2005 letter about a visit to Wurzburg, Germany on the Romantic Road: We returned to Dresden (from Prague) on Friday night after our trip to Prague. On Saturday morning, there was a lot of housekeeping and preparation for the next stop. We just didn’t have time for was grocery shopping and we were really dangerously low in groceries this time. By the time we were ready to leave, the grocery stores were closed for the weekend. We learned one thing about Germany when we visited in 2002 and that is that almost everything closes at about 3 p.m. on Saturday and stays closed until Monday. Gas stations stay open, as well as restaurants and cafes, but stores are closed.

We had wanted to visit Nurnberg, but there didn’t seem to be a campground nearby. There is so much to see no matter where you go, that we simply abandoned Nurnberg and decided instead to drive along the road that the German tourist industry has labeled "Der Romantiche Strasse". It is not really a street – and I’m not sure it’s romantic – but it does include some absolutely beautiful medieval towns with very old buildings, churches, castles and palaces. We found a campground just outside a town named Bamberg, and settled in while heavy rain came down.

Next morning (Sunday) we drove into the town. We could see that it was beautiful, so we wanted to look around. We made a valiant effort to park the RV. In fact, we found a "Park & Ride" with an area set aside for motorhomes. We parked but could not ride. Apparently it was a "Never on Sunday" type of operation. We bought two tickets from the machine, and waited in the rain a long time for the bus to appear. Then we noticed the posted bus schedule. There was no indication of bus service on Sunday.

Regretfully, we left Bamberg without seeing much, and began to drive further west to other cities on the so-called romantic highway. First stop, Wurzburg.

We pulled off the highway into a pretty empty parking lot. In front of us was a beautiful, enormous building. Having read the guidebook, we were pretty sure that this was the Residenz – a palace that is Wurzburg’s pride and joy (the picture shows a large portion of it).

We walked around the town, viewing some very pretty buildings and lots and lots of closed shops (it being Sunday). We had lunch in one of the few open cafes. After we ordered, Ron asked the waiter if he could sell us four raw eggs so that we could make them for dinner. The young man became one of our favorite people – he got us the four eggs. Much later that evening, we had a delicious dinner with his four eggs and the few things we had left in the refrigerator.

We did walk through the residence. The Italian artist Tiepolo had done a great deal of work here, including two large frescos. The larger one was at the top of a huge stairway (supposed to be the largest Baroque staircase in Europe). Unfortunately, they are repairing the staircase, and we couldn’t see that fresco. His smaller work was an absolutely gorgeous ceiling in a large room and that was there for all to see. In addition to the frescos another large room contained many Tiepolo paintings and engravings. The palace was – well, very "palace-like". Huge rooms, gorgeous ceilings, lots of gold and way too ornate for modern taste. The garden on the other hand was green, orderly, full of flowers and beautiful. After having coffee and a pastry to revive ourselves, we continued on our way south.