Friday 18 July 2008

bringing the (bad) weather with her.

Well between my disorganisation, and Nuremberg's, we didn't see a lot of each other.

On Wednesday night when I got in, I met Thomas' friend Stefan who took me on a whirlwind tour of the city. He took me up to the top of a carpark for the best view of the city, to Luitpoldhain - the big Nazi rally ground (the one from all the pictures), to have the local finger-sized oven-grilled sausages, and to turn the fountain wishing ring (both the tourist and the local version).

On thursday night I had a big sleep in, and at lunch time had a wander around town. I went to the handicraft town - a little area of the town that still has it's medieval feel (not sure if it's real or reconstructed) where handmade things are made and sold. I made a quick trip to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (it would've been longer but they randomly decided to close early) and saw the music exhibit, the pharmaceuticals exhibit and the medieval furniture exhibit. All were very cool and again I wished I'd had longer. The museum is built around the remains of an old church(?) so it's quite interesting to wander around as it feels very modern, and then suddenly you find yourself in a very very old part. (Quite the nightmare for navigating too).

I also tried the lebkuche - a specialty spice cake from the region, created in the times when Nuremberg was an important point on the trade route from India. It tasted about halfway between a gingerbread biscuit and a fruit cake.

Today I had no more luck with the tourist stuff. I tried to go and see the dungeon under the Rathaus - turning up at 10am on the dot, as instructed by the lady who told me I couldn't see it yesterday becuase they were closing an hour early (are we sensing a theme?). But this time a differently lady told me the tours were only possible with groups of 5 or more! So I decided to go up to the Kaiserburg complex, which it turns out you can only see on a tour, of wait for it, 5 or more people! Still, it was nice to go up there and wander around the outside of the buildings. It's at the high point of the city too, so there are nice views over the rest of the town.

I chickened out on going to Doku-Zentrum - a big museum on the rise of Hitler & Nazi-ism. Maybe I should've, but I kind of decided that in the end I'm not the kind of person that could go and find it 'interesting'. I would find it really upsetting I'm sure, and I just didn't want to go there. I already know a lot about the war, holocaust etc, and I think I already know what I would see there. I don't think I"m just closing my eyes to it by opting out - rather choosing to focus on the happier things in life instead.

Anyway, all my plans having fallen through, I bit the bullet and put the map in my pocket. I wandered around aimlessly, and actually found some pretty cool things - cute little shops, intereting sculptures and fountains, the river.

Not many pictures this time around - I left my camera charger adaptor (of all things) in Konstanz and there was a bit of a gap between my battery dying and it catching up with me. All's well now though.

I am finding travelling to be rather hard on the stomach. I like food, as we all know, but I do not like paying large amounts of money for average food - something it's very easy to do as a tourist. Thus I have been making friends with Mr Pizza, Mr Falafel, and Mr Muesli Bar. I'm over it already - looking forward to being somewhere with a kitchen again.

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