Nuremburg

Craft guild just outside our Nuremburg hotel

We awoke at the Reichsküchenmeister Hotel around 6 am and relaxed until it was time to go to breakfast at 7:30. As with the morning in Würzburg, breakfast was very good with a selection of fresh breads, cheeses, cereals, fruits and juices. Sausage and eggs were also available. We enjoyed breakfast with Cindy and Jodie then gathered our bags for the walk to the train station about 20 minutes away. We were cautious because we had to make two transfers before arriving in Nuremberg, but we sat with two local ladies who were very helpful in guiding us to the correct track for the trains we needed. Since both of these ladies take these trains for their daily commute, we had confidence in their knowledge of the best route. One of the ladies had a bright orange umbrella making her easy to find in a busy train station. The trains went through mostly agricultural land and small villages between Rothenburg and Nuremberg. Corn and rapeseed are the dominant crops in the region. We even saw quite a few stands for deer hunting near the fields.

Our hotel in Nuremburg

Our hotel, The Victoria, was just inside the Nuremberg city gate and only short walk from the train station. Because we were at the hotel before 10 am, we couldn’t check in, but the clerk was happy to store our bags until we returned in the afternoon.

We walked through the Old Town market and the Christmas Market, stopping for a hot chocolate along the way. Like all other cities in Germany, hot drinks are sold in a porcelain cup with a deposit that can be redeemed by returning the cup to any drink vendor in the city. As we walked, Cindy spotted a young man with a WVU knit cap. His family of four was visiting Germany from Martinsburg, WV, so we had a nice visit before walking toward the Imperial Castle.

Outside Nuremburg's Imperial Residence

We walked up the hill to Imperial Castle which housed the region’s rulers as far back as the 1200’s. The structures have changed some over the 800 years but is mostly as it was when the area’s rulers resided here. There are displays of armor, swords, early firearms and other items of the day. There were gold items belonging to kings from hundreds of years ago. After spending about 90 minutes in the castle, we walked up the many steps in the tower to have a beautiful view of the city from the top. As we were trekking up the 113 steps to the top of the tower, we spoke with a family from Huntington, WV. Because there is a limit on the number of people who can be in the tower, we didn’t chat long. A gate at the bottom of the tower only allowed visitors to go up the tower as people came down.

Nuremburg's Christmas Market

It was nearly 2 pm by the time we left the castle, so we looked for a place to get lunch. We first found a stand selling kartoffelpuffer, or potato pancakes, which we enjoyed a lot. We split an order of three pieces among the four of us. Another stand had Nuremberg bratwurst which are three small sausages with sauerkraut on a hard roll. The sandwiches were very good because the kraut in Bavaria isn’t as sour as most kraut sold in the US. Dessert was a Nuremberg specialty, Lebkuchen, a special type of gingerbread.

Statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I

Jodie and Cindy returned to the Hotel Victoria, but Mary and I found a post office just inside a city gate where we bought stamps to mail our postcards. We got back to the hotel around 4 pm and stretched out for about an hour. Afterwards we went back to the Christmas market with Jodie. We all found a few gifts for kids in the family and had a snack while we walked. We got back to the hotel by 7:30 then laid out Thursday’s clothes and repacked for the train to Munich.

We had been in Nuremburg when we were visiting Emily in 2010 but seeing the city again was great. However, we tend to enjoy the small towns wherever we travel, and Nuremburg, Munich and Frankfurt are larger cities than we prefer.