Nuernberg!

After visiting Freiburg from Tuesday to Friday, we headed off to Nuernberg, Germany on Friday and stayed till Saturday night. Nuernberg is known for having the biggest Weihnachtsmarkt in Germany. The weekend we went apparently was one of their busiest and that was definitely true once we got downtown to the Weihnachtsmarkt. It was a really cute town in Germany, the whole city was surrounded by the old castle walls, it was really unique. Once we got there me and mom went exploring downtown and saw some churches and took lots of pictures, then stumbled upon a group of Native American musicians, it was really cool, they were playing covers of popular songs on like whistles and rain makers and some tom tom drums, it was really cool, so mom bought their CD. We had to wait until Eric got there and we were going to pick him up at the Hauptbahnhof (train station), so we shopped a little bit and saw some of the stuff around town. Eric finally called and we met up with him and had a Gluehwein (spiced Christmas wine drink) before going to dinner. We had no idea where to go to dinner in town so we asked the people working at our hotel and they told us there was a really good German restaurant down the road, so we walked there. It was really cute, typical German restaurant, the women waitresses were even wearing Dirndls (the traditional dress for German women, it's usually only worn at festivals like Oktoberfest). We got sat next to some really nice Swiss women and we started talking with them. They showed us what they bought that day in Nuernberg and told us the best Lebkuchen (gingerbread cookies) was Schmidt Lebkuchen. They let us try it and it was delicious!

The next day we set off downtown and walked through the Christmas Market, it was so cute! And there were soooo many people, you could barely walk, the street was full of people as wide as the street would allow. We also went into a cathedral in the center of town called Lorenzkirche, it was a really beautiful church, luckily I got pictures inside before the security caught us taking some. Of course the church was a Gothic style church, it was built from 1270-1350.

Nuernberg has quite the historical significance, it was a very prominant location for huge Nazi conventions-- the Nuernberg rallies, with its relevance to the Holy Roman Empire and the fact that it is in the center of Germany. In 1933 after Hitler's rise to power Nuernberg became a center for anti-Semetism and propoganda. Also Hitler specifically ordered the Reichstag to convene at Nuernberg to pass the anti-Semitic Nuernberg Laws which revoked German citizenship for all Jews. Nuernberg was also where the first railroad was built in Germany. Nuernberg is known for their Christmas Market and Lebkuchen too.

Once we got to the Christmas Market there was another really cool church but it was a bit smaller than the St. Lorenz Kirche, it was the Frauenkirche (Our Lady's Church), it was the main church in all the postcards of the Christmas Market and of Nuernberg, it was very unique looking.

During the day of shopping through the Christmas Market Eric and I had about 4 glasses of Gluehwein, it was really good in Nuernberg, and I got to collect all of the cups. And we even found the Schmidt Lebkuchen!! We got about 3 tins full of it, so delicious. I never liked Lebkuchen until I tried it in Nuernberg because I am not really a fan of Gingerbread but something about the cookies in Nuernberg made them so much better! Overall the trip was really great, it was added to my list of favorite cities in Germany, I really enjoyed it! It was sad saying goodbye to my mom and Dan but I know I will see them again soon enough! We had a great week of traveling around! Until next time =]

Auf Wiedersehen