Nürnberg & Ansbach.

My current host sister, Verena, is studying medicine at the Univeristy of Erlangen - in the area around Nürnberg, a Bavarian city in the 'county' of Franken. A few weeks ago, over the end of my easter break, my host mom Ulli and I took a night and went and visited Verena in her dorm room and did a little touring of Nürnberg and the Frankish capital, Ansbach. Franken is extremely well known for both it's amazing wine and beer. Driving on the way there, I enjoyed a 'Schweinschnitzel' - a pounded pork meat with a nut breading on it, so good food is also pretty important. Nürnberg is extremely well known for it's Bratwursts and Lebkuchen. Nürnberg is probably the only city where you can buy Lebkuchen year round - otherwise it comes out on the shelves to be enjoyed before Christmas. Although we didn't get a chance to visit Nürnberg's palace of justice, there is still a lot to city in the central city. Nürnberg was host to the 'Nuremberg Trials' after WWII, where the Allies tried the Nazis after their defeat (in Nuremberg's palace of justice, or 'Nürnberger Justizpalast'). Hitler also used this well-known WWII building to try protesters against the Nazi regime during the war, and the city itself was where Hitler got his 'national socialism' ideas started. During the middle ages and later Imperial times, along with the city of Ulm, Nürnberg was one of the most important trade cities in central Europe. The city is home to an Imperial castle flanking the city's wall, and many Emperors spent their time in organizing trade and meeting with other international representitives in this city. I found the 'Fachwerk' houses really beautiful here (the typical German architecture with white stone walls & dark wood beams in between), and although extremely cold and wet when we were there (I borrowed Verena's winter jacket), a beautiful city. You can see that many of the old German houses were destroyed in the war (replaced by boring brick brown or gray buildings), but many churches are still standing and the traditional German life is easy to imagine here. I found the city surprisingly quiet (despite being one of the bigger cities in Bavaria), and a it seemed to have a very 'literature' atmosphere to me. It would have been perfect to sit on a bench and read a newspaper, or a book in a nice Café. Even while shopping a little bit during the day, I felt much more reasonable and less worried about a long line I had to wait in.

Looking at the Pegnitz river towards the outskirts of the city - The small tower is the house of the 'Hanger', a man of who had broken the law and as punishment was forced to hang the people breaking death sentence laws, here on this bridge (more of a Middle Ages thing . . . but I still found that idea sort of eerie).

The Pegnitz river.

The city's wall.

'Fachwerk' Houses.

On the top of the 'Burg', or castle looking over the city.

The Fachwerk hostel in castle/castle surroundings. Pretty nice, hu?

The "Schöner Brunnen", or beautiful fountain (also called the golden fountain) in the main market area of Nürnberg. The fountain is from the gothic era, and a small ring on one of the grates has been turned for centuries by passerby hoping to bring them luck (I did it too, but I'm not telling my wish! Then it won't come true).

The Glockenspiel in Nürnberg (you can see the kings dancing in a circle above).

Can you imagine spending a night over the river? If I'm right, that's on old hotel, or German 'Gasthaus'.

The St. Lorenz catholic church in Nürnberg. The lucky church was not badly harmed in WWII, but is having troubles today with restorations and keeping the roof stabil above the altar. It was built during Emperor Karl the 4th's reign, a new gothic/end of the romantics church.

We spent a good amount of time walking around in Nürnberg, visiting the churches in the central city, the double city wall, the castle, an old literature cafe, and the market where we enjoyed some wonderful strawberries (in spite of the cold rain). The famous German artist Albrecht Dürer (known for his hare painting) was born in the city of Nürnberg.

Driving past the 'Faber-Castell' castle, who are old nobles that still live on and own the grounds (yes, Faber-Castell as in the well-known pen maker).

Also on our trip, we visited the city of Ansbach. The fairly small town has a sort of quiet enchantment to it, and introduced to me kindly the differences in Allgäu (my part of Bayern - Lederhosen, climbing and hiking in the mountains, traditional sweet pancakes 'Pfannkuchen' and 1 Liter beers) and Franken (wine, wine, wine - beer, beer, beer, really great food, small loping green hills, and yet another accent to learn). Ansbach was home to Kaspar Hauser, a well known German figure. Kaspar Hauser was discovered at the age of 16, where people found he had spent his entire life sheltered from Society. Theory says that Hauser was in line of inheriting some sort of throne, a position that the family or parents obviously didn't want him getting. Repeated attempts at murder against him finally succeeded in December 1833, after being found (believed to be in between the ages of 15-17) in 1828. Kaspar Hauser Syndrome was actually the german term for Autism (or the beginning of an understanding, therefore explanation and term of Autism), until 'Austismus' became the standard word for the modern German language (similar to the English word). Ansbach was nice though, a spontaneous ctiy we decided to visit with a hidden history.

At the Ansbach Hofgarten with Ulli, which I thought looked a lot like Schönnbrunn in Vienna given the yellow of the building. It has a quite large, pretty garden.

The old and the new - Fachwerk Hauses and H&M.