Two Sisters finally get to go to WDW together! - TR has started!

[Flossbolna]

I find all that funny as well-it's so interesting how words translate, and don't translate. What do Germans do when they get brain freeze? Just excuse themselves for a moment until it clears up? Americans shout "AH! BRAIN FREEZE!!!" and sometimes it becomes a bit of a laughing matter!

I some times wonder wether Germans are less prone to brain freeze? But really, it's just as you say, you just are quite for a bit until it goes away. And if I say something like: "this hurts, I was eating my ice cream too fast", very often people stare at me and think I am crazy.

Magdalene,

Sorry for just lurking and not posting.

I'm been enjoying your PTR with all your interesting pictures and stories.

Kathy

Hi Kathy, wonderful to see you posting! I hope I did not make you feel bad by my comment to MEK, it wasn't meant that way!! I can still see that people are reading what I write by the number of views I get!

 

[Flossbolna]

I promised you a Nuremberg update some time in August I think... Well, with only another 10 days until we leave, I think I really need to do that. Also, I can now offer you Nuremberg in summer and in winter!

Nuremberg is an old city, nobody knows for sure when it was founded, most likely some time between 1000 and 1040. At that time Germany was not a modern state like today, there was the “Holy Roman Empire” goverened by an Emperor - it all really dates back to the Romans somehow. The Romans aren't important for Nuremberg, but the Emperor is. The Holy Roman Empire in that time covered most of Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, northern Italy, western Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and eastern France. But it wasn't one state as such. It was made up of various smaller unites governed by kings, dukes, princes and the church. And then there were also cities which were directly under the emperor. They were governed by the citizens themselves. These cities were called free imperial cities. Many of the big cities in today's Germany were free imperial cities, for example, Cologne, Hamburg and Frankfurt. They managed to become centers of trade and commerce and were very successful.

Nuremberg was such a free imperial city and it was also one of the residences of the Emperor. The Emperor generally traveled around the country and had a number of castles, on of them is the castle in Nuremberg which is still there and makes Nuremberg's skyline:

you can see it on top of the hill behind the church.

Nuremberg was built with a city wall all around it (as every city in Europe was in the middle ages). The castle is part of that city wall. And the city inside the wall is split into two halfs by a river running through it in a valley between two hills. The two halfs are named after the churches dominating each quarter: St Sebaldus and St Lawrence. The picture above was taken from the Lawrence quarter and the church in front of the castle is St Sebaldus.

I live to the left of the castle outside the old city walls. But when I walk into the city (about 20 minutes walk) I walk down towards St Sebald and this is what I see:

The house to the right in the last picture is where the pastor lives.

Walking around it there is St Sebaldus' choir to the right and the town hall to the left. The town hall is one of the few renaissance buildings in Nuremberg. Nuremberg was very rich and successful in the middle ages, but then did not do so well later on. This is the reason why so many really old buildings survived. At least until the 1940s when Germany got itself into a war which resulted in the destruction of nearly all of its cities... Nuremberg did a pretty good job of rebuilding, but if you see old pictures, this place would have been incredible. Nuremberg was actually nicknamed: “the jewel box of Germany” because it was so pretty.

If you turn around where the last picture was taken and look back, you are looking towards the castle up on the hill (but not really visible, still a nice street view):

Now we are nearly at the city center which is the big market square, but first let's take a look back at St Sebaldus:

Do you see the umbrella's in front of it? This is a wonderful restaurant which specializes in Nuremberg sausages. Here is a closer look:

It is in a very touristy spot, but it is a favourite of the locals as well!

Nuremberg sausages are grilled bratwurst sausages which are really very small. And you order 6, 8, 10 or 12 with them with a choice of potato salad or sauerkraut or plain. There is bread (rolls and pretzels) on the table, but you are charged for the bread, so when you get the check, they will ask how much bread you had. The sausages are eaten with mustard or horseradish. I would love to have some right now....

