Nuremberg (or Nürnberg in German) is a town that in my opinion is a lot like Regensburg. They have great scenery, cathedrals, churches, water flowing through the town, great food, shopping, and events. It's a great town to visit and it always seems to have something going on.
Nuremberg is the second largest city in Bavaria, and Germany's fourteenth largest city. The first documented mention of this town was in 1050 and was the location of an Imperial Castle (an Imperial Castle is one that was built by the order of the Holy Roman Emperor). The Nazi party loved the location of this town and used it as a place for many meetings and conventions which were named the Nuremberg Rallies. After Hitler's rise these meetings became huge events. During World War II, Nuremberg held the headquarters of the military district where several military vehicles were made. During the war the city was bombed badly. In one hour 90% of the medieval city center was destroyed. After the war, the city was rebuilt and made to look as much as possible as it did prior to the war.
Nuremberg is a town known for their sausage. When we visited, there was a huge market going on with vendors of all sorts of goodies. From purses, to clothes, to trinkets and food. I would relate it to like a farmers market in America. Sausage booths are on just about every corner. It's so simple with just bread, sausage, mustard and ketchup. But I have to say it is one of the most amazing things I have ever been able to eat. I never passed up one of these when I saw a stand.
Pretzels were also in the stands all over the place. You can never go wrong with a big German pretzel.
After walking around some we found a little whole in the wall Italian Restaurant, and it was amazing. It was such a cool experience eating here. It was before I had visited Italy and was the closest I could get to it at the time. I felt like I was actually in Italy while in this place. It was owned and ran by a family and they were extremely entertaining to watch. While you were sitting at your table you were able to watch your pizzas being made in the background. Really good food.
And of course, there is Starbucks. This one is right on the water and has a great outside sitting area. One thing the Starbucks' in Germany do not have is lemonade. Strange, but I can still get my coffee.
The water next to Starbucks (and of course throughout the town) is a pretty sight. While we were there two performers were playing gorgeous music on the bridge. It really added to the whole feel of the town.
On the left here is Frauenkirche, or "Church of our Lady" and is where the main market center is. So while looking around at all of the vendors and food if we looked up, that beautiful building is what we could feast our eyes on. It was built between 1352 and 1362. It has a Mannleinlaufen, a mechanical clock (the gold circle you can see in the picture on the left). On the right is a picture of Hitler in front of the same building in 1928.
Below is St. Lorenz, a medieval Gothic church that was damaged during World War II and then restored afterwards.
During another visit we were able to stumble upon a fest! Fest are very much like fairs in America. Just a German version, of course. Which means lots of pretzels, sausage stands, and of course the all great Bavarian beers. These fests are crazy huge (the biggest of course being Munich's Oktoberfest) with tons of different rides, games, shopping and food booths to entertain yourself with.
Here is my husband and our friend slightly regretting going on this crazy ride! It was hilarious watching them!
This city is full of things to do and see, and always seems to have major events going on whenever I stumbled across the place. It's one to put on the must see!
