[Day 5 was a rest/work day.]
Bonnie Writes:
We spent the day in Nuremberg - absolutely gorgeous! I must admit, however, I had flashbacks of the climb to the temple in Kyoto as I trudged along up to the pre medieval castle on top of the highest hill in town. (Of course the castle is going to be up high so the defenders can see the evil ones trying to creep up.)
The city is really neat. You have tall pointy roofed buildings (that look really old) next to a department store or specialty shop. And the shops in the center of town – wow! There is everything imaginable from cheap chachkes to really high end designer clothes/bags/whatevers.
After exploring on our own for 2 hours with a self-guided walking tour, we took a 40 minute narrated city tour in a small train. It really was good – laid everything out for you and gave you a sense of where things were. Then we walked to the things we thought were interesting. We went into St. Lawrence church on which construction began in 1230 (how’s that grab you?) Just as we walked in the service started and the organ music just blew me away. I would have liked to get a picture of the gigantic organ pipes along side the old rose window but it was too high up and too dark. (Also, photos were prohibited). We were able to walk around to look at the statues, etc. though which were all quite lovely.
Speaking of St. Lawrence church however, there was a very loud fascist demonstration on one side of the building – bullhorns, police cars, etc. Facing that demonstration was an anti-fascist puppet show with equally loud music. Finally around the corner was a large group of police surrounding a small group of people who did not appear to be doing anything one way or another. That bunch made me a little nervous however. I was glad we left them and went on our way to find a metal bridge we wanted to see.
By the way, the trains, trams, busses, etc. that we have ridden are clean and easy to maneuver about. The WCs are all clean and nice also but you better have your ½ euro or you are out of luck!