Weekend in Würzburg

We just went to Würzburg for the weekend! Carson ran a half marathon with several of our friends, and we spent the remainder of our time exploring the cute little Bavarian city. 

Our trip started in Münster! Lloyd arrived at 11pm the night before, and we got up early on Saturday morning to show him around the city a little bit before hitting the train station to head East. 

Jaime gave us a tour of the city when we arrived. We walked around the outside of Juliusspital, a winery owned by a private hospital. I can't find this information online, but I'm told that the proceeds of the wine actually pay for the stays of the patients inside, so that's a creative business plan!

Maypole at the Würzburg Cathedral. I haven't seen these in our part of Germany, but I'm told it's a big thing in Bavaria.

St. Killian Cathedral

Marienburg Fortress. We never made it up here, but we had a nice view of it from the bridge, Alte Mainbrücke. This is a place where tourists and I think locals go to drink wine. It's very popular and they sell wine by the glass out of the nearby windows. We went to dinner and then headed back there. 

Würzburg Residence 

That night, we went back to the hotel and enjoyed the American-style cheesecake that Jaime had picked up for us while playing a rousing game of Settlers of Catan. We had more players than we should, so Jordyn and I were a team. The game was very long and at one point we decided to just end it so some people could catch the tram back and so that everyone could get some rest before the race. We decided to make the winner the person with the highest points - and it was Jordyn and I with 8 Victory Points!

The Half Marathon

The race didn't start until 9, but everyone wanted to make sure they made it into the city before the trams stopped running, so they left at 7:30. I stayed behind at the hotel, along with Jordyn's friend, and we went into the city several hours later to meet the group toward the end of the race.

Our Fulbright racers.

While waiting for the tram, I received a text from Carson (yes, he texted while running) saying that the race route actually was very near our hotel, so Joel and I walked over there in time to see Jordyn race past and then Carson not far behind.

We made it into the city but had to walk a decent way (not 13.1 miles though!!) to get to the finish line. We met up with Jaime, who had finished in a little over an hour and a half, and she watched Lloyd, Jordyn and Carson run past on the way to the finish line with us. She ran in college, so she was their little trainer and cheerleader.

I also have to say that Carson put this face on to be funny. At least I think so!

By the time we'd located them in the crowd of finishers, everyone was enjoying their post race pretzels and snacks, along with (non-alcoholic) beer. All finishers were awarded a medal as well!

We walked back to the closest tram stop, Jordyn and Carson groaning at the sight of stairs. 

 After everyone had freshened up and we'd checked out of our hotel and then walked back into the city to meet up and get some lunch. 

Everyone got their own pizzas from Locanda for lunch. I too thought this was excessive, but I also didn't run a half marathon, so I kept my mouth shut while everyone else ate their entire pizzas. They were pretty cheap for such cheap ones - 7 Euro or so!

After we'd eaten, we all headed back to the train station where everyone said their goodbyes. Carson and I took a Flixbus to Frankfurt and then a train from there, enjoying a little 80mph ride on the Autobahn.