We are now at the main market square which has a market on every day except on Sundays with vegetables, fruit, flowers, cheese, sausages, honey and of course Lebkuchen (ginger bread). I love to shop there. The main sights at the market square are the “Beautiful Fountain” and the “Church of Our Lady” which is now the main catholic church of Nuremberg (which is otherwise a mainly Lutheran city). You can see them in this picture:

And here are a few impressions from the market:

Continued in next post!!

 

[Flossbolna]

The market square is also home to the Christkindles market – the famous Christmas market. Then the market looks like this:

The next pictures shows the sausages being grilled to be sold as take away food. Then you get three of them in a bread roll (need to stop writing about sausages!!)

The next stand sells “Zwetschgenmännla” - which means “little men made from prunes”. And that'S exactly what they are. They were a gift for kids for christmas, I guess very much like the chocolate Father Christmas which we have in Germany for Christmas today:

And because I have been talking so much about the two churches and you have seen so much of St Sebaldus (which btw is the church where my parents got married) I am ending this with a picture of St Lawrence:

This concludes our small tour around Nuremberg, but there is much more to see and explore! I hope if anyone of you ever comes to Nuremberg, please get in touch. I would be delighted to show you around in person!

 

[PNO4TE]

How spectacularly beautiful, Magdalene!! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this little vignette of your city! Now I want to come visit.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Oh how homesick I am now! Ich liebe Nuernberg!! You did such a fantastic job with your descriptions and your lovely pictures. You live in such a lovely area, I tell ya! I know I've mentioned it before but I really miss shopping in the old town and grabbing a brat and/or a pretzel. I miss Mueller's, Karstadt, etc. Did I ever mention to you my ex-boyfriend (I'm married now) still lives in NUE? I think you could know him because he was in a few well known bands... The next time I'm over there, I promise I'll let you know so we can at least have a tea or coffee together!

I have heard that Germany has had a lot of snow and cold weather this year. My Dad is actually flying over tonight (for the Kaiserslautern area) and we were talking about the cold weather. It finally thawed out a bit here on the East Coast and it's such a relief to be anything but 15 degrees! I'm so excited the weather is looking warmer for you two!

You are so close!! I remember when you were first talking about the trip it felt like so long ago! How very cool for you both!

Enjoy your weekend!
Heather

 

[glennbo123]

Oh good! I showed up just in time for a tour of Nuremberg. Thanks for showing us around town.

I think every trip report should mention sausages every now and then, and pictures are a definite plus. Thanks for pointing out a good place to find them in Nuremberg. Maybe I'll get to look that place up some day.

 

[manntra]

What a yummy update!! Now I'm hungry! At the F&W festival in Epcot last October I had what was said to be a Nuremburg sausage...It was a small sausage in a pretzel roll with mustard and maybe sauerkraut. All I can say now is I am super hungry for my Biergarten dinner! The pictures are stunning...love the architecture and market. Looks like a very lovely place to wander around and eat sausages
Ohhhh the iPhone.....if you have any questions ask away..it is always by my side I am relatively sure that once you download the apps you don't need internet to use them..pay for them once and that is it. With the phone plan here it is always on the 3G network or I can access wirelessly.

The ones to search for are:
WDW Dining (use this a lot) WDW maps is useful also, WDW wait times is fun to look at but I don't think it is very accurate. One of the most comprehensive is the one from the Dis I think it was around 5 dollars or so but it has up to date park hours, dining info, reviews, and you can also access trip reports and the boards. This one I would have to say is accessed by the internet or wirelessly because it is an internet site Maybe this is something you can ask your provider? It would be very convenient to have but then I wouldn't want to see you hit with ridiculous fees.
Well it's Saturday night and time for a Lambic

Tracy

 

[PNO4TE]

What a yummy update!! Now I'm hungry! At the F&W festival in Epcot last October I had what was said to be a Nuremburg sausage...It was a small sausage in a pretzel roll with mustard and maybe sauerkraut.

We had the small sausage also. However, most people I know who were at the F&W Festival received much larger sausages.

Here is ours:

Here is an example of the ones others were served!

After Magdalene's description, I think we got the one that was more appropriate.

 

[If U Had Wings]

I love all the pictures. They make me want to hop on a plane right away for a visit.

