Nuremberg

We got an early surprise this week when the Jeep arrived six days earlier than expected! She passed her inspection with flying colors and even got some fancy new international plates. Vic is doing pretty well with driving, although I think he's made up his own rules a couple of times. Between Basic Training and AIT, he hasn't really drove for almost a year, so it will take some time to knock the rust off. I am going to attempt my driving test on Tuesday, so we'll see how that goes.

 Yesterday we took a trip to Nuremberg by train. The train system here is amazing, and we have it pretty much figured out. We took the trip with the Logan's, which allowed us to split an all day train pass for 15 Euro a couple - meaning we could technically use the train as many times as we wanted and go anywhere in the state of Bavaria for the next 24-hours. This worked to our advantage as we got off on the wrong train stop on the way home.

We had a little trouble at first figuring out the whole schedule, but luckily we ran into an American who knew the drill, so he pointed us in the right direction. We took the train to Wurzburg first where we had a short little layover (enough time to eat a butter/cheese-filled pretzel) and then we hopped on the train to Nuremberg. Too easy.

Mostly in America we hear/learn about Nuremberg because of the Nazi Rallies and Nuremberg Trials, but there is so much more to see and do - we didn't even scratch the surface in the five hours we were there.

This is the entrance to the city area .... and part of the city wall. I think there were 128ish towers and half of them are still standing. Parts of the wall were built in the 12th century!! Crazy.

Once we got into the city walls we stopped at a steakhouse for lunch. We had the cutest little English waiter (Harry Potter cute, not David Beckham cute) ... when I ordered my water he asked if I wanted it with or without 'gas' ... meaning soda water vs. tap water - I thought that was a funny way to ask.

 This picture is looking back at the train station. We were nearly killed crossing the street, and realized there is a tunnel system during our walk back.

The birds in Germany are HUGE. There are crows on post the size of Lola, and they terrify me. 

St. Lorenz church ... this picture doesn't really do justice - it was gigantic.

Stopping on the bridge on the way to see the castle!

This was the weirdest statue and there wasn't any information posted around it. It looks to be a pirate ship manned by a skeleton, with a naked lady being held prisoner, a terrified dog, a drunk man and a midget holding a knife.  Upon further google-ing I found that it is called the Ship of Fools, apparently based on a book of satire written by Sebastian Brant. Good to know.

St. Sebaldus Church.

This is the Schoner Brunnen fountain ...

There are two bronze rings in the fence that are said to bring good luck to those who spin them. Of course, I had to spin one.

This was the walk we took up to the castle. It may not look like much of a hill from this picture, but at eight and a half months pregnant, I was dying ... BUT not complaining!

Just when I thought the worst part of the walk was over ... I was faced with another cobblestone covered hill.

Vic was full of energy while I was trying to catch my breath, so he ran up to stand next to Sinwell Tower - which we later decided to climb.

Looking down on the city ... I'm sure nobody could tell we were tourists.

Looking over the city of Nuremberg ... I think I had recovered by this point.

Standing next to the castle door ...

This is the entrance to the previously mentioned Sinwell Tower. As we were standing beside it I had made mention that I thought you could climb it (with no intention that we actually would), and the next thing I know Logan comes back with tickets and I am walking my big ass up 200 creaky medieval stairs.

The stairs from the bottom ...

Vic looking out from the top of the tower.

View from the tower. It is a round tower, so you get a full view of the city.

View from the way down ... really scary.

I pretended I needed to take a picture, but it was really an excuse to catch my breath.

After the tower we took a tour of the 'deep well', which sounds lame ... but it was actually pretty cool. A tour guide gave us the history of the well and then lowered the candles all the way to the bottom.

I think it was a little over 50 yards deep - and completely dug by hand over 10 years.

Outside the castle.

Bronze statue of the city ... Vic is pointing to where we are standing.

Turning the ring for good luck!!

After our trek back from the castle we decided to get some sweets. Vic had some sort of a fociccia bread and I had a chocolate-covered, chocolate-filled croissant - amazing. Vic is also drinking a Radler - which is a popular beer in Bavaria that is mixed with either Sprite or lemonade. I don't think this will be his drink of choice.

In the train station they not only sold beer, wine and liquor, but also mixed-drinks in a can! We discovered you can drink on the trains, so that should make for interesting future trips.

We will definitely make a trip back to Nuremberg ... there is a lot more to see and tons of shopping to do!

On the way home we went to Bamberg first and then caught the train home. We weren't paying attention and we got off at the first Schweinfurt stop, which put us on the wrong side of town. We didn't realize this until we got out of the train station and started to look for our car. Lesson learned!

We're going to try for one more pre-baby trip next weekend! Everything else is going well and we are headed back to the doctor on Wednesday. I feel like I can't possibly get any bigger, but I have a feeling that's not the case! We'll keep everyone updated on Baby Eli news :)

Happy New Year!!