Nuremberg
23 December 2016
Yesterday we flew from Philadelphia, and it was a horrendous start to the trip. The plan, in theory, was to stay up late Wednesday night in hopes that we would be tired for our flight and get lots of sleep on the plane. The problem with this is that I absolutely cannot sleep on an airplane. I see people around me who are out as soon as they sit. I can’t do it, and my plan was an abysmal failure. Chalk it up to a learning experience I guess. A coworker of mine dropped us at the airport Thursday morning (thanks Jim!) and we managed to get in and through security fairly quick. We try as we can not to check bags, and with our great new United By Blue backpack we managed to put all of our essentials in our carry-on. Easy going! It was quite stuffy and hot in that terminal though and were glad to board. We took a quick flight up to Toronto - much quicker than our usual drive - and kicked about Pearson for a bit waiting for the connection. Had a nice Indian lunch and whiskey samples at the duty free... and of course grabbing a coffee from Tim Horton’s is a must whilst in Canada. We hit the next flight and stayed awake for the entire thing. Toronto to Frankfurt. The whole way. We played games, read, I even tried to write some – but we were overly tired and cranky and I just wanted to sleep. That was a problem because I absolutely can not sleep on an airplane! We landed in Frankfurt airport (which I’ll admit is probably my least favorite place in all of Germany) where we actually had a super easy go through customs. Before we knew it we were out and on our way. Willkommen in Deutschland!
Last time we were here, we went over to the cool looking Squaire above the train station and had a great breakfast at this place called Alex. Unfortunately Alex wasn’t open yet as we were there pretty early, and so we decided to skip and head to the train – but if you happen to be by there when it is open, you’ll be happy you stopped in. We grabbed a croissant with ham and mustard from Scoom instead and rushed down to get our train to Nuremburg! We bought the tickets without reserved seats, not stopping to think that this was rush hour and seats could be tight. Hey, we were way too tired to do something as trivial as "think". Anyway, we boarded a crowded train and only one seat was left. A really awesome guy got up to let us have two seats, and Beth fell asleep almost instantly upon sitting down. I of course struggled trying to sleep, though I did doze off here and there. Seriously though, that guy was a legit hero. After the 2 ½ hour ride we finally arrived in a rainy Nuremburg.
One of our favorite places in this city is the Handwerkerhof. It is an old walled section right by the train station that is set up with small shops housing local artisans, and depending on how you get here, it is the first real thing you see upon arriving in the city. There is a great pewtersmith's shop there where we had bought a handmade stein on the last trip. We headed through the gate and it was amazing how much it felt like we were just there, despite the last time being a couple years ago. Walking through those narrow alleys certainly cured the crankiness from long tired travel! It was still pretty early though and everything was closed, but we would definitely make the trek back to visit a bit later. We walked down the Konigstrasse then off to a side street and found our hotel, where we dropped our bags at the desk as we couldn’t yet check in.
In front of our hotel near the Weisser Turm is one of my favorite city sculptures, and we made the effort to stop off here before heading out to explore. Called “Ehekarussell”, it is a macabre display of skeletons, lovers, and vices. While I’m not sure of how reflective it is of the city itself - it is supposed to be a portrayal of Sachs’ poem Bitter-Sweet Married Life - I find it to be a fascinating piece. I got to see it last time we were here, but it was well past sunset and getting very dark. I was eager to see it again this time in the daylight where I managed to get some pics! Now I think I really need to read that poem...
We crossed the bridge to the Hauptmarkt –the large center square in the city - and the Christmas Market was sprawled across the platz before us. There was a noticeable uptick in security after the incident in Berlin as was to be expected, and there were even concerns coming into the trip that the markets would be shut down completely for the remainder of the season. But we were happy to see it was open and bustling with shoppers and visitors who refused to let the crazies force them to a life in fear. The Market had rows of stalls set out on the open square with the impressive Frauenkirche towering above. Vendors were selling hand made decorations and the famous Nuremburg Lebkuchen gingerbread, and there were quite a few offering Gluhwein as well!
Many parts of Germany have their own particular sausage that is representative of the area, and Nuremberg is no different. What sets the Nuremberg sausages apart is that they are, well… small. They do make up for the smaller size with a powerful flavor, and are often served three on a roll – what the locals call “Drei im Weckla”. We were very much looking forward to this and went up to the best looking sausage stall in the market. An oval shaped roll with three small sausages covered in mustard for only 3.50 Euro was the best lunch we could ever want.
After lunch was a good time to check in to the hotel. We walked back, got our room, and completely crashed in exhaustion. It was time for a nap.
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