Frankfurt airport was a good place to arrive, and all went like clockwork. We had tickets on the 12:37 train to Nuremberg, and since we arrived a little late at about 11:00, we still had plenty of time. After taking our time wandering through the airport to the Bahn station, we had some time to relax in their lounge before catching the train. The countryside was pretty, but the train ride was soporific after the overnight flight.
We got to Nuremberg a little after 3, and wandered through the train station following signs for the tourist information booth, which was supposed to be right next to our hotel. As we were leaving the station, we did see our hotel on the left, so the location was exactly as advertised - and very much within walking distance. Check in was quick and we were shown to our "first floor" room - which is one floor above the ground floor. Luckily we were traveling light; only two 22" rollaboard suitcases, so traveling by train and climbing stairs was no big deal.
Our room was lovely, with nice windows overlooking the public square in front of the hotel, and the room was very spacious. But, we were here to see the sights, and since the sun was shining, we decided to hit the town right away. We had dinner plans with an exchange student that my family had hosted 15 years ago, who happens to live right in Nuremberg with his wife, so we only had a few hours to sightsee before that. And since we have plans to take a driving tour of the surrounding area tomorrow, we figured we should see what we can today.
Nuremberg was beautiful in the bright sunshine, with gorgeous old buildings, nice public squares and fountains, and charming bridges crossing the river everywhere. The Old Town is quite walkable - the U-Bahn doesn't cover this area well - but not a problem; after the long flight and the train ride, we wanted to get moving! There were street vendors everywhere; we grabbed the first of many giant soft pretzels, and were off to explore!
We wandered over the Museum Bridge (which had a Latin inscription dated AD 700 - probably not original), to look at the views.
We walked past the Frauenkirche and Hauptmarkt (with its Schöner Brunnen, beautiful fountain).
Then we walked all the way up the hill to the Kaiserburg Castle. The views were spectacular, but unfortunately, the castle is closed for renovation - so, no tour for us.
Back down through a different part of town - more old churches, squares, and fountains.
Finally, we ended up on the Hangman's Bridge which was quite picturesque in the late afternoon sun. By then we were definitely running out of steam, so we wandered back to our hotel to get ready for a dinner meeting with Sven and his wife.
Unfortunately, Sven had not received our last e-mail confirming our plans tonight - his email server doesn't like my address, and keeps sending my e-mail to spam! So we were not able to meet him tonight, as planned. Probably just as well, since we're pretty tired by now. We confirmed plans to meet tomorrow at their apartment for dinner.We grabbed a bite at the guesthouse next door to our hotel, where I got to have my first liter mug of local beer and some Nuremberg bratwurst, then sleep was finally calling - a long day!
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