Nuremburg

The ship made it as far as Schweinfurt lock this morning.  We got off at 9:30 to board buses to Nuremburg.  It was a 2 hour bus ride, but our guide, Pieter, kept it interesting.  He is an Irishman who moved to Germany when he was 18 and has stayed there since. When he answers his phone, he seems to go from English to German to Italian in one conversation. Talking to us, he has all kinds of stories, some history, some antidotes, and some pure humor.

Since the ship docked an hour later than the cruise director hoped, our plan for the day got shifted a bit.  She arranged for us to have lunch at a Bavarian restaurant as soon as we got into Nuremburg, then so on our tour in the afternoon.  They served us a lovely lunch, beginning with a clove seasoned broth with strips of pancake floating in it.  The main course was sauerbraten and potatoes with a gingerbread sauce.  Dessert was apple fritters and ice cream.  Off course it was all served with our choice of beer or soda with the meal and coffee or tea with dessert.  It was all very good.  The gingerbread sauce gave the main course a nice sweet and sour combined flavor.

There were 2 different tours offered today, Nuremberg's Trial Sites or Nürnberg Sightseeing.  The 2nd was billed as the "happy" tour and that's the one we signed up for.  We know enough about the Nazis and their atrocities so we were more interested in earlier history.

Imperial Castle

Gingerbread is supposed to be a specialty in Nuremburg, but we didn't try any. They are also know for the small sausages they make, but after that big lunch, we didn't have room for anything else.  We walked back to where the buses left us off and reboarded to start our city tour.  Our driver took us around the oldest part of the city while our local guide, Claudia, gave us some brief explanations of what we were seeing.  Then the bus left us at the Imperial Castle. We crossed the bridge over the dry moat and through several courtyards as Claudia talked about the castle.  From the highest courtyard we got a great view of the whole city. To exit, we had to walk down a very steep cobblestone road.

Exit from the castle

Just outside the castle, we saw the bunker where much of the furniture and art from the castle was hidden to protect it during the war. We then looked at several churches from the outside, a sculpture of rabbits by the artist Albrecht Durer, along with a statue of the artist, and his house.  Our last stop before the end of the tour was at an ornate fountain (Schoner Brunnen or Beautiful Fountain) in the market square, built around 1395.

After the end of the tour we had an hour on our own.  We visited a famous Christmas shop, then spent a few minutes in the Catholic Church of Our Lady on the Market Square before heading back to the bus.

Albrecht Durer's rabbit sculpture

The ride back to the ship took a little over an hour in heavy traffic.  The captain managed to get it as far as Bamberg, the city we toured yesterday.  As soon as we were all on board they pushed off again, still trying to make up for lost time.  Our cruise director, Sabine, told us it will probably take 2 more days to get back on schedule, so we will continue to take the long bus trips until then.

Beautiful Fountain

Church of Our Lady

The dinner on board tonight was also Bavarian.  We had a choice of roast suckling pig, Perch, or chicken. Most choose the pig.  The waiters wore Bavarian hats and aprons with a picture of lederhosen printed on them.  

There is someone on board giving a talk on the canal between the Main River and the Danube, which we are now on, but we are too tired for that.  We have to get up early again tomorrow for another tour.