 

[RachelTori]

How spectacularly beautiful, Magdalene!! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this little vignette of your city! Now I want to come visit.

Me too!!!

Beautiful pictures, Magdalene. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures and a bit of the history of your beautiful city.

And I'd love an order of Nuremberg sausages with potato salad please!!



See ya real soon!!

 

[MEK]

Wow. thank you so much for sharing those wonderful pictures of Nuremberg. How beautiful and educational. My next door neighbor was born and raised in Germany, but has lived here in the states for many years. What an interesting city. The pictures of the old churches and buildings are spectacular. What I wouldn't give to be able to tour such an beautiful place.

 

[manntra]

We had the small sausage also. However, most people I know who were at the F&W Festival received much larger sausages.

Here is ours:

Here is an example of the ones others were served!

After Magdalene's description, I think we got the one that was more appropriate.

Elin....we had the one in the second picture!!! That is very interesting that there were two totally different ones...AND I think you were there (I remember your name from an October PTR) around the same time....I was there in the beginning of October. I can't remember the dates. It was good but looked kind of strange in the roll!!

Tracy

 

[PNO4TE]

Elin....we had the one in the second picture!!! That is very interesting that there were two totally different ones...AND I think you were there (I remember your name from an October PTR) around the same time....I was there in the beginning of October. I can't remember the dates. It was good but looked kind of strange in the roll!!

Tracy

Tracy - I think we were there at the same time! October 1-8. It was so strange to see everyone else's pictures of the same food we had eaten, but have it be so very different!

 

[DW2010]

Hello there. I need to catch up on your trip report. I just had to say that I lived in Nuremberg years ago, from the time I was 4-7. My dad was in the army .

 

[tarak]

Okay - I think I finally caught up with your PTR. I've been hopelessly out of the loop on the dis. I love the pictures from DLP - that version of Space Mountain sounds really great! You have such a short time left until you leave - you must be so excited!!

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hey M,


I have no idea how I missed this wonderful update yesterday...

This is FABULOUS...beautiful architecture, history, food, a Christmas market...these are all some of my favorite things...

I have to go back and reread your post because of course I will have questions and I need to get out my Atlas and look to see actually where Nuremberg is...

What lovely reading to begin the day...

 

[Flossbolna]

How spectacularly beautiful, Magdalene!! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this little vignette of your city! Now I want to come visit.

I am glad that you enjoyed it! Nuremberg is a great place to visit - but it's not a very "musical" town - besides the Wagner opera "Die Meistersinger" there really isn't any musical connection in Nuremberg, no composer born there etc. Writing that, I remember that Pachelbel was located in Nuremberg at some time I think (he is a rather obscure composer, but I am sure you would know him...). But then a trip to Germany would give you the possibility to visit a lot of "musical places"!

Oh how homesick I am now! Ich liebe Nuernberg!! You did such a fantastic job with your descriptions and your lovely pictures. You live in such a lovely area, I tell ya! I know I've mentioned it before but I really miss shopping in the old town and grabbing a brat and/or a pretzel. I miss Mueller's, Karstadt, etc. Did I ever mention to you my ex-boyfriend (I'm married now) still lives in NUE? I think you could know him because he was in a few well known bands... The next time I'm over there, I promise I'll let you know so we can at least have a tea or coffee together!

I have heard that Germany has had a lot of snow and cold weather this year. My Dad is actually flying over tonight (for the Kaiserslautern area) and we were talking about the cold weather. It finally thawed out a bit here on the East Coast and it's such a relief to be anything but 15 degrees! I'm so excited the weather is looking warmer for you two!

You are so close!! I remember when you were first talking about the trip it felt like so long ago! How very cool for you both!

Enjoy your weekend!
Heather

Hi Heather, I am glad that you enjoyed it!! I am impressed that you used to go out with a local VIP! I am not sure that I know any person in Nuremberg who was in well known bands, but I am really not an expert on bands... Of course now I am very curious...

I think it is so funny that you would miss a Mueller! But I guess that's the tiny things one misses most about a country where you lived for some time! I really hope you get in touch when you come to Nuremberg, would be wonderful to have a DISmeet at home!!

