Nürnberg

... the most recent terminus for the Wichmann/Meyer-Brandt/ Hellmerichs gang. Once again, it was fun and interesting and educational and tiring and relaxing and filling (we will eat!) and all the things you want a weekend away to be. Besides that, the weather was wonderful - cool mornings, warm afternoons and lots and lots of sun.

We left Bremen at 7 AM; along the way we stuffed ourselves with the sweets and snacks in the goodie bags that Ilsemarie prepared, in addition to Duchess apples from the Hellmerichs' tree , carrot-nut bread from me and of course some champagne to put some bubble into the occasion. As if we needed the extra stimulation.

We arrived in Nürnberg before noon -- just in time to catch the walking tour of the old city that began at 1:30.

The City

Our tour guide was at least 75 years old, so he was able to tell us a lot, much of it from a first-person perspective. He could talk.

Nürnberg is in Franken, now a part of Bavaria, but the locals tend to identify themselves first as Frankish. That's the way it is in Germany; old allegiances die hard.

This is the Spital, a hospital established in the 1300s.




Here's the spire and roof ornaments of the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) that presides over the old market. Just under the clock is the
"Männleinlaufen" from the 1500s; the figures rotate as in a Black Forest Clock; the seven electors come and pay homage to the emperor every day at twelve and then of course the hour is rung. Below the clock is the balcony where the Kristkind comes to open the famous Nürnberg Christmas Market.


Kristkindlmarkt is perhaps the most popular of all the Christmas markets in Germany and draws visitors from all over the world. This spire is actually a fountain that rests on the ground in the square. A ring welded into the filigree of the fence is special - turn it and it will bring you luck.


Here's the old town hall, rather bombastic in style - but it does get your attention. While we were standing there, the governor went striding by ! And there was only one aide following him. Do we see such a thing in the US ?


Over the main entrance is this pelican feeding its young, a symbol of self-sacrifice (supposed to be based on fact but is, in fact, false) and that is supposed to somehow represent the interest of the state in its people (also not necessarily a fact, in fact). Anyway, the interesting thing here was the artist seemed not to have seen a pelican before sculpting this large bird -- there's not really a pouch in the beak and the wings are more eagle- than pelican-like.

Nürnberg is famous for toys; Playmobil is located there. Here's Werner with an almost life-size Playmobil Policeman. The sign says "don't touch." OK, you're the cop.


And here's the local Starbucks. They're becoming as ubiquituous as the Golden Arches. We even have one in Bremen now.

Nürnberg is famous for its sausages, too, smaller versions of our famous Bratwurst, that are traditionally served with Sauerkraut. Our server, dressed in traditional Dirndl, also wore the traditional socks and sandals. Wardrobe malfunction !!!!

While we were there, they had the annual Fall Festival with booths of food and beer and wurst and beer and gingerbread and beer and pretzles. Warm soft fresh pretzles. They're really tasty.

The Hopfen Haus or Hops House was one of the many places to have a beer, listen to tradional music (accordion essential) and enjoy the ambience. The facade of this place was completely decked with real hops!

End of the day. Sit and have a beer in the local Greek pub, where else??




Day 2 - History and More History

I think most Americans associate Nürnberg with the trials after World War II and the choice of Nürnberg as the site of the trials was of course no accident. Nürnberg had been the site of the important rallies of the National Socialists and where they intended to build a permanent center for party activities.

Only part of the project was realized - the war intervened - but enough was built that it has become a monument and museum to the failed programs. It is hard to describe - impressive, depressing, distressing, disturbing, amazing in its planned scope.

The city was heavily bombed during the war and had perhaps less to do with its strategic value than its symbolic importance. We spent the morning paying tribute to that past.


Here's a view of the partially completed arena intended for ceremonies. It would have been the first domed stadium had it been finished. Now it's the site of the museum documenting the time. Fascinating. Scary.


Here we are approaching the outdoor rally grounds where the unlamented leader stood in front of the columned backdrop to address thousands of followers. Some of it was demolished at the end of the war (the symbols, the torches) and the collonade later since it was unstable. It is still amazingly large and imposing.



Happy faces.

Afternoon

To the Albrecht Dürer House. What a work horse this artist was! The house is more to give an idea of how he lived at the time; his works are in museums all over the world but sadly not here.



Just across from the house is the entrance to the Burg, the Festung, the Fortress overlooking the city.

It's a good castle with towers and walls built into the stone of the hillside and lovely old half-timbered builidings.


We stopped for refreshment on the way down and got a chuckle from this sign. Translation is a dangerous business! Does that mean that we are guests in the restroom? Kinda weird.



Figure this one out.


Language problems aside, it was a good weekend of fun and food and hanging out together. Next time ... somewhere else!

We're Old

I think I've said that already, but now it is really, really official. We got the notices from the SSA that come November, we'll (read me AND Werner -he'll get his own check!) will be receiving Social Security. What a hoot. I can hardly believe it.

But here, Werner, the non-American, the German, the man married to the American woman, he gets a Medicare card. I have to wait another three years for my card. Now THAT's a hoot!

Gardengate or Backgate
(not a scandal)

For some reason, two strangers appeared in our little back yard last summer. (We don't mean Hunter and Hannah!) Each arrived at a different time and apparently for different reasons, but somehow it wasn't clear to them that they were entering a private space.

