Nuremberg

Today we arrived in Nuremberg to the waiting arms of Werner and Sieglinda. The station in contrast with Prague was part of a small shopping mall all tidy and neat and for a large city, white glove clean. Quickly they whisked us from the downtown section to their small village nestled between two rolling green valleys, a patch of forest here, long strips of fields there, punctuated by a historic old chapel and tied together with walking trails.

Their home was an oasis of calm and peace with lush greenery on all sides and in summer completely engulfed in flowers. Inside was hospitality rivaling the best bed and breakfast and made us feel as honored guests. As we retired for the evening after having a real shower in a room with a genuine washer and shockingly a real dryer, we snuggled into a down comforter that was 8” inches thick. I felt I was sleeping in a cloud. This is very close to a German version of heaven.

----------------- Next Day ----

Today we began part one of two of our visit to Nuremberg old town. Everything of course starts at the top of the hill where the medieval fortress still stands. It sits upon an ancient sea bed that was forced up, a rocky point made up of hard sandstone. Water was a difficult proposition at that time and so a 50 meter well was hand dug. How did they do it I asked Werner and he said it took many hands, a foot a day, and a lot of time. As we reached the highest castle keeps wall, Werner pointed out a horses hoofs impression sunk into the top of the wall. A prisoner the story goes, that was waiting for execution escaped, mounted a horse and flew over the wall, plunging hundreds of feet into the moat to escape. Gee, haven’t I read something like that from a Prague history book? Motto: Don’t let condemned men ride horses in high places.

Slowly we drifted down from the heights, walking among half timbered buildings and cobblestone streets. Much of this was destroyed in WWII. Buildings that were damaged were modernized internally but fixed in the old ways outside. Those destroyed were modernized and the exterior was build of the same type of stone but with one foot in the past and another in the future. Here in Nuremberg the harmony works.

Lunch was miniature Nuremberg Brats in of course a Brat House. These sausages are about as big as the middle finger on my hand. The reason they are so small is because the prisoners in the dungeon were fed these sausages through the keyhole of the cell. This served two purposes, one it’s hard to attack the keeper if your only contact is a sausage sliding in from the door and two, it tough to put a knife inside one of the little sausages to aid in escape. The eight little smoked ones I got with sauerkraut and potatoes were delicious.

After lunch we wandered to one of the central churches. Originally this area was a miserable swamp and thus perfect for the creation of a Jewish ghetto. Years later with the creation of a canal, the swamp was drained and this became prime real estate. City fathers implored the king to do what is right for the city which was drive the jews out, killing nearly 600 in the process and give the property to rich merchants. Who in their generosity gave this ground to the church. Even the “handy” (cell) phone that Werner provided with narration called this a very sad chapter in the town’s history.

Later we wandered down the canals that can be crossed in numerous places with cable, stone and covered bridges. Sieglinda told us that this was her favorite part of the city leaning upon the old wooden rails watching your cares drift away.

When we caught the metro to return to the car, a pure white train appeared, with no riders. Werner explained that they are testing this train as it contains no human operators. The doors open, and the cars move between stations automatically. There are cameras that allow operators to watch what is happening but essentially it runs itself. I’ve been impressed with the automation I see everywhere here. Escalators that only move when people step on the first step, automatic lighting that anticipate your lighting needs, auto sensing facets that work without waving your hands everywhere and now robotic trains. Add efficiency to cleanliness to the long list of charms of the German people.

One added note about how friendly people are. On several occasions we heard dialogue of people helping strangers. I was taking a picture of the castle from the walls and a woman was walking down the path in the distance. When she passed me, Werner said she apologized for being in the picture. What was she going to do, jump off the castle walls, horseless? Three young teenagers asked us our advice on some facts for their school history papers. After they finished they ran down the hill, stopped suddenly and ran back up and thanked Werner and Sieglinda for their help. A number of times, people stopped Werner and asked if he was lost, offered unsolicited advice on which metro to take, whether to walk down one street or the other.

When we returned, I attempted to connect my laptop to Werner’s DSL. Unfortunately it requires a special program which he did not have in Vista format. I could download the correct version from the internet, Ahh but there is the chicken or the egg dilemma.