Day Two in Nuremberg



Hotel Victoria & city wall

The first cruise came to an end, and we shifted to our hotel in Nuremberg... located just inside the walls of the old city.  The morning was spent in the Laundromat... an interesting adventure in finding someone who spoke enough English to explain to us how to pay.  (The machines were self explanatory... it was the electronic pay system on the back wall that was the challenge.) 

Handworkhof - crafts market

We went to the handicraft market right next door to the hotel and had lunch at the famous "Bratwursthausle"-- an old half-timbered building that serves Nuremberg sausages on pewter plates with sides of sauerkraut.  We had been told in Regensburg that there is a battle between that city and Nuremberg over who has the best sausages.  We vote for N!  The carry out version in R is two of these little sausages on a roll for 3.40 euro and in N it is 2.20 for three.  They both grill them on an open fire in historic buildings... the surrounding market places smell of wood smoke and grilling meat. 

You can see the smoke from the restaurant in this picture. 

We forgot to take a "before" picture.  Here you can see the remnants of the sausage platter... and half a bagel ... and a glass of local hefenweissen beer.



Opera House (with subway station below)

We explored a bit more in the afternoon, but mostly saved up our energy for a night at the opera.  The opera house is located just outside the city wall, near the train station, on Richard Wagner Plaza. 


We saw Verdi's "Nabucco" (Nebuchadnezzar).  It was a fun evening.

Here's three looks at the night:

1. The Opera House façade.

2. Inside view.

3. The bar at intermission.  Totally German, in addition to the champagne and wine, they sell beer and pretzels.

 

 

After the opera, we walked back to the hotel.  Here's a couple of views.

Nuremberg Train Station

wall & tower (that's our hotel roof behind it)

This morning we left Nuremberg and transferred to our ship in Bamberg, about 30 miles north.  We are now on the Viking Prestige.  We were among the early arrivals and were greeted personally by the Hotel Manager.  When he found out we were from Alaska, he told us he had started on ships 23 years ago on the Vancouver-Whittier run.  "I love Alaska," he told us.  A few minutes later, as were waiting in the lounge for our room to be ready, he came up to us and offered to upgrade us to a room on the top deck... so now we are on the starboard side, all the way forward (right next to the suites).  As we were unpacking they brought us fresh fruit and a bottle of wine!  Fun stuff!