Nuremberg, where crafting lives on, but all the meat we ate did not.

June 25-26, 2024

We said goodbye to Prague and are ready to head to Nuremberg, Germany. We took the train and knew we had a tight connection in Schwandorf, so we were disappointed but not shocked we missed the connection and had to wait an extra hour for the train. This made for a long day of travel. Once we made it and walked from the train station to our hotel, we could already tell we will love it. This city is cute and quaint, but also has a real city feel to it that were weren’t expecting. After checking into the hotel we went to grab pizza and enjoyed them with a viewing party of the Eurocup. As we walked back we came upon a street fest and let Liam ride a few rides. We made a note to try to come back as the tents of sausages smelled incredible.

On our first full day in the city, we decided to tackle all the main attractions. We have all been a bit under the weather (more on that later) so we continue to have some late starts to our mornings. We found a walking tour outline online and roughly followed it to try to hit up the big sites here. We began close to our hotel with the Old Chain Bridge that sits within the town wall. Unfortunately we couldn’t cross it for the views as it was under construction, but we sat by the river and enjoyed the peacefulness of the city for a bit. Then we strolled up Weissgerbergasse, or Tanner’s Lane. We have actually been up this street a few times now since it is behind our hotel, but didn’t realize it is has the largest area of half-timbered houses in Nuremberg. This block definitely feels like the pictures we had seen when planning this trip. The houses are colorful and had belonged to the leatherworkers during the medieval times. Many also have intricate signposts outside of them, now with the names of the shops and cafes they hold.

We continued on to St Sebald’s Church. It is the oldest in the city and was stunning. We noticed dark it felt and how simple the walls were, which let the statues and stained glass really be a highlight and stand out against the dark backdrop. We also saw a drawing of what the church looked like after WWII, which was reminder that this city was heavily bombed during the war. We then began the long and incredibly hot walk uphill to the Imperial Castle. We walked through the castle wall and wandered the garden a bit and enjoyed the views. We decided to stick to the exterior and courtyards.

We decided to stop for a traditional meal at Hutt’n. It was incredibly charming inside but like every building here had no air conditioning so we sat outside in the shade hoping for a breeze. We got to to try the Nuremberg sausages, which were similar to breakfast links and another local sausage. We also ordered the white asparagus which seems to be in season and a popular item here right now.

After lunch (and an ice cream break), we continued our tour by walking downhill toward the Hauptmarket. The area is known as the location of the many Christmas markets here so Liam was very confused why the shops were selling Christmas ornaments and items. We marveled at the Schöner Brunnen fountain, in the shape of a spire, with it’s colorful details and Liam enjoyed getting splashed as we pulled down on the water pipe. I read later that during

We realized that much of this trip is seeing sights and moving along, as it is hard to absorb much with a 4 year old in tow and the heat. So we continued on our way, walking past a few sites and planning to read about them later. We saw the outside of the Frauenkirche and the Holy Ghost Hospital, which is beautiful and sits on one of the bridges. Our next site was of course another church (when in Europe…) so we went into St. Lawrence Church. This one was really beautiful and had a huge organ. The ceilings were incredibly high and although more plain at first sight, we we looked more we could see all the detail of it. Liam enjoyed pointing out all the people he could find on the ceiling. This one also featured some photographs and artifacts of the church from WWII which was largely destroyed and rebuilt after the war.

We continued to the other edge of the city wall, making out way to the Konistrotrum. One of the towers that guarded one of the four main entrances to the city. Sitting next to this tower is the craftsman’s courtyard. We walked through looking in a few shops and begging Liam not to break anything. We began walking back toward the river and passed an old Granary which had some interesting brick detail on it’s walls. We headed toward the Hangman’s Bridge, which is the bridge that used to lead to the executioners house on the island, as he apparently was not allowed to have contact with the “decent citizens”. The house is now a museum. We walked across the bridge and strolled around the island. We ended up grabbing dinner in this area at the cutest restaurant, Trodelstuben. We walked up to the second floor and enjoyed looking at all the details of the windows and old tiled fireplace. We had by far the best German meal we have ever had of pork shoulder, sauerbraten, and all the cabbage. As typical here the portions are insane and we left stuffed.

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