Cities of Light: Day 11
Day 11: Saturday, October 28, 2023 - Nuremberg, Germany
The day's statistics:
- Weather: mid 50s, overcast
- Steps: 6,818 Linda; 8,538 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 36
Most of the luggage was prepped last night, so we just had to pack our last things.
We had our luggage out by the requested 6:30.
Then we headed to the dining room - and ran into our room steward Jovan.
Then we continued on to the dining room for our last ship breakfast - Linda had the egg benedict and I had the buffet.
We sat with Andrea and Mark (from Oregon), and Jim and Janice.
We had time before our excursion "Nuremberg Through History", so we returned to our room until 7:55. Then we went to the lounge
for a little too.
At 9:15 we said goodbye to our ship - the Alsvin - and headed to the bus.
Today's guide was Yohan.
In Europe - at least the parts we've seen - the traffic light illuminated the red and yellow just before it turns green. It's almost like,
depending on how quickly your car reacts, you can step on the gas when it lights both lights and you'll be going when it turns green...
An interesting building on the way to our first stop.
Our first stop was at Zeppelin Field. This is where military gatherings and ceremonies took place,
and Hitler would give speeches from this platform.
The stands are starting to break down. The government decided to just leave them as is as a reminder of the past -
plus it was prohibitively too costly to repair them.
Our guide had a historical picture of the fields and the presentation platform, during a gathering. I didn't get good shot of the field
because we were not at altitude and it was hard to tell what it was a picture of.
Another photo Yohan had showed the platform - but the roadway in front of it was being used for a roadrace. Also, someone painted
the structure in the background with pride colors.
We left the fairgrounds and headed to our next destination.
Some original city wall, a guard tower, and one of the only round guard towers that were constructed.
There was quite a bit of wall, but it was hard to capture a quality shot at speed.
Court room #600 was in this building - it's where the Nuremberg trials took place.
We passed a large cemetery that looked like it was being prepared for All Saints Day.
And elsewhere.
The bus dropped us off and we had a short walk to the market square.
The Schöner Brunnen fountain in the square was the highlight - for a reason.
The story is [something akin to] that the blacksmith's apprentice was interested in the blacksmith's daughter, but the blacksmith didn't feel
the apprentice was worthy. So the apprentice forged this gold ring onto the fence and earned the blacksmith's approval with his talent.
After the gold ring story, the guide told us we had until 12:30 to return to the fountain to make the trip back to the bus. It was a little
before 11:00, so we had less than two hours to tour on our own and have lunch.
Before going much further, we stepped into a hotel near the square and used their restroom - we just made sure it looked like we belonged there.
We didn't know there was one here, but we took a chance and got lucky. We were also able to warm up a little for a few minutes.
We then walked two blocks to the St. Sebald Church.
And we went inside.
We finished our visit inside and headed back toward the market square.
Back in the market square, it was getting a little busier.
There was a Catholic church - The Frauenkirche - on the market plaza too. we wanted to go inside, but it was closed for renovations.
This camera crew was allowed inside The Frauenkirche, though.
We walked around the market and looked at the booths. Most were selling prepared food and produce.
It was a little before 12:00 and we wound up grabbing a sausage-on-a-roll for a light quick lunch.
I only had a €50 and the merchant wasn't too thrilled with that (I did have a lone € coin that I'm sure if I said
"Then here, I'll pay with this." she may have had a different attitude). But it was all I had that was large enough. And there
was already a brisk business this morning and I'm sure she got enough change before long.
A number of people gather to hear the church bells at noon.
We wandered around a little bit more, chatted with a fellow traveler or two, and then it was time to head to the bus.
We began our journey to our next destination: Prague, which was nearly four hours away.
One small advantage about taking the same road - or at least part of it - back to wherever, is that certain sights are now on MY side of
the bus and pictures are easier to take. And if something were missed on the other side, another chance may be given.
I don't usually get pictures of restaurants unless there is something unusual about it, be it the name, age, or something otherwise different.
In this case, the restaurant - though it is probably REALLY hard to tell based om the reflection - was a really, REALLY small Italian restaurant.
There were two stools by the window, and it was probably three to five meters (ten to fifteen feet) deep. That's all. The silver horizontal box
in the middle is actually the oven on the back wall - and it IS as close as it [hopefully] appears.
At about 2:30 we had a technical break.
We stopped at a location that had a golden arches and a gas station. Of course, had to get a picture of the menu because we were
now in Czech Republic. And a new conversion was required - conveniently this menu included a conversion at the bottom.
Some highlights: a six piece nuggets is 109CK (Czech Koruna), or $6.06, or $1.01 per nugget; a Big Mac is $6.38.
At the time of this writing, the conversion rate was approximately 18CK equals $1; 190CK = $5; and 180CK = $10.
At about 5:00, we arrived at the Hilton in Prague.
We checked in at the Viking desk and got our room key - we did not need to go to the front desk.
Before going up to our room, I stopped by a Viking service desk to talk to Tomas about our situation. He said he had no
information, but I explained the situation to him. I was told we should have the information tomorrow.
We took the elevator to our room. This again was another one of the systems where you press the floor, scan your room key
under the reader, and the screen displays which elevator will arrive to take you to your floor.
We got to our room.
We decided to have a light dinner, but not at a restaurant.
Out the lower lobby - that exits in the rear of the building - and across the parking lot, we entered a small mall.
One shop in the mall was a supermarket. Along with the golden arches menus and gas prices as price checks, there are frequently
staples in a supermarket that can be used to gage prices. Here's one: sliced turkey @ 21.90CK / 100g = $5.53 / lb
We bought a salad, a couple rolls, some cheese, a candy bar (for dessert), and a bottle of wine.
After our dinner, we unpacked a little and situated our luggage. Before getting ready for bed, I wanted to go to the Viking Guest
Services desk to see if the problem was resolved. I spoke with Natalie and another gentleman about the problem, and an email was
sent to their customer service in order to try to get to the bottom of the situation. I returned to the room.
We washed up and went to bed.