Nürnberg

Thursday, July 14, 2016
Nürnberg, Bayern, Germany
This morning we got up after 7AM. Bryan turned on the lights. Groggy, squinting Desmond sits up and says, "What you do that, Bryan?" I bust up laughing. Bryan says, "What?" Desmond repeats "What you DO that, Papa?" I commiserate with little man, "I was wondering the same thing. Why'd did you do that?" "Because it's time for breakfast."

With this all discussed we got ready and headed down to our breakfast, which is included with our stay . I was preparing myself to ask for a "Kinderstuhl" (high chair) and the woman turned to us and said a few sentences in German. None of which my just-woke-up brain could recognize as anything I expected. She must have seen my deer in the headlights look because she switched to English and got us all settled. Kinderstuhl and all. :)

The plan for the day after breakfast was pretty straightforward. Bryan took a full backpack of dirty clothes back out into the rain and washed and dried them at the laundromat while Desmond and I rested at the hotel room and possibly explored the park if it stopped raining. It didn't. But it was just as well, because Desmond was happy piddling around the room playing, and it gave me time to open every wet bag (the three from the stroller especially) and lay out things to dry or toss what we didn't need.

Unfortunately, I began to have stomach cramps and other symptoms of having eaten milk, including my emotions taking a nose-dive . By the time Bryan got back to the room I was curled up on the bed wishing I could go home. I got some hugs and encouragement from Bryan. I told him either there must have been butter on my sandwich or else the glass didn't agree with me. ;)

He had managed to not get very wet during his task because he acquired an umbrella (that we are hoping belonged to Ramada for this purpose, but aren't entirely sure). He said there were two identical Ramada-red umbrellas in the rack and the guy walking out ahead of him grabbed one, so he did the same. Seems logical to me!

In any case, we decided to feed Desmond (who is less discerning about soggy bread) half a PB&J and put him down for a nap before we went out and about. He went down easily, reunited with clean, dry Blankie. I chose to listen to some worship music as I rested in order to get my brain going in the right direction. A few hours later we were well rested, I was no longer in pain (bonus!) and ready to explore Nürnberg.

We put on our wet shoes (not wanting to risk getting a second pair wet) and set out.

We took a tram (which Desmond accepted as a "train-bus") into the train station and saw the tourist information we had failed to see yesterday. We walked right by it, practically, in the rain. We decided to start our visit to Nürnberg over afresh and went in to get a map and some recommendations of things to see . The lady who helped us was very friendly. She gave a concerned look when I said we wanted to do a walking tour, but when I clarified "on our own" she drew us a route, pointed out the castle and a good viewpoint and sent us on our way.

Desmond asked for some water and something to eat. Since we had woken him from his nap to get out and about, we made sure to oblige this request to keep our tiny traveler comfortable and happy. We stopped at a pretzel stand and bought two. We happily munched on them as we continued down through old town. I will let the photos tell the story of us walking through old town and up to the castle.

Desmond has figured out that we take pictures of things we like to look at as we travel. Today, he made his first request for us to take a picture of something. A bulldozer. Thrilled that he is getting the hang of this important bit of our traveling ritual, we immediately honored his request. :) We saw a castle and the river today. He saw bulldozers and ducks. It's all good.

For dinner we went on the "Great Schnitzel Hunt of 2016." Bratwurst seems to be more the local specialty here, but we had our tasters set for schnitzel, and when we found it we went in and ordered dinner. Only, when it came it wasn't what we expected. It wasn't breaded. And the only side was a salad which was a lot like coleslaw. I enjoyed it because it had a mustard dressing of some sort on it, but Bryan wasn't a fan, and we both left hungry.

No worries, we just turned it into a progressive dinner by getting gelato and then pretzel rolls as we walked past various shops. We stopped at a grocery store and got some bread and blueberries for tomorrow.

We let Desmond play in the park a bit and then came in and called it a night. Most of the damp things laid out around the room seem to be drying, so that's good. We will leave them out overnight and take them down off of the lamp shades and furniture tomorrow morning when we pack up.

~ Merilee

Laundry is not glamorous. But it is a necessity when traveling for very long. It's easier to plan on laundry than try to bring enough clothes for the whole trip. Most hotels can give you directions to a nearby laundromat. It helps make for a slower day, which you need while traveling anyways. We try to pack enough clothes, etc to last for a week.

~ Bryan
Other Entries

Comments

Leslie
2016-07-15

Wundebar! My favorite stop on the tour so far. Lovely pictures. Thanks.

Andrea
2016-07-15

Boo for getting dairy-d, but yay for bulldozer pictures!

Foremans
2016-07-16

Thanks for sharing.

2025-02-12

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank