We had a tour of the Wurzburg Palace this morning. As we drove into town from our docking position in the industrial area, our guide suggested it might look like we'd be heading to the huge palace on the hill, but that wasn't the case. The 'family' had taken up residence in the town years, decades maybe even centuries before. Their new place is amazing. It finally answered a question for me. Those movies you see where the princesses or ladies glide down the staircase, not looking at where they're walking and not stumbling down the steps - there's a structural trick to it - the stares are quite shallow so you can just glide down them. I know, I tried it, pretending I was wearing one of those gowns. Our guide offered to take a photo of me mid-staircase but I declined.
The palace is huge - room after room differently decorated. I loved the chandeliers and the mirrors throughout, and the frescos on the ceiling. I wasn't so keen on the art works which seemed to be ... violent.
After the tour it was back to the boat for lunch before catching the shuttle bus back to town - and what a pretty town it was. I was surprised that the guide had been right about the people on the town enjoying a wine or two. It's not something we usually do in Australia - I can imagine folk in a park having a few beers, but not a bridge-full of people sipping white wine from glasses. Of course, someone had put a beer bottle into the hand of one of the religious statues along the bridge, but ... people will be people.
One of the challenges of being in a European city is finding public facilities - and having the right coinage for them if they don't take a card, or finding free ones. I did manage to find a convenience in McDonalds in Wurzburg, and unlike the one in Vienna, you didn't have to pay first and then reclaim the cost when you bought something (or not). The only issue was that there wasn't clear signage on the doors to the male and female areas - no words just pictures which did not give any real clue as to gender. In the end I decided the safest thing to do was just loiter until I could follow someone in - possibly not the best strategy but it was the only one I had.
Even though it was a religious holiday, there were markets on and they were well-attended. One of the things on offer at a couple of the stalls was popcorn - in various flavours. A couple of our boat people had their caramel corn and macaron flavours on the bus on the way back.