Nürnberg, Germany - Day 2

Franconia in the fall is absolutely beautiful! While it was a pretty cold day, the sun was out, shining in the clear blue skies, contrasting beautifully with the red bricks of the city buildings. After breakfast, Martin took me on a tour of the Nürnberg Castle, which dates back to the 1100s. The Castle itself actually contains two castles, one for the then current visiting Holy Roman Emperor, and the other for the ruler of Nürnberg. The original city was bounded by an outer wall which protected the residents, then an inner wall which surrounded the two castles. Unfortunately, most of the buildings were destroyed during World War II, but everything was eventually restored to historical form. Unlike most American locations, the castle grounds are open even late at night, offering visitors a spectacular view of the city, along with a certain spookiness with the glowing interior lights.

For dinner, we met up with some coworkers and their families at a restaurant at the bottom of the castle, which was originally a witch house. Apparently, there was a big fear of witches during the Middle Ages, but as it was also suspected that they had incredible healing powers, the kings would kick the witches out of the inner city, but kept them close enough just in case they needed their aid. Of course, when they had no need for them, the witches were killed. The witch house now serves traditional Bavarian food, and for dinner we had a sampling of sausages - boiled, grilled, and smoked, lots of local beer, and I had a pork shoulder with potato dumplings. So much food, but so delicious. Again, Martin has the pictures from dinner, but I will leave you with a few pictures from the day. Fret not, once I get all the pictures, I'll post the album here.