Well I made it to Nuremburg without too much hassle. Just two train changes and 1.5 hours and I was here. It was also nice that my hotel was only a 5 minute walk from the train station.
Nuremburg is definitely a lot bigger than Rothenburg but it too is a somewhat medieval looking city with a castle and several towers and a 3 mile long wall around the city
What I really like about it is the center city (what they call the “Old Town”) is all car free so it’s nice to stroll around and not have to worry about getting hit (except for the crazy bicyclists!). I also love all the old architecture and the churches. Check out the partial gold top to the steeple on the Church.
I decided to spend the day getting acclimated to the city by doing the Rick Steves walk all across town and one of my first stops was the St Lawrence church. It was once Catholic but now it’s Protestant. Suspended over the altar is this detailed wood carving by the same guy who did the one in Rothenburg. It’s called the Annunciation and depicts the angel Gabriel telling Mary that she’ll be giving birth to the Messiah. Startled, Mary drops her prayer book. Again, the detail on it is amazing and heck who wouldn’t be shocked at that news!
The castle area, which sits high up on a hill at the end of the Old Town, had a beautiful garden and I included a shot with one of the towers in the background.
The main market square in town (called the Hauptmarkt in German) is where in December the largest German Christmas Market takes place. Right now it just houses a bunch of Bratwurst stands!
There’s also a small river that runs thru town with several bridges that lend itself to some cool water photos. One of the bridges was even patterned after the Rialto bridge in Venice, Italy.
Lastly it’s funny to see what they do with their pretzels here. So you know those big pretzels you can buy pretty much anywhere but especially in Philadelphia where we usually just eat them with mustard in the states. They actually cut them in half, put butter on them first then add lunch meat to make a sandwich they sell. So in essence they use it like a bun. I included a pic in case they look good to you and then I’ll bring you one home! Lol.
All in all, so far Nuremburg looks like a neat city but just doesn’t quite have the old world charm of Rothenburg. Happy Thursday to all!
Jeff
The Wandering Italian 