Tag Archives: Nuremberg

Germany Day 6 – Bamberg

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The alarm went off early this morning as we wanted to catch a 9:44 train to Bamberg. Kyle was a bit fussy as we had to wake him up. After a rushed breakfast and walk to the train station, we made it in plenty of time. After a 45 minute ride, we arrived in Bamberg. We decided to walk down to the Christmas market instead of taking the bus. It wasn’t far, but it was cold. The market itself was fairly small. They’re supposed to have several, but only one was running. Kyle got to ride the fire truck on the carousel and I had some warm mead. After the market, we did some shopping and walked through the part of the city south of the river/canal. We were getting cold by this point and were looking for lunch. We had passed a place on the way down that had a promising kids menu, including pasta, but it turned out they were closed for lunch except on Saturday and Sunday. After a brief detour into the department store, we finally found a small pizzeria that was able to make some plain pasta. The pizza was actually pretty decent. Kyle ate virtually all of his lunch, which was good. We detoured back to the market to get a Bamberg Gl?hwein mug and headed back to the station for the 2:30 train back to N?rnberg. Bamberg seemed like it would be a very nice city to visit, but the cold made it less than it would have been.

Back in N?rnberg, Suzanne and Kyle were very cold, so we took advantage of our transit day ticket to take the subway the one stop back to the hotel. (The exit is right next to our hotel.) They decided to stay in as it was snowing quite hard. I went back out to the market, taking the subway as close as I could. The snow was really coming down. It made the market quite nice, but Kyle would have been quite cold and uncomfortable. I took a bunch of photos, but it was hard as the camera was getting damp from the snow. Once it was getting dark, I put the camera away and enjoyed the market along with a N?rnberger wurst and a gl?hwein. I headed back to the hotel, stopping at the train station for dinner. (Okay, I admit it, I got some McDonald’s for Kyle.) After eating dinner in our room, we hung out for the rest of the evening, catching up on photos, the blog, and doing our packing for the trip to Munich tomorrow morning.

Germany Day 5 – A Cold Day in Nürnberg

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We ended up sleeping in this morning, not getting going until 9:30 or so (just in time to catch breakfast, which ends at 10:00). After getting a decent breakfast, we headed out to the Deutsche Bahn (German railroad) museum. Suzanne and I went here in 2002 and thought Kyle would really like it. We weren’t disappointed. He wasn’t too keen on the artifacts, but loved the trains on display and the hands-on section designed for kids. He didn’t want to leave, but it was getting toward 1:00.

After a brief stop at the hotel (which was literally behind and across the street) to put on warmer clothes, we headed out to the altstadt. Unfortunately, today was quite cold. Before really visiting the market, we walked up to the castle and explored the courtyard. Then we headed back down to grab some lunch at the market and visit it bit. Kyle was getting cold by this time, so we headed to the kid’s market so he could visit the Playmobil hut, where they had several Playmobil sets setup in a small and, importantly, heated building. Kyle had some “issues” sharing, so we headed back out to the walk through the entire market, which we hadn’t yet done. Kyle was doing better by this time, but getting cold, so it was back to Playmobil for another 30 minutes or so. By now, it was getting late, so we headed away from the market, stopping at the department store so Kyle could spend some of the money Mary Lou sent and so we could pick up a few groceries. Back at the hotel, I asked for a recommendation for somewhere close by which would be good for kids. They didn’t really have one, so we headed out to a place I had found on TripAdvisor that was back in the Altstadt, thought only about 10 minutes from the hotel. Padelle D’Italia turned out to be very good and quite reasonable (€35 for two drinks, two main meals, one “kids” meal, and one soup). We got a plate of plain spaghetti for Kyle and he actually ate the whole thing. It’s the most he’s eaten since we arrived. He also behaved very well. After grabbing a quick crepe, we headed back to the hotel as Kyle had to have a shower before bed tonight. All in all a very good, though cold, day. Our plan tomorrow is to head to Bamberg, about 45 minutes by train from Nürnberg.

Germany Day 4 – Off to Nürnberg

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Neither Suzanne nor I slept well last night, so the alarm even at 8:30 seemed early. We managed to get nearly everything back into our bags last night, so we had minimal packing to do. Suzanne and Kyle’s suitcase is really heavy, but I can still handle it. (We’re most likely going to have to check a third bag on the way back. Since there’s three of us, it’s still free.) We left the hotel on time and headed back to the Konstablerwache S-Bahn stop for a final time. At the Hauptbahnhof, we grabbed breakfast (another donut for Kyle) and waited for our train. It arrived on time. We were very happy to have made reservations as it was quite busy. I don’t know that we would have gotten seats otherwise. I think we’re going to make reservations for the Nürnberg to Munich train when we arrive even though the trip is only one hour. Kyle even got to watch the engineer for a bit as we are in the first car and there is only a glass partition between the control room and the passenger compartment. All for now (we’re on the train) — will write more later.

(Evening) We arrived in Nürnberg without problem and right one time. After a short detour to purchase reservations for our trip to Munich, we walked to the hotel through the significant snowfall. It wasn’t as close as I thought and between dragging the one suitcase (which kept getting hung up on the snow) and pushing the stroller, it wasn’t all that pleasant. The hotel is decent enough. I wouldn’t call it charming, but it was quite reasonable and was only recenlty built (opened in late September). We decided that Kyle really needed a nap today. (He hadn’t been getting one, and we think this is part of the problem we’ve been having at night.) Suzanne fed him lunch while I went out and got something for us. Back at the hotel, we finally managed to get Kyle to fall asleep. We both followed soon after.

Back up around 3:30, we bundled ourselves up for our trip to the market. While this hotel isn’t as close as when we were here in 2002 (then we were maybe 5 minutes from the main square), it wasn’t a bad walk, maybe 15 minutes or so. It was still snowing quite heavily. The market is as nice as we remember. We walked around, had some glühwein, got Kyle a chocolate covered waffle, and enjoyed ourselves. Nürnberg has a small children’s market in addition to the main one. There are several food stalls, some rides, and a few other places, including, Kyle’s highlight, a place to play (and buy of course) Playmobil.

By this time, Kyle was getting cold and hungry, so we headed out to find dinner. Unfortunately, Kyle is not keen on German food. After checking a couple of places on either side of the Altstadt, we popped in a place that had spätzle and looked decent. The food was good, but Kyle didn’t like the spätzle as it was pan fried. (I ended up eating it and it was quite tasty, even plain.) Luckily, he decided he like my Wienerschnitzel cut into “nuggets”. After a quick stop by Aldi for a few things, we headed back to the hotel. All in all a good day and Kyle was good, even walking most of the way to dinner. Tomorrow we plan to hit the Deutsche Bahn museum, which is right behind our hotel, in the morning and hit the markets again in the afternoon. Hopefully, it won’t take so long to find dinner tomorrow night.