Oh good! I showed up just in time for a tour of Nuremberg. Thanks for showing us around town.

I think every trip report should mention sausages every now and then, and pictures are a definite plus. Thanks for pointing out a good place to find them in Nuremberg. Maybe I'll get to look that place up some day.

Hi Glennbo, welcome to my PTR!! Great to have you here, even though there isn't much more planning to do for us! Who knows, one day P-Chef might send you to Munich, if they already sent you to Vienna, and Nuremberg is just an easy train ride of one hour away!

What a yummy update!! Now I'm hungry! At the F&W festival in Epcot last October I had what was said to be a Nuremburg sausage...It was a small sausage in a pretzel roll with mustard and maybe sauerkraut. All I can say now is I am super hungry for my Biergarten dinner! The pictures are stunning...love the architecture and market. Looks like a very lovely place to wander around and eat sausages
Ohhhh the iPhone.....if you have any questions ask away..it is always by my side I am relatively sure that once you download the apps you don't need internet to use them..pay for them once and that is it. With the phone plan here it is always on the 3G network or I can access wirelessly.

The ones to search for are:
WDW Dining (use this a lot) WDW maps is useful also, WDW wait times is fun to look at but I don't think it is very accurate. One of the most comprehensive is the one from the Dis I think it was around 5 dollars or so but it has up to date park hours, dining info, reviews, and you can also access trip reports and the boards. This one I would have to say is accessed by the internet or wirelessly because it is an internet site Maybe this is something you can ask your provider? It would be very convenient to have but then I wouldn't want to see you hit with ridiculous fees.
Well it's Saturday night and time for a Lambic

Tracy

Hope you had a great Saturday with your Lambic! I did cook with red wine this weekend, so I am forced to finish the bottle and am enjoying a glass of Tempranillo right now!

Thanks for the recommendations. I hadn't realized that the DIS App has menus, so I now just bought it to check it out. I think I can figure out if it uses the internet by putting the iphone into "flightmodus" and then see how it works... I am already looking daily at "lines" the iphone website from touringplans.com it's free for subscribers at the moment. They show estimated wait times as well as those which were sent to them from visitors in the park on that day. That's a lot of fun!!

(more on sausages below...)

 

[Flossbolna]

We had the small sausage also. However, most people I know who were at the F&W Festival received much larger sausages.

Here is ours:

Here is an example of the ones others were served!

After Magdalene's description, I think we got the one that was more appropriate.

Elin....we had the one in the second picture!!! That is very interesting that there were two totally different ones...AND I think you were there (I remember your name from an October PTR) around the same time....I was there in the beginning of October. I can't remember the dates. It was good but looked kind of strange in the roll!!

Tracy

Tracy - I think we were there at the same time! October 1-8. It was so strange to see everyone else's pictures of the same food we had eaten, but have it be so very different!

Elin, I think you got the real thing, the other one is too long for a real Nuremberg sausage!

BUT: never serve sausages in a pretzel roll!! That's just wrong... If we combine pretzel with sausage, the sausage would be served on a plate and eaten with fork and knfe and the pretzel (or pretzel roll or pretzel stick) would be eaten at the same time. But if served inside a roll: only plain (but crusty, we don't do soft) rolls are appropriate.

And since we already talk about it: we never put sauerkraut inside the roll with the sausages.

Elin, even though you got the right size, we usually have three of them in a roll, so this was a tiny serving!!

And just to add more random sausage facts: the term "Nuremberg sausages" is actually a protected name within Europe, only sausages produced within the city limits of Nuremberg can be sold under this name. We have a number of those protected names - the technical term is Protected Designation of Origin. Other examples are Champagne, Camembert, Black Forrest Ham, Parma ham and Feta cheese (must all be from a certain region) - the US don't accept this protection.

And just because this seems a good point to mention it: never put the sauerkraut on top of a sausage in a roll!!

 

[Flossbolna]

I love all the pictures. They make me want to hop on a plane right away for a visit.

