Nürnberg

I must admit, I didn't do a lot after arrival on the Friday night, I had a shower and thought about room service. I wasn't impressed by that, so by just after 8pm, I went wandering in search of something to eat. Luckily, the hotel is quite close to the Altstadt as often the area around a Hauptbahnhof can be a bit of a desert for decent eating.


I ended up with a meal of Soup and Schnitzel at a fair typical Gastätte not far from the hotel just inside the City walls with a couple of half litres of Tucher Helles. It was fairly decent but a bit food for fuelish, don't ask me the name, but it's on the left just as Königstraße starts inside the city wall.


After breakfast the next morning, I went a wandering, I started off quite early and started by bimbling along the restored city walls enjoying a lovely morning and a mixture of ancient and modern.

At this point, I found on a poster street map, a sort of official city walk up through Sankt Lorenz along the river and up through Sankt Siebald to the Schloß, so I decided to follow that, with the usual variations for "ooh, that's nice". The poster maps are quite common and it was quite easy to follow. Essentially it was a wander down Königstraße to the Sankt Lorenz church and then over the bridge over the Pegnitz to the Hauptmarkt. Of interest was the U-Bahn station which was carefully arranged to fit in with the surrounding area, the attractive church and the bridge over the river. I also noted a couple of shops for a later exploration.

On getting to the market, I had a good look around, I love food markets and it can take me hours to get around one. This one wasn't really exciting, but pleasant, my hands filled with some nice looking tomatoes, some bergkäse (after careful taste tests) and the prize of some echt Lebkuchen for the offices and friends. I also bought a couple of Apples after trying to remember which side of the Speyerer Linie I was - full speed ahead and damn the isogloss.


The walk then wanders away following the Pegnitz, via the Fleischbrücke which can be quite enchantingly pretty, crossing onto a small island and then off it again ending up at Maxplatz and then back down to the Hauptmarkt. I stopped for coffee on the way, I don't usually do a certain world wide chain which burns its beans a little, but if they are open and have tables by a nice river on a sunny morning, then I can be tempted.

On getting back to the market, it's a slow slog up a not very big hill to the former castle and residence, going past Sankt Sebald's church to the Albrecht Dürer Haus and then culminating at the Tiergartenplatz. There's lots to see here, but as it was now heading just past 11, it was starting to get a bit more tourist filled. The Tiergartenplatz is particularly attractive and has lots of places to eat and drink with suitable supplements to the prices. If I had been their a couple of hours later, I may well have indulged as it was, I had a quick cig break and then moved on.

I then wandered around for a while, mainly in the Schloßgarten area, admiring the views of the City before walking back down along the garden by the walls back to the river before deciding to go and do some Kultur. I headed off in the direction of the Kunsthalle Nürnberg stopping only to pick up a small snackette of Drei im Weggla (three sossidges in a roll) to keep me going. The main feature at the arts hall was an exhibition of the various work by the multi-talented Dutch artist Mathilde ter Heijne, it wasn't really me and by this time I needed a proper lunch. The first place I tried had very poor service, after waiting a few minutes, I decided to leave. I then found another bar near the Lorenzkirche U-Bahn stop, where a couple of dark beers and some Goulash were consumed. This was highly satisfactory and I would recommend the place if I remember what it was called.

I then decided to return to the hotel for a while and headed back their via a bakery to purchase some rolls to go with the cheese and tomatoes later. After a short comfort break at the hotel, I decided to head out to the Transport Museum.  Normally, I would with such nice weather do an outdoor activity, but choice number 1 was football and 1. FC Nürnberg were playing away. Second choice was the Zoo, but I've had a surfeit of cute animals lately, so I decided on the Transport Museum.

On the way I was accosted by some young Americans who were in search of the local red light district. I told them that I wasn't local, was complemented on my English and they wandered off. I'm not even sure that such things exist in conservative Bayern, but as I bat for Team Gay, I tend not to notice such things unless they are bleeding obvious (i.e. by Frankfurt (Main) Hbf or the "Four Floors of ******" on Orchard Road in Singapore). 

I won't bore you with the pleasures of the Railway Museum, I know that there are those who would find it intensely dull and those who would find it very exciting. Personally, I enjoyed it a lot, it it has some splendid exhibits including a DB class 05 Pacific, King Ludwig's Royal Coach which is as camp as his castles, an excellent display of the history of the passenger railway station, a very enjoyable model railway and a hands on signalling exhibition. However, to get the full enjoyment out of it, you will need to be able to read German. I managed to avoid temptation in the Museum shop, where my lust for maps nearly had me spend a couple of hundred Euros, saved by them not taking Amex. I spent a good three hours there including a nice coffee break in the attached cafe.

By this time, it was dusk and heading towards dark. I headed back to the station where I knew there would be some shops open, bought some drinks and chocolate and headed back to the hotel for a nice bath and some cheese and tomato rolls (I can be very frugal at times but in general I find two German hot meals a day a bit too filling).