NURNBERG, GERMANY

Tuesday, July 15th

3 girls and a baby - sounds like the name of a movie, or the beginning of an adventure! Liz, Steph and I left early Tuesday morning to drive to Germany and Belgium for a week. Our first day was one of the longer drives. We drove from Sacile, Italy to Nurnberg, Germany. The 7-hour drive went swiftly, with the help of some quiz apps and a homemade car-bingo game that Liz made.  

We arrived to our hotel, Hotel Deutscher Kaiser, around 4pm. Nurnberg was surprisingly warm! We found our room, (luckily there was an elevator),  unpacked our belongings and headed out to hit the town for a Rick Steves' walking tour!

Camera's cocked and ready to shoot! 

While we were standing here getting oriented, I realized we were right in a busy walking-path from the train station to the downtown area.  The locals all looked like they were on a mission to get somewhere. I felt like a sore thumb! Just 3 girls and a baby with our cameras out. Nothin' to see here!

 We searched for this pretzel joint pictured because it came highly recommended and because Steph's a big fan of the "bretzel." Unfortunately, it was closed. Sad face. :( 

With no pretzels in hand, we walked over to the Frauentor and Craftsmen's Courtyard.

 The tall tower is called the Frauentor. It marks one of four entrances into Nurnberg's Old Town. Our hotel was just down the street from it!

The Craftsmen's Courtyard was built in 1971 to celebrate Nurnberg's history with craftsmanship. There were about 2 dozen little stores selling goods. It was cute and quaint, but kind of kitschy. 

We stepped just outside through the one of the four old entries. This bridge used to cross the moat outside the city. 

The Frauentor used to be square, until the invention of canons. They rounded the edges of the tower to help deflect the canons. 

After a quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts (yeah, that's right! German's love their donuts!) we stepped inside Vom Fass shop. It had wine, vinegar, and oil on tap! 

Strolling down Konigstrasse (King's Lane), we past our hotel to view St. Lawrence's Church. I forgot to get a photo, but Liz and Steph eventually found the pretzels they were looking for. The said they weren't as good as they were hoping they'd be. 

I loved watching these locals soak up the sun on the steps.

It was here I really realized how much I love traveling with girls. We didn't hesitate to stop and get coffee/snacks or shop! What a treat!! We poked around a few cute stores in between feeding and changing Henley, and then we were off again for more shopping/eating/learning.

I can hardly ever resist a photo op! This bridge was called, "Meat Bridge." It is located at the narrowest point of the river. Apparently, flooding was a big concern, so they built this bridge without any piers. It was an engineering feat back in its day! Maybe they should have called it, "Feat Bridge."

We're not exactly sure what this water spout is for, but I was guessing good luck. There were several locals that seemed very interested. We decided to give it a try. 

Frauenkirche

While we were in the square we meandered through the vendors in the outdoor market.There were signs for vegan and vegetarian food everywhere. Steph was in heaven. She thought it would be a challenge trying to find vegetarian food in Germany, since they love their sausages. Turned out there were actually more vegetarian options than in Italy! Who'd a thunk it?

Beautiful Fountain

This fountain brought clean drinking water into the square. (The river just around the corner was used to dump waste.) There are two rings on the fountain gate. One ring will supposedly bring you good luck, and the other fertility. None of us were willing to spin either. :)

St. Sebald

After climbing a bit of a hill from the main square to the Imperial Castle, we took a moment to get oriented. The castle was directly in front of us, but there was no clear way to get in AND with a baby stroller. We found a path less traveled, and wound up in the Imperial Gardens, which apparently isn't easy to find.  

View from the castle looking toward the main square. 

This was the roof to one of the fanciest hostels I've ever seen! 

We stepped outside the Imperial Castle garden and headed to our dinner spot.

For dinner we ate at Albrecht Durer Stube. Nurnberg is known for their "Nurnberger." It's a little brat that is sometimes served in a little bun. I had it on sauerkraut. It was deeeelicious! I would eat it everyday I liked it so much!

Across from our restaurant was a little square with a funny bunny statue. In German it's called, "Tiergartnertorplatz." (Go ahead, try and pronounce that! Haha!) It's a modern interpretation of 'The Hare" by Durer. It faces Durer's house. (which I did not realize at the time we were walking around and enjoying our meal.)

I was a little intimidated to take close-up photos of the people sitting around drinking, but I didn't hesitate to take a photo of this little pup!

There were dozens of locals sitting on the ground enjoying beers. They probably all knew that I had my back to Durer's house while I was taking this photo, while I was completely unaware. 

Albrecht was everywhere! We found his statue just around the corner. Later we found his face on the side of a building. 

This is probably my favorite photo of the trip. Modern meets medieval on a moonlit evening. 

We passed back through the main street. It's hard to tell, but the Meat Bridge is somewhere in the background.

Holy Ghost Hospital

Fountain of the Seven Virtues (Tugendbrunnen) and St. Lawrence Church.

After passing St. Lawrence and a few street performers, we called it a night. 

Although, Nurnberg was a little warmer than we anticipated, and their pretzels weren't up to par, I still enjoyed the town. Germans have a no-nonsense, "get-stuff-done" culture. It's refreshing after living in Italy for two years. The only time I found it off-putting was at breakfast the next morning. Hardly any one spoke a word to each other. We found ourselves whispering because it was so quiet. When Henley started to fuss we felt like we were getting the stink- eye from other guests. I could only imagine Italian's coming over and talking to Henley. I suppose there's pro's and con's to every culture! 

After breakfast we were off to Brussels, Belgium!! ...