We'd thought about a little gate before, not enough to be a real barrier, but enough that anyone would recognize that beyond it was private space. Naturally, the size of the opening didn't match the standard gates available, so we (read: Werner) had to make our own. He sawed and trimmed and rasped and stained and did all the stuff that you have to do to put wood together and here's what came out (probably not as refined as Larry's work, but it works for us) :




We're pleased with the final results. Especially because it's finished!

Art for Art's Sake

As part of the annual Vegesack Fair last week, there was little painting action going on - local community activitists got color and brushes together and asked passers-by to paint anything they'd like on the window of the vacant shop (anything's better than an empty shop window).

So, Werner painted a pelican and I put a flower it its hand. The next week, we went by to look at it and someone had misinterpreted Mr. Pelican and thought he was a stork and put a blanket in his bill! Silly north Germans, don't know a pelican when they see one.

Timeless Autumn - Herbstzeitlose

... also known as Autumn Crocus or Meadow Saffron. Here's what they looked like two weeks ago: ugly brown things on the windowsill.

But later - just a little time, no water no soil - they become this:

Several years ago I bought a few and after they bloomed, I planted them in the garden and promptly forgot that I did. The next spring these green spikes came up, not very attractive, much too crowded by other plants, and it never DID anything! So I dug it up - and then I remembered what it was. Too late. I'll plant these and try to remember this time not only THAT I did it, but where I put them! It's a good thing to remember since all parts of the plant are quite poisonous!

It's nice to have a little bit of color inside this time of year even if it's a bit dangerous.

Maybe outside, they'll have a bit more color, like this one:

She's Here

Dylan Rose arrived yesterday, 7 pounds, 2 ounces, a petite 18 inches. Mommy, Daddy and Dylan are all fine and looking forward to joining big brother Hayden at home on Wednesday.

We're looking forward to seeing her, too, but it will have to wait till after Wednesday.

The Season of Plenty

There's a reason they have harvest festivals this time of year - there's so much of everything available at the moment (if it's seasonal, of course!). One of the seasonal goodies is Pfifferlinge or Chanterelle mushrooms (here's WAY too much info). There are more interesting wild mushrooms that learned individuals gather, but that will come a bit later.

Werner had a yearning today for Pfifferlinge, so I googled "Pfifferlinge Rezept" and got 462 recipes on one page. That makes for a lot of choices, though they can be easily categorized: eggs, salads, main courses. Scrambled eggs with Pfifferlinge are a staple on menues right now, but we wanted meat, so we opted for Pfifferlinge with Pork Filet, Spätzle (German egg noodles) and Brussels sprouts on the side. Good choice.

But you have to really really clean the Chanterelles and that is a pain. All the little gills under the head want to hold bits of sand and if you don't clean them well, well, you get to bite down on little bits of sand. Not appetizing. Werner usually does the veggie prep, and of course he's VERY careful at it, but he's working on the garden gate, so it fell to me. Isn't he trusting!

As Ginny often says, let the food speak for itself. That's what you have to do here. There are only a few ingredients:

Sear the pork filet well and then cover with foil and keep warm in the oven. In the same pan, add a bit more butter and sauté half of the Chanterelles with green peppercorns. When they're done, add a couple of teaspoons of cognac and a good handful of chopped parsley. Then add the rest of the Chanterelles and cook on high till done. Take off the heat and add cream, salt and pepper. That's it.

Here's what you get:

Yes, we enjoyed it.

September Already ? !

The weather has been less than wonderful this week: lots of showers, coolish, but today we thought with "only" a 60% chance of rain it was worth risking going outside for a while. Besides, it's almost 70°! Can't waste a day like this!

There were so many choices today for getting out and about. In town, the annual Musikfest Bremen opens this evening, with several open-air stages set up throughout the city as well as a light show on the buildings in the central market place. In Ritterhude there's the Hammefest - the Hamme is the river that flows through Ritterhude (and then into the Wumme that goes into the Lesum that goes into the Weser ... ). It's the usual German town festival with little shows and music and food and flea market and such. Just down the street from us is the annual Vegesackermarkt, the 199th to be exact. There are rides and - surprise - food and beer and things to buy. But they'll be there for the rest of the week. And judging by the church bells, we could probably take a short tour of the neighborhood and attend 5 or 6 weddings!

But this is where we decided to go: Gut Sandbeck.

Below is the map to Gut Sandbeck, an old farm (a Gut is almost like a plantation - a really big farm) that's been turned into a historical and arts center. Osterholz-Scharmbeck isn't even as far as downtown Bremen from here, so we thought it would be a not-too-hard trip. It was also the site of the former American military installation here when there was still a US presence here. In fact, it was where Werner took the GRE so he could attend UF.

View Larger Map

There was a herb festival at Gut Sandbeck. We went to check it out. For a festival, I have to say it wasn't all that much, but that was OK since we mostly did it for the bike ride and exercise (especially important today since we spent the whole day yesterday cooking for dinner guests.) There were stands with dried herbs, fresh herb plants from a couple of local nurseries, and the ubiquitous Bratwurst.

And, we could still see weddings there, too! As we approached the farm, we had to get out of the way for photos that were being taken for one wedding, and then we found there was a second one! Here's two brides in one shot - I'm sure neither will have this in their wedding albums!



Here's me at the entrance to the Gut. It must have been an important place at one time since there is a moat around the place (hence the bridge).



Heading out of town, we had to maneuver around a tractor hauling this straw sculpture of an owl that will be in the harvest festival parade next weekend. Ever so slightly over-lifesized!

The map said 15 kilometers one way, but my bike computer said 50+ total. Maybe I need to recalibrate, but it was a LONG WAY. I know, because my legs told me so.