Well, most of the pics are from summer and the others from December - at the moment, even Nuremberg is cold and grey! Better hop on that plane in June, July or August!!

But really, I think that a trip to Europe is much easier than a lot of people think, but I guess you know that since you already visited Austria!

Me too!!!

Beautiful pictures, Magdalene. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures and a bit of the history of your beautiful city.

And I'd love an order of Nuremberg sausages with potato salad please!!

See ya real soon!!

You know, I just thought that we should bring you a can of sausages (they sell them canned and they are actually quite good - but then I remembered US custom regulations: no meat allowed to enter the country...

We are really looking forward to meeting you soon!

Wow. thank you so much for sharing those wonderful pictures of Nuremberg. How beautiful and educational. My next door neighbor was born and raised in Germany, but has lived here in the states for many years. What an interesting city. The pictures of the old churches and buildings are spectacular. What I wouldn't give to be able to tour such an beautiful place.

I am glad you enjoyed the tour of Nuremberg! It is a wonderful city to live in as well! AS I wrote above, I think a trip to Europe is really not that difficult, getting around with English has become much easier in recent years, especially in the bigger cities and everywhere where there are tourists. Of course, there are cultural differences, but that's part of the fun of travelling. It's one of the things that brings me back to the US again and again. the fascination of how even small things can be different! If the Dollar-Euro exchange rates becomes a bit better for the Dollar side, a trip could even be quite affordable (of course besides the air fare...).

Hello there. I need to catch up on your trip report. I just had to say that I lived in Nuremberg years ago, from the time I was 4-7. My dad was in the army .

It's so interesting to see so many DISers with connections to Nuremberg here!! I am sure you don't remember that much about it?

Okay - I think I finally caught up with your PTR. I've been hopelessly out of the loop on the dis. I love the pictures from DLP - that version of Space Mountain sounds really great! You have such a short time left until you leave - you must be so excited!!

Can you believe it, the time went by so quickly!! Great to see you back on the DIS! You will see, soon it will be time for your big trip!!

Hey M,


I have no idea how I missed this wonderful update yesterday...

This is FABULOUS...beautiful architecture, history, food, a Christmas market...these are all some of my favorite things...

I have to go back and reread your post because of course I will have questions and I need to get out my Atlas and look to see actually where Nuremberg is...

What lovely reading to begin the day...

This happens to me all the time as well. Somehow threads drop out of my list of new postings and then I don't notice them... I hope you could find Nuremberg in your Atlas, but since it is the second largest city in Bavaria (with 500,000 inhabitants) it hopefully is on the map! And otherwise you could use google maps. But an Atlas has much more style!

 

[Flossbolna]

Ok, I don't know what is correct, but Tourguide Mike claims it's 9 days until my trip, my ticker says 8 days and Katharina's ticker says one week and 5 days!!

So I have decided that today is the day for the single digit dance!!!



(And Katharina already reassured me that she is still planning to board that plane together with me and not 4 days later!)

I did some more shopping the last few days and here are the result:

I picked up more stuff at the drug store:

tissues (sorry, no other country is able to produce useful tissues like my Tempos, so we need a good supply for cases of emergency), Vitamin C + Zinc (in order to prevent such emergencies), salt water nasal spray (to keep the nose moist in the dry air plane, in my opinion also helps to prevent said emergencies), anti-bacterial wipes (I am not a germaphobe, these are just a reassurance that I have something if it is really needed, I don't wipe down the hotel room!!), wipes for cleaning glasses (great for sun glasses), refreshing foot lotion with grapefruit and mint, more travel containers: shaving gel, high protection sunscreen for sensitive skin and hair gel and finally and most importantly (and the reason why I went to the drug store): a waterproof disposable camera for some fun at Typhoon Lagoon!!

I also got a new cute skirt - it was still on sale from last summer and very cheap:

The best thing about the skirt is that it is a European size 36 which translates into a US size 6!! I can't believe that I fit into it. I tried it on two sizes too large first...

And today after work I walked to Galeries Lafayette, the Paris department store, which has its only branch in Berlin, very close to where I work and got this:

It will be passed on to my travel mate on 2/3...