Nuremberg

Thursday

Since my bike is gone, I walked to work in the morning. Again, I don't have too much work to do so I worked a bit and was asked to translate some texts into English but then I left. I went to the train station at 1 PM (13:00) and waited a bit to get on my train to Nuremberg. I had a few changes but the trip was seamless!

When I was at the Nuremberg Hbf, I wandered a bit since I had to wait for my host to finish with a phone interview and suddenly, he called me. We agreed to meet up at the train station and after some miscommunication as to my location, Till, my host met me there.

We walked into the city and went to his apartment, nearly directly in the center of the city, and I dropped my bag there and changed my jacket because I was too warm. He had some things to do so we walked into the city and while he was sorting things out with his phone, I wandered in and out of shops. When he was finished, he showed me around the city a bit and we bought some food to eat back at his place.

He showed me the "lucky fountain" and how to turn the ring to get luck but I couldn't reach it so he turned it for me.

He was hungry and tired so we headed back and ate some dinner. A true German dinner. Bread, meats, and cheese, all cold. He had work in the morning though so we turned on the TV and watched a Lord of the Rings film until we both fell asleep, me on the couch and him in his bed.

 

Friday

I woke up at 6:30 AM when Till was getting up for work but went back to sleep till 7:30 AM, it's nice not having a schedule to stick to and kind of sleeping in. I showered and got ready for the day and eventually left the apartment. Till gave me a key so I could come back when I wanted to.

I began by wandering the city, stopped in a Starbucks for a coffee and a piece of cake for breakfast, but nearly nothing else was open yet so I just window shopped for a bit.

I found the information house near the train station and grabbed some info on the museums and things in town and went off in search of buildings I had heard of and museums I wanted to see.

My first real stop was the Germanisches Nationalmuseum where I found some interesting things about the country. There was nothing on the war and it only focused on Germany's "real" history which was a bit refreshing after such a heavy curriculum in my German courses dealing with WWII.

The Germanische Nationalmuseum (GNM) has existed since 1852. It was founded by Hans Freiherr von und zu Aufseß who intended to collect and display exhibits relating to German culture and history. Today, the museum's collection comprises over 1.2 million objects, making it Germany's largest museum of cultural history, as well as the National Museum of the Federal Republic. 

Again, I set out into the city and did a lot of walking, even bought my mom's Christmas presents, then dropped them off at Till's apartment. I stopped in some churches, wandered the city more and when I was back at the "lucky fountain", Till sent me a text to ask where I was and we met up.

We walked back to his place and relaxed for a bit, I got a call from mom even, then we went back into the city and had dinner at Vapiano. We had decided to eat sushi, but in the end, settled on something else, pasta.

When we finished dinner, we required a walk and we went to the castle and saw the gardens and a view of the city from above. We walked back down and stopped in the market that was in the main square for the Alt Stadt Fest (Old City Festival.)

Nuremberg Castle is a historical building on a sandstone rock in the north of the historical city of Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. It comprises three sections: the imperial castle "Kaiserburg", some buildings of the Burgraves of Nuremberg "Burggrafenburg", and the municipal buildings of the Imperial City at the eastern site "Reichsstädtische Bauten".

The night wasn't over yet though! We then took the  U-Bahn then tram to the "Nazi place" now called Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände.

In 1933, the National Socialists decided that Nuremberg was to be the "City of the Party Rallies". They created a link between the Nazi movement and Nuremberg's glorious past as Free City of the Empire and venue for the imperial diets in the middle ages. This is why they staged the annual NSDAP party rallies here ever year in September, up until 1938. Designed by Albert Speer, in the city's southern districts, the "Party Rally Grounds" were erected as a huge parade ground on an area of 24.5 hectares.

After walking around the building and seeing the marching grounds on the back side, we took the tram back to the Hbf then walked back toward Till's place but stopped at a supermarket for beer and such. We then went back to Till's apartment and watched the soccer game (Nuremberg v Frankfurt), had a beer, watched a horror movie (a very bad one at that.)

I mean, I know I'm gorgeous, but the guy honestly tried to sleep with me! I mean, he didn't ask or anything, it was just like, I want this.. Of course, I said no, and that was the end of it, but... Oh boy. We went to bed after that. Again, in separate beds.

Saturday

I woke up at 6:30 AM without an alarm and began repacking my bag to leave for Leipzig. I didn't realize I had so much more now but my bag was full and it wasn't before, when I arrived. Once my things were in order, I woke Till to say goodbye and he told me he wanted me to stay longer. Um. He hugged me goodbye and I was on my way.

I went to train station and bought a "butter bretzlen" and a coffee then proceeded to wait for my train to Leipzig. Once I boarded and found an empty seat, surprisingly without a reservation, I was on my way to Leipzig and arrived at noon.