Nuremburg Christmas

I'm pretty sure this is Dracula's new abode.

Warning. There are a lot of pictures. But I'll keep the commentary short.
A bucket list item for me was always spending Christmas in Germany. To eat little gingerbread men, hear yodeling, eat tubes of meat and freshly baked pretzels, walk through the bedecked Christmas markets, and sip hot chocolate with steaming apple strudel. Well, we got to do all that and more. (Maybe not so much the yodeling). Now I know it's April, but you all should be used to this procrastination by now.

We didn't hear yodeling, but we did get traditional American Indian street performances....Very Christmasy

We arrived in the morning on Christmas Eve and tooled around the Christmas market (for which Nuremburg is famous) for a couple hours. The sheer number of ornaments and trinkets would have staggered an elf. Everything closed down around 2 and we were left to meander the cobbled walkways until dinner.

Baubles!

Ornaments made of wood shavings

Everyone is fascinated by the most boring Glockenspiel in the world.

More baubles.

Mom in the Hauptmarkt in front of the Frauenkirche.

After dinner we went to Christmas Eve service at St. Sebald church. We understood not a word, but were able to sing a long with some of the carols. It was nice serenely sitting in sobering surroundings (catch that alliteration? Wasn't it nice?). Encircling the altar area were photographs of Nuremburg after WWII that showed the destruction the city brought upon itself. Nuremburg was central to the Nazi regime so it was one of the cities most harshly hit, yet seeing just how much devastation occurred to the common people here was saddening. Scattered around the city are plaques and memorials to fallen soldiers. It must be hard to want to remember your fallen husbands, sons, and fathers who served in the war, but also to want so depto forget what your country did.

St. Sebald

Real candles above the pews. Very Christmasy.

This was just cool

Christmas dawned bright and chilly. We should have expected that Starbucks would be the only thing open and packed with sojourners. We stayed there three hours... It is hard being away from home on the holidays, but having mom there was a comfort. And the dinner we devoured that evening was hands down the best German food I have ever had (and I LOVE German food). We had crackled pork shoulder and dumplings, duck (?), and ... well it's been a while and I forget, but I don't forget that it was succulently delectable. (Why does this think succulently isn't a word? It totally should be).

If you're ever in Nuremburg go to this restaurant

At Alte Küch’n

Something porky with a spongy dumpling

Crackled pork shoulder

The next two days were all about seeing the sites. We went to Courtroom 600 where the Nuremburg trials took place. A red letter day for International Law and Human Rights as a higher morality than written law was recognized as supreme. We spent hours there because the displays and informationals were so interesting. Don't listen to Rick Steves, it's not dry.

The Courthouse (the courtroom is actually in the building to the right that you can't see).

Courtroom 600

We bought the museum pass so we could hop in and out without feeling the need to get our money's worth of each. We saw the toy museum (so fun!), the Castle (as you are well aware, I love castles), the City Museum, and the Rock Cellars. Now, the Rock Cellars are where they brewed their beer for centuries (I think centuries) so I thought it would be cool. After having been on the tour, I can understand why it's not even mentioned in Rick Steves' book. Being underground was kind of cool, but we pretty much just walked through empty chambers listening to an English audio guide for 3 hours. 

Underground chambers

Trains at the toy museum. Uncle Dave would love this.

The Castle was fun (as castles always are). There's a really deep well that you have to have a guide to see (for some strange reason as there's no way you could climb into it). The guide played a trick in which he used a mirror to shine light on someone (in this case he chose me as his guinea pig) then pointed the mirror down into the well to shine the light on the water. He said something about it being the virgin Mary's light and all the kids were looking at me in wonder afterwards like I had magical powers.

The Castle wall

Yeah, pretty much the same picture. But this time I'm in it.

Inside the Castle looking out at the city that popped up alongside.

Beware of those 2d Robinhoods.

Castle door

With mom by the Castle tower

We also went into most of the churches and did our best to hit up recommended eateries. The Brautwurstäusle was particularly fun. And for dinner our final night we went to der Nassauer Keller in the cellar of a medieval tower house. The food there was also heavenly. Wish I could remember what exactly we had...But the ambiance was really cool.

Micah outside the Bratwursthäusle. Be our guest.

Delicious weiswursts (spelling?)

The Germans seem to be obsessed with bottle glass (there's probably a real term for it, but it looks like the bottom of a bottle). It's really cool.

St. Lorenz church

Closest thing to licking the liberty bell

In St. Lorenz.

The altar of St. Lorenz. On the left the Sacrament House by Adam Kraft.

View from our balcony

Hauptmarkt with the vestiges of Christmas revelry

Exit from the old city

Aren't the colors just great?

Morning departure.

On December 28th we left Nuremburg for Paris. It was a wonderful Christmas adventure with my mother in a beautiful, delicious yet tragic city.