The European Trip, Day 20 - Nuremberg's Altstad

Yesterday evening, after a late dinner, we walked around Nuremberg's Altstadt or Old Town.  I was trying to rekindle what memories I had of my times visiting Nuremberg while I was stationed in the small town of Erlangen about an hour away.

Not much came to mind, it had been after all three decades!  I did however, remember the Hauptmarkt where the annual Christmas Festival or Christkindlmarkt is held.  The one in Nuremberg is apparently one of the major ones among the many such events around Christmas time.

The pictures below are a combination of yesterday evening and this morning's walking around.  The churches had been closed you see, by the time we were done with dinner.

Lorenzkirche or St Lawrence Church

A fountain near St Lawrence which distributes

water in a unusual way, shall we say.

View from the bridge over the Pegnitz River
This is the Heilig-Geist Spital, a home for the elderly.

Frauenkirche or Church of Our Lady

"The Beautiful Well", a landmark within the confines

of Nuremberg's Hauptmarkt is undergoing restoration as you can see.

The fancy door sculptures of the Nuremberg Rathaus

or City Hall

Saint Sebald Church

Almost destroyed during WWII bombings, St Sebald

then and now

source: pic in church

Next up was a long uphill walk to the Kaiserburg or

Imperial Fortress.

We elected to just do the outside views and the views

of the city from the top of the above tower: Sinwellturm.

It's a bit of a climb up tightly curving wooden steps to the top,

here's the view of the top of the tower from the bottom

Nurnberg was heavily bombed during WWII and up in the top of the tower they had photos showing the damage the city suffered during the bombings.  I used it as an opportunity for then and now shots.

View of the Palace within the fortress during

reconstruction after the war.

View of the destroyed Imperial Stables and Luginsland,
(watch over the lands)

the tallest tower of the fortress.

The destruction inflicted on Burg Street

The destruction of the Rathaus and St Sebald during WWII

Looking down from the top of the steps of

the tower

Inner and outer views of the main gate

A view of the Kaiserkapelle or Emperor's Chapel

Kaiserburg Nurnberg

Nuremberg Castle
Sinwell Tower in the middle left,
Luginsland Tower in the far right part of the picture
source: wikipedia

The Ox Gate at one end of the Fleisch or Pegnitz bridge: LINK
wikipedia: The Latin inscription at the portal reads:
Omnia habent ortus suaque in crementa sed ecce quem cernis nunquam bos fuit hic Vitulus.
("All things have a beginning and grow, but the ox upon whom you now look was never a calf.")

Shots from yesterday evening, from the top level of a 

parking garage.  A garage which proved a bit difficult

to exit from using pedestrian exits as they were locked AFTER

I went up there.  I had to use the car exit paths.

Nuremberg Sunset.

We left Nuremberg after a lunch comprised of its delicious Nurnberger sausages with fresh bread....yummy.

The drive to Rothenburg ob der Tauber or Red Fortress on the Tauber River was uneventful except for a small traffic jam getting onto the autobahn.  It seems Germany's highway infrastructure has it's choke points as well.