guest room and the white oval audience room all in gold trim. A very interesting fact our guide told us was that during the summer, Hollywood used this audience room as a backdrop for the movie "The three Muskateers" with Orlando Blume. He said all the young girls came to visit everyday to get a look at Orlando. It was a busy place for a while. By the way you know it was suppose to be set in France since it was taken from a French Novel by Dumas, but they could only find exactly what they wanted in Germany. It is spectacular. After the tour we walked in the gardens but the flowers are not in bloom yet so it wasn't as beautiful as we saw it last.
This is St. Mary's chapel with it's beautiful interiors. we walked in and a boys chorus was rehearsing without accompaniment. It was beautiful so we sat and listened until they were finished. The acoustics in the church made it sound even better.
Then came the hard part for me. We hiked into town to the Markplatz for a total of 5 miles all on cobblestone again. We ate lunch at Nordsee Fish Market and it was really good, but nothing beats Harbor Fish in Carlsbad & Oceanside. Bought a few German cookies YUM!
These are a few of the churches in Wurzburg. The St. Mary's Gothic Style chapel and the Newmunster Church. I understand in Germany you can tell the Protestant Churches by the Rooster on the top. I believe most are Catholic in the Southern part of Germany. You will notice a statue of a mummy like man sitting on the steps of a church. His eyes are open but we could not figure out what this was suppose to represent. Could this be a form of torture? Is it a dead person? Your guess is as good as mine. Whatever, it made a believer out of me.
We walked up to the Alte Brueke, the Old Main River bridge which goes across the Main River. The wind was blowing so hard so we were glad we brought our coats and scarves. We all stopped and watched a barge going into the lock system until the water level was high enough to go back onto the River. Very interesting. The Bridge itself is beautifully constructed with 12 giant baroque figures of Saints & rulers.
Back to our car and a drive up to the Marienburg Fortress on the top of the hill. It was about a mile hike just to get up to it, all on cobble stone. It is a mammoth structure, the largest fortification we have seen. The walls were very intimidating. I guess others through the ages thought so too as it has never been stormed and never taken. Inside the fortress is a very high keep that was narrow with a small door inside where prisoners were lowered into the dungeon. Elder Walters leaned over to take a picture but it looks like they put a false bottom in so that small children wouldn't climb on it and fall in. I can't imagine being lowered into that place and staying there for years. We walked all around and found some postcards to send home. Another great day with the Missionaries.
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