Postcard no. 4. Nürnberg - Sunshine und Schäufele

Categories: germany, postcards

Date: 30 October 2007 22:14:04

I went in search of my hotel, which confusingly had two names, one was Hotel Royal and the other was Hotel am Bahnhof. The latter (Station Hotel) was a more accurate description as I could hear the arrival and departure announcements from my room - and there was little that could be designated as regal about the place. I then went to find C, an employee of one of my clients, in the town. First I had to cross “Nelson-Mandela-Platz”. Mr Mandela may be flattered to know he has a square named after him - but less enthusiastic to know that it is basically a car park.

C came to meet me wearing a London Underground “Mind the Gap” t-shirt - to “make me feel at home”. We decided to take a guided tour of the town as C has lived in Nuremberg for over 2 years but felt she didn't know the history of the place. But first, we had to have a bite of lunch, so we had a Nuremberg speciality “Drei im Weckla” - three sausages in a roll. It never ceases to amaze me how many words there are in German for that most basic of foodstuffs - the humble bread roll.

The Hauptmarkt [main market square] was buzzing with life and the whole town had a holiday atmosphere about it. C informed me that I had timed my visit well. It was “Verkaufsoffener Sonntag”, the only day in the year the shops are open on a Sunday, and also the Herbstmarkt [Autumn Market] was in full progress as was the Altstadtfest [Old Town Festival] which is apparently a scaled-down version of Munich's Oktoberfest - lots of drinking of beer, eating, oompah bands and the like.

It was a day of glorious sunshine - C told me they had had nothing but rain for over a week. Our guide had a habit of stopping just 3 yards short of a patch of shade to talk about the next item of interest to us. The tour was two hours long and I was amazed that our guide, a French woman with excellent German, didn't seem to need a drink the whole time! Of course, with such an information overload, I can now barely remember much of what she said. When the town was first mentioned in the year 10 something-or-other, it was as Nuorenberc, meaning Rocky Mount and this is no understatement. The approach to the castle is up a fairly steep hill. Almost at the top, there is a little lane called Ölberg which translates as Mount of Olives - I'm afraid I didn't find out how this name had come about. Also up near the castle is the town's oldest house, built in 1338 and lower down the hill there is the Weißgerbergasse of medieval Fachwerkhäuser (half-timbered houses). C and I then left the tour at this point as we wanted to go and see the Albrecht-Dürerhaus before it closed. This was interesting (audio guide included in the price of the ticket) but unfortunately all his works of art are in other museums - including the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg. But I didn't have time to go there.

We then met up with E, another colleague, at the Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) in the Hauptmarkt and after the traditional Kaffee und Kuchen and a mooch around stalls selling Lebkuchen (gingerbread) we went for traditional fare at the Altstadtfest. I had a Radler (a shandy) and Fränkisches Schäufele - roast shoulder of pork with sauerkraut and a dumpling - and we chatted against accordion music and boisterous singing which became more so as the evening wore on.