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Nuremberg is located in the state of Bavaria of the administrative area called Middle Franconia. It is located on the Rhine-Main- Danube Canal 170 miles north of Munich. It was a medieval city first mentioned in 1050 as having an Imperial Castle. It is mentioned as the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1400 to 1550 there were seven plagues that killed of many of its citizens. It was the center of the German Renaissance and where the Protestant Reformation came to town in 1532.
The Nazis held their rallies in Nuremberg because of its central location and the connection to the Holy Roman Empire. Half of its historic buildings were lost in the Bombing of WWII.
Over 1/3 of the population of the city are immigrants. with the largest percent of its half million inhabitants being Turkish and Russian.
Nuremberg is known for Nürnberger Rostbratwurst (grilled sausage), which is shorter and thinner than other bratwurst sausages. Nürnberger Rostbratwurst (Rost refers to the cooking grate above the flames) are Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) under EU law since 2003,and may therefore only be produced in the city of Nürnberg.



In the center of the city are two huge churches, The Gothic Lorenzkirche (St. Laurence church) on the south side and St. Sebaldus Church (St. Sebald, Sebalduskirche) on the north.. These are both in a pedestrian area of the city and when Christmas time comes there are booths for Christkindlmarkt. Most of the older buildings are reproductions but they give the walled city an interesting character.
We had lunch at a Mexican Restaurant called Chillis in front of Lorenzkirche. The dining room was upstairs. It was fun trying to figure out what the food was because it was Spanish through a German filter. Ron found it fun that the tacos were on Tacoshellen.



We ducked back into the hotel to get away from the light rain that had started to fall. When I stopped, I went for a short walk visiting the Craftsmen's Courtyard (Handwerkerhof) near the base of the tower. called the Dicker Turm or fat tower. It was part of the wall surrounding the Imperial City built in 1400. It is also known as the Nuremberg Outer Laufertor Tower.



Just to the north of the hotel is the Nassauerhaus, the last remaining residential tower in Nuremberg. from 1422/1433.
I took another walk late in the afternoon. I wanted to find the Man with the geese fountain and see the large fountain in market square.dedicated to the Holy Roman empire. The fountain was covered with scaffolding and could not be seen and I had a wild goose chase without a view of any geese. The only highlight was that I was able to buy Ron some Lebkutchen, a gingerbread cookie, that he likes. Those are a specialty of Nuremberg.

Was ist Das? We are headed back to Germany speaking Europe for the third time so I guess it may be time to start to master the German Language. In many cases it wasn't necessary but there were a few times when it could be helpful.

I'm starting my new languages skills with a book titled German in 10 minutes a day.

In most cases German isn't difficult. It is mostly badly spelled English. That is because English and German are very closely related and share a lot of words. I am ahead of the game because I already know the word for Taxi. It is Taxi. And the word for Hotel. It is Hotel. The real test is to keep from giggling when I hear the words Einfahrt and Ausfahrt.

One problem is all those other words in my head. Sometimes when I struggle for the correct word the Spanish or Russian Presents itself instead of the proper German.

German is full of compound words, too. I was exposed to that by a humorous book from my childhood called, "Der wondurful Wizzard of Ozzenland." The author included a dictionary of fake compound words like BarkenPantenStiffer who always ran afoul of the BarkenPantenStifferSnatcher and put in the BarkenPantenStifferStanchersWagon.

All German is not created equal either. There is Deutsch, Deutsch Deutsch, Schweizerdeutsch and Österreichisches Deutsch. We will encounter all three this summer.

Until I can get the pronunciation down I will leave you with the farewell of "Our feet are stained."