Another nice warm day so it is a good thing we are visiting the castle early. Whilst the castle is predominately ruins, I think it is the most impressive we have seen. It also houses the largest wine vat which unfortunately was empty but massive no less. Great views from the terrace of the castle over the Neckar River to the city below. The other good thing about today was that we got to wander around the city with Carol and Carl. We stopped in one of the many ...

This was the optional tour for the day. The castle itself is still owned and used by descendents of the original owners and whilst it sits in fabulous country side at the end of the day we could have skipped it and stayed at Miltenberg. More like a quaint house than a full on castle it did have some artefacts that I would have liked in my collection.

We hit Miltenberg in the afternoon which meant the morning was the first chance we had to stay on the boat and see some of the country side as we glided along. This was also the first time we started to see the vineyards, it was pretty amazing to see how steep the hills are that they plan them on and because of this they are all picked by hand. Today was the hottest, I would suggest it was pushing 35, just right for sitting in the town square with friends and ha...

Wurzberg is another German town in Franconia with a religious residence (the home of the Archbishop Prince) that dates back a few hundred years. This one dating back to the 18th century. There were some pretty impressive ceiling frescos and lavishly decorated rooms but as you would expect you can film inside (that's how the gift shops make their money). Almost all of the town was destroyed late in the Second World War, although much of the furnishings inside the...

Another one of those picture postcard German towns. This one even has a 365 day a year Christmas speciality store (Kathe Wohlfahrt) which, whilst a little kitch, was pretty impressive. Their Christmas tree was amazing and every kid would love to wander around the huge shop (although their parents would be continually saying - don't touch anything) The temperature for the last couple of days has been in the low 30's which has been great especially when you can ge...