Nürnberg (2)
Dec. 4th, 2011 09:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bitchy_merlinOn Saturday, November 26th, at 8:00am local time, Hanna and I arrived in Nürnberg, in the German state of Bavaria. HOLY FUCKING SHIT, I still can't believe I was in ANOTHER FREAKING COUNTRY, like, NBD, NBD, just crossing fucking borders like a boss!
Ahem. Anyway, so we arrived and beelined first for the FREE public washroom at the Bahnhof, and then to the nearest available (and open) coffee shop*. German coffee is excellent! And, more importantly, it comes in big. Then, we picked up sandwiches at Yorma's, a grocery chain, and set about contacting our CouchSurfing host, Mark.
This was my first experience with CouchSurfing, and Hanna's second, and I have to say that overall, it was very pleasant and I would highly recommend it not only as a way to save money during travels but also as an invaluable way to have an even fuller experience within different countries. Mark, as it turned out, was a lovely guy, who shared a flat with two other students, Sandra and Christian. They were all quite friendly and seemed glad to have us over the weekend, but more about that later.
So, we dropped our bags off at Mark's flat (about a ten minute walk from the city centre, the Old Town) and headed over to the Tourist Information Office in order to Become Educated. We ended up buying special "Nürnberg Cards", which gave us access to all museums and attractions and public transit for free for two days. Pretty sweet! So we started immediately with the St. Lorenz Kirche near the city centre. The churches we saw in Nürnberg were so different from the ones I've seen in the Netherlands! I was really impressed by the architecture of the church, even through the haze of sleep deprivation.
After the church, we wandered into the Speilzeugmuseum - OMG TOYS! It was really cute and probably also really informative, but TBH, my favourite part was playing with the wooden toy trains in one of the exhibits. Even the other kids started giving me strange looks, possibly due to the wacked-out expression of glee on my face. What can I say, toy trains=BEST.
Exiting the toy museum, we came to the main square and the real reason we'd come to Nürnberg: the Christkindlesmarkt. I don't remember what exactly prompted me to think of Nürnberg when deciding I needed to go to a Christmas market in Germany, but I'm tempted to blame the Christmas video we watched in my GRMN101 class last year. At any rate, the market was really, really awesome, although on Saturday we didn't buy much.
We did buy lunch there, though: German bratwurst inna bun with mustard. It was nommy. After that, we went back to Mark's place and slept like the dead for two hours - and when we woke up, Mark and Christian treated us to dinner: some sort of creamed spinach, with mashed potatoes and ham. A bit rich for my tastes, but delicious nonetheless.
That evening, we were also invited to go out with Mark and some of his friends - other CouchSurfers, in fact! Of course we said yes, and so we spent the evening walking around the Christkindlesmarkt at night, drinking Glühwein (OM. NOM. NOOOMMMMMM.) and stealing as many free samples of Speculatius as physically possible (well, ok, that last part was just me). Mark and co wanted to go to a club (ein Disco!) as well, but Hanna and I didn't accompany them, being really fucking exhausted by that point. Still, it was nice to experience a little bit of German nightlife firsthand (and it was also REALLY REFRESHING to hear German again, instead of Dutch. Like a cleanse of the auditory palette, if you will).
And so ended our first day in Nürnberg.
PART 3
*NOT a Dutch "coffee shop", but an actual coffee shop that sold coffee
Ahem. Anyway, so we arrived and beelined first for the FREE public washroom at the Bahnhof, and then to the nearest available (and open) coffee shop*. German coffee is excellent! And, more importantly, it comes in big. Then, we picked up sandwiches at Yorma's, a grocery chain, and set about contacting our CouchSurfing host, Mark.
This was my first experience with CouchSurfing, and Hanna's second, and I have to say that overall, it was very pleasant and I would highly recommend it not only as a way to save money during travels but also as an invaluable way to have an even fuller experience within different countries. Mark, as it turned out, was a lovely guy, who shared a flat with two other students, Sandra and Christian. They were all quite friendly and seemed glad to have us over the weekend, but more about that later.
So, we dropped our bags off at Mark's flat (about a ten minute walk from the city centre, the Old Town) and headed over to the Tourist Information Office in order to Become Educated. We ended up buying special "Nürnberg Cards", which gave us access to all museums and attractions and public transit for free for two days. Pretty sweet! So we started immediately with the St. Lorenz Kirche near the city centre. The churches we saw in Nürnberg were so different from the ones I've seen in the Netherlands! I was really impressed by the architecture of the church, even through the haze of sleep deprivation.
After the church, we wandered into the Speilzeugmuseum - OMG TOYS! It was really cute and probably also really informative, but TBH, my favourite part was playing with the wooden toy trains in one of the exhibits. Even the other kids started giving me strange looks, possibly due to the wacked-out expression of glee on my face. What can I say, toy trains=BEST.
Exiting the toy museum, we came to the main square and the real reason we'd come to Nürnberg: the Christkindlesmarkt. I don't remember what exactly prompted me to think of Nürnberg when deciding I needed to go to a Christmas market in Germany, but I'm tempted to blame the Christmas video we watched in my GRMN101 class last year. At any rate, the market was really, really awesome, although on Saturday we didn't buy much.
We did buy lunch there, though: German bratwurst inna bun with mustard. It was nommy. After that, we went back to Mark's place and slept like the dead for two hours - and when we woke up, Mark and Christian treated us to dinner: some sort of creamed spinach, with mashed potatoes and ham. A bit rich for my tastes, but delicious nonetheless.
That evening, we were also invited to go out with Mark and some of his friends - other CouchSurfers, in fact! Of course we said yes, and so we spent the evening walking around the Christkindlesmarkt at night, drinking Glühwein (OM. NOM. NOOOMMMMMM.) and stealing as many free samples of Speculatius as physically possible (well, ok, that last part was just me). Mark and co wanted to go to a club (ein Disco!) as well, but Hanna and I didn't accompany them, being really fucking exhausted by that point. Still, it was nice to experience a little bit of German nightlife firsthand (and it was also REALLY REFRESHING to hear German again, instead of Dutch. Like a cleanse of the auditory palette, if you will).
And so ended our first day in Nürnberg.
PART 3
*NOT a Dutch "coffee shop", but an actual coffee shop that sold coffee
