Today was another day I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. I came to Germany on a whim two years ago and stopped in Nuremburg to see the historical sites here. I found a beautiful and lively city that I’ve wanted to show Valerie ever since! Today I had the opportunity. We also had a really cool train ride, some new food, and a little bit of disappointment.
Leaving Salzburg
The morning in Salzburg was pretty chill. We had a typical Austrian/German breakfast at our hotel, consisting of sliced meats, various breads and spreads, fresh yogurt, espresso, and juice. It’s pretty simple by American standards, but I find it very tasty and it sure feels healthy. The yogurt in particular was extra good.
We made a quick trip in to see Mozart’s home. Unfortunately, it was mostly under renovation, so we only got to see a couple of rooms and a few artifacts. Not really worth the trip over there but it was cool to at least see the house.
We had a mess of a time trying to leave Salzburg. First, I put us on the wrong bus twice in a row. When we finally made it to the train station, we found that trains from Salzburg to Freilassing kept getting cancelled. That was an issue because our train was supposed to pass through Freilassing. The train attendants told us to make our way to Freilassing as soon as possible because it was likely our train would originate there instead. We had some trouble with rapidly-changing information, but we made it. Waiting at the Freilassing station, we got rewarded for all of our trouble. As soon as we hopped on the train, we found ourselves in the private rooms car. There were hardly any passengers, so we got to ride Hogwarts Express style for three hours! It was the best train trip I’ve had so far. Plenty of room to lay down, stretch out, change our own temperature, and enjoy fantastic views of the Alps. Definitely worth all the trouble.
Arriving in Nuremburg
I was super excited to show Valerie the sites from my first visit to Europe two years ago. We started by going into the first cathedral I ever saw, walked up to and around the Imperial Castle, ate some mystery Mediterranean bread spread, and tried to check out Kongresshalle.
I’ll spare the story of the castle and cathedral for now since we’ll be touring both tomorrow.
Let’s talk food. The streets of Nuremburg are absolutely littered with little popup shops containing just about any retail you can imagine. We decided to try some food we hadn’t already had yet; Mediterranean sounded good. I was excited because for the first time since entering the German-speaking countries, we had to interact with someone that didn’t speak English! Why is that exciting, you ask? Because I’ve almost never had a chance to practice my German with someone. I was able to order our food and ask for clarification. It was a small interaction but a very big deal to me. The food was great too! Some kind of thick tomato and basil paste that you dip really tough but delicious flat bread in. I’ve never had anything like it. Only €10 to feed us both!
The last thing we did was try to check out Kongresshalle and the Nazi Party Parade Grounds. I saw them on my last trip but I really wanted to show them to Valerie. They’ve been turned into a beautiful park and massive events center. We got there only to find everything fenced off with lots of guards everywhere. Turns out there’s a rock festival in a few days and the entire area is off-limits while we’re here. I was super bummed, especially since this is my big WWII trip. I’m grateful that I’ve seen them before though. I’ll share some old photos and historical relevance on Friday when we tour the Nuremburg court room.
Morgen
That’s it for today! Tomorrow morning, we’re heading to the castle to tour everything. After that, we’ll check out the underground tunnels and maybe get a cathedral tour too. Lots to do!