Where to start? David, the dogs, and I went to Germany from Sunday to Thursday (16th-20th) of this past week, and we had an amazing time! We went to see the Christkindlesmarkts in Nurnberg and Munich and just to experience Germany. Two nights in each city was a little short to see everything, but we got a good taste of Bavaria - literally and figuratively! We ate more sauerkraut than we thought possible, as well as sausages, pork, potato dumplings, pretzels, and lebkuchen (gingerbread). David covered the beer, and we both loved the gluhwein (hot, spiced wine) at the markets. We took about 250 pictures throughout the entire trip, so we had a hard time deciding what to put on the blog, but here are some of the highlights - if you want to see the rest, you'll have to wait until next summer when we're back in the States! But get ready, you're in for a long post...
The Nurnberg Christkindlesmarkt was in the main square in front of the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady).
There were so many beautiful crafts, ornaments, porcelain, linens... we had a hard time deciding what to buy! Here's one of the lebkuchen stands - they had plain, covered in chocolated, decorated with icing, they even had ones that said "Merry Christmas." There were so many English-speaking tourists, but come on, if I'm in Germany, I want my lebkuchen to be in German, not English, thank you very much! And yes, the traditional Nurnberg prune-men!
Here's one of the bratwuste stands - Nurnberg is famous for their little Nurnberger sausages, and you can get 6 of them with sauerkraut, or three of them on a roll with lots of mustard, both ways so delicious. David's face is not one of pain, by the way, but more of "holy-*&^%-this-is-awesome!" And we bought some gluhwein spices so we can make it at home, too!
We mostly spent the evenings at the Christkindlesmarkt, so during the day, we did some sight-seeing. I had to do the traditional rubbing of the ring at the Schoenbrunnen (Beautiful Fountain) for luck - a guidebook says that it's the journeyman's ring, which is the symbol of Nurnberg. We visited several churches (this one is the St.-Lorenz-Kirche). One church, St.-Sebaldus-Kirche, had a very sad exhibition of pictures throughout the sanctuary of how the church looked after WWII, with much of the church simply rubble. But most of the churches' beautiful artwork, such as the stained-glass windows, were taken out to save them. We also went to the Kaiserburg, the king's residence. The tower apparently dates to 1050. The old part of the city is built on both sides of a river, with old stone bridges on practically every block. There's even a house built over the river, where the town executioner lived, since neither "side" of the river would let him live with them.
On to Munich - a much bigger, city - only 1 1/2 hour away by train. We did a lot of sight-seeing there, too, but truthfully, we really liked Nurnberg better. It had that older, smaller feel to it. The market in Munich was actually smaller, and had many things advertised as "from Nurnberg" for sale. So we were definitely glad we went to both! The sight-seeing in Munich was definitely on a grander-scale. We also went to see churches here - a major symbol of the city is the Frauenkirche here, which is the church where the now-pope was previously the archbishop. It is a huge church, and everything in it is also huge - like the organ. You walk to the front of the sanctuary, turn around, and you cannot believe the sight. From the outside, the church wouldn't even fit into the camera frame, so there's a picture of it later on...
We also went to the Residenz, the official home of the ruling family of Bavaria. Here's the outside - then we were actually allowed to take pictures inside, unlike the palace in Spain, but without flash, so a lot of them came out a bit fuzzy. But it was beautiful - unfortunately, much of the building was destroyed in WWII and not rebuilt in the same grand manner, but again, many items were stored away and preserved. One favorite area was the grotto, which had a giant sculpture covering one wall made of shells and stonework. Another was the Antiquarium, which was a great hall used to house a collection of antiquities (hence the name) and later used as a banquet hall - in this picture, if you look reeeeally closely, you can see me on the dais at the end, where the important people would have sat for dinner.
Another thing we had to do in Munich was visit a brewery - this is the Weisses Brauhaus, where Schneider Weisse originated.
Here's a shot of the Christkindlesmarkt - with the Rathaus (cityhall) in the center, and the Frauenkirche (the one with the organ) in the background. Most Rathaus in Germany apparently have Ratskeller (cellar restaurants beneath the city hall). This one had entrances on every side of the building, and from the courtyard in the middle of the hall as well!
On our last day in Munich, we went up into the main tower of the city hall, and got some great pictures of the skyline, including the Frauenkirche - the whole thing actually fit into the camera from up there!
And one last photo - yes, the dogs did very well on the trip! Lucy loved looking out the window on the train, and Logan liked sleeping through most of it. Since it was so cold, they stayed in the hotels most of the time, but that was fine with them when they felt how cold it was! In Munich, there was a high of -2C one day. Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!
It was a cold day for exploring, but all the guide books tell you that's the best way to see Venice, so that's what we did. We saw some beautiful little side canals, alleyways and bridges, and did some shopping. Our ride back to the tronchetto was beautiful, and with the sun going down I got a good shot of the dome of San Simeone Piccolo over the houses. Venezia - most definitely on the list of places to return to...
