Wurtzburg!!!

ok . . . so Jon and I went to visit our friend Franzi for the weekend in Wurtzburg where she is going to school.

I will tell the story of the weekend in pictures.

We arrived in Wurtzburg at 5:20 pm (after a 2 1/2 hour train ride) and Franzi met us at the station. After a short train ride we arrived at her house.

This is her street:

it was one of the only streets in Wurtzburg that was not destroyed during the war.

this is her house:


and this is her room (where she let us sleep. she slept in her roommate's room since her roommate was in Berlin for the weekend):


almost everything she owned (furniture-wise) was from ikea . . . nice.

that night she and her friend Juliana made us kaiser spitzel (or something like this). it was like chunks of crepes with toasted almonds, powdered sugar and raisins. yum! then we went downtown in the night to a weinstube . . . also yum. the wine is VERRRRYY affordable here!

the next day, Franzi had to work so we walked around town and saw what there was to see . . .

the Residez (used to be where the king lived, but now it is a museum, archive and winery):


us in front of the gardens at the residenz:


us very happy to be in the residenz garden:


the view across the river from downtown:

this (above) is the Festung. it used to be a fort or something, but now it is an archive, museum, winery (hmmm, sounds like the residenz) and tourist attraction . . . Franzi lives at the base of it. (seriously, you can see the hill begin a few feet from her bedroom window).

so, we walked around, went to the Weihnachtsmarkt, had coffee, etc.

here is jon enjoying his bratwurst sandwich:


he's so cute!

(yes, it is hard for me to find things to eat that aren't cheese and bread in the restaraunts. being a vegetarian in germany is actually easier than i thought it would be though . . . so that's good).

that night, we met Franzi, Juliana and their friend Julia at the markt for Gluhwein and pommes frittes (french fried). then we went back to Franzi's house for more snacks and drinks and stayed up late talking. They said that Jon has the best German they have ever heard from an American! and they were nice to me when i tried to speak it . . .

here is everyone enjoying the pommes at Franzi's house:

(they eat it with ketchup and MAYONAISE! ew).

the next morning, the three girls made a traditional bavarian breakfast for Jon and I. weisswurst and weissbier at 11am in the morning. with sweet senf (mustard) and pretzels. i ate the preztels. here is jon trying to peel his weisswurst:

the bavarian music playing in the background made it perfect :)

after that, we walked up the hill to the Festung with Franzi.

Jon and Franzi on the path:


jon and i on our way up:


the view from the top:


franzi bored with the view (ok, probably just tired from staying up until 2am with americans who have not yet adjusted to the time change):


so, the weekend was filled with laughter, friends, good food, no sleep, good coffee, beautiful views and the feeling of christmas! we are going to spend christmas with Franzi's family . . . they are a very bavarian family from what Franzi has said and they don't speak much english . . . so this will be an adventure!

right now, Jon is playing the new nentindo Wii with Jens (we are back in Bayreuth). Tomorrow we will go to the Festspielhaus and learn more about Richard Wagner . . . the purpose of this part of the trip.

hope you enjoyed our weekend!

love,
Tabitha (and Jon).