Würzburg

The last weekend trip before the semester officially started

I had to drag myself out of bed last Saturday morning, for the train leaves Mannheim at 8.37am, and if we miss it we gotta wait for 2 more hours, because Würzburg is about 3 hours away from Mannheim via train. There were althogether 6 of us Singaporeans. By the time we reached there it was already 11.30am. This time round, we did not have to actually navigate ourselfs because Xi Zhen who studies at the Uni of Würzburg actually brought us around. The Uni of Würzburg was also the Uni that Herr Chan, the lecturer who taught me German for Academic Purposes and often involves me in his Podcast, studied in > 20 years ago.

die Würzburger Residenz

Designed by several Baroque architects, it was completed in 1744. The Prince Bishops moved from the Marienburg Fortress(more to come later) to the Residenz when it was completed. The Residenz is also in the list of UN World Heritage List. The picture you see below was the fountain as well as part of the main entrance. The Residenz is also open for visit but a fee has to be charged (of less than 5 Euros for students I guess). At the same time, the Residenz has a lavish and splendid garden, of which I did not manage to see also. Anyway there is nothing much to see during this time of the year, which made me quite certain that like Heidelberg, I will return to Würzburg again sometime later of the year when the greenery starts coming out.

Kiliansdom (St Kilian's Cathedral)

I am not sure if you are sick and tired of seeing Cathedrals and Cathedrals in almost all of the posts. But this is really what Germany is really about. Castles, Palaces, Cathedrals, Old cities both preserved or restored after WW2. This Cathedral is about 950 years old, and the picture below is actually the back of the Cathedral and not the front.

An unexpected display at the basement of the Cathedral

Alte Mainbrücke (old Main Bridge)

The Main here does not refer to 'main' in English, as in 'central', rather it is called Main because it is a bridge over the river Main (pronouned as 'Mind' in English), an this is also the same river that goes all the way to Frankfurt, hence sometimes people refer to Frankfurt as 'Frankfurt am Main'. This bridge was errected around 1473 and according to Xi Zhen, it is the oldest bridge along the river Main. There are 12 Statues along both sides of the bridge, which were added around 1730.

altes Rathaus (old city hall) at the start of the bridge Some of the 12 Statues along the bridge
I thought these 2 were the most beautiful ones

Here you can see the altes Rathaus as well as the Kiliansdom in the background

Festung Marienberg (Fortress Marienberg)

The fort was already around since the ancient times (around 1000 BC), but over time more fortifications were added to the fortess. From 1253 - 1719 it was the seat of the Prince Bishops before they moved to the Residenz.

Entrance to the Fortress (still quite a long way up before the main gate)
Main Entrance into the inner core of the fortress.
You see here a tower as well as a church on the left inside the fortress...

as well as a water tower.... in which...
a 100 metre well can be found.

Inside the fortress church

A shot taken at the fortress garden.
From the fortress garden, you could strategically see the main Innenstadt of Würzburg. In the picture above you could actually see the alte Mainbrücke (the bridge with the 12 statues). I tried to take a pananoramic shot of what I saw....so the above is the left one..

... the centre...
...and the right

A charming city with less tourists as compared to Heidelberg

Actually these are the only few things that I saw on Saturday at Würzburg. If you pick up a Visitors Guide at the Hauptbahnhof, you could see that there are actually more sights to visit, and I am very certain that this will not be the last time I visit Würzburg again. After all, I badly wanted to enter the Residenz gardens but the season is not right yet.. as well as check out the Käppele, which is a Pilgrimage Church. And since I could travel free to Würzburg, I will do just that again.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mannheim08/16FebWRzburg