R & R in Nuremberg

Entrance to Toy Museum

We visited Nuremberg in 1999 primarily to go to its Christmas Market. On that trip  to get out of the cold we ducked into the Toy Museum (totally worthwhile) and saw a special exhibit on the history of the Barbie doll. This year we retraced our steps as we searched for the restaurant that had terrific sausages. This year's sausages were good, but not up to our 1999 memory. Probably things taste better when you glad to escape the cold and sit in toasty restaurant. The restaurant was the restaurant was the Bratwursthausle, so in the future we won't have to trust our memories.

The desk clerk at our hotel told us that there wasn't much to see at Christmas Market area (hauptmarkt), but he was wrong. There were stalls selling fruits, vegetables, cheeses, breads, salami, cheeses, and chocolates.

Not a sad looking vegetable in this or other stalls

 All items are chocolate!

More chocolate!

                                         Keeping the market clean - I know a lot of cities that
                                         should buy a green machine

After our walk through the market we opened the Tourist Information booklet "Nuremberg and Furth: See and Enjoy." It listed 42 museums and galleries, and an additional 28 places to explore. Included in the latter listing were the city's fountains. The Marriage Merry-Go Round was particularly striking - we never passed by without stopping to take a long look.

From wooing 

To conflict (note skull at the left)

Nuremberg offers multiple tourist opportunities - including tours specifically for people with various disabilities (intellectual, sight, hearing or mobility. (Although specific information is said to be posted on the web we couldn't find it. The key phrase is "barrier-free.") In the spirit of R&R we checked out two art galleries, leaving the more intense Documentation Centre for a later day. The State Museum for Art and Design is worth a visit just to see the building. Although we could take photos the art wasn't engaging - we were reminded of a friend's comment about a more accessible modern art museum that she just didn't get it. The Gallery of Contemporary Art, where we couldn't take pictures, had an interesting exhibit. In one piece there was a rotating center piece surrounded by a non-rotating bench, surrounded by a rotating paper "tent." It demonstrate how hard it is to trust one's perceptions.

We discovered Nuremberg on our own - next time we will get a bit deeper and take advantage of the numerous walking tours. This photo of an uniquely named store seems ideal for closing this entry.