What was once day 1

August 27, 2019

Sightseeing in Nürnberg

Today has been all about waiting and hoping. The day started with a quite good breakfast at my hotel, Privat Hotel Probst. The boss was having an animated discussion with a couple guys about the elevator and a window. I didn’t catch the details, but she was quite certain what she wanted could be done. As long as we’re on the subject of the hotel, I can gladly recommend them as good budget accommodations. Color scheme in the room is a little weird, but it is clean, the bathroom has been modernized, the staff is excellent, and the breakfast spread is impressive.

Gut gefrühstückt, I headed out with my camera to explore Nürnberg. I entered yesterday through the big gate across from the train station which passes by the Handwerkers courtyard and thought wow, this is super cool. Nürnberg must be amazing. Most of the things marked as worth seeing are along one main corridor that leads towards the castle and over the river Pegnitz that flows across the Altstadt. I passed several ice cream places, something I looked around a bunch for last night, but having just eaten breakfast I was not hungry. Same for the few bakeries I passed.

I stopped into several impressive churches on the way across Nürnberg. Lots of very old intricate stained glass windows (I read somewhere that during WW II the nazis had the windows removed and placed in secure storage along with tons of valuable art works, some of which are probably on the church walls. The first church I stopped in had an organist practicing. I think they need a bigger organ though.

I was expecting an impressive old Rathaus on the main square, but was sorely disappointed. They must have chosen not to rebuild the Rathaus in the original form after WW II. There was an elaborate fountain and another huge church.

I did finally find some interesting fachwerk buildings as I got closer to the castle on the north end of the Altstadt. Certainly nothing like what you find in Rothenburg ob der Tauber though. While the architecture is similar to other towns in this region, I think a lot of the buildings were rebuilt in a more boring modern fashion. I know Nürnberg did make a big effort to rebuild as much like it was before the war, but I suspect there’s a limit to how much of that you can actually do. They have rebuilt pretty much the entire wall. It’s actually a double wall. Whether it was used as a moat, I’m not sure.

I did eventually reach the castle. By then it was getting pretty hot and since my water bottle is with my bike, I was also very thirsty. Germany does not have water fountains so I had to search out a restaurant to find something hydrating to drink. I opted not to do a castle tour. I’ve been in several castles already and I didn’t feel all that motivated to see another one. They were also doing some renovations on part of it so it wasn’t especially photogenic.

On my walk back I stopped into a Lebkuchen shop, something Nürnberg is known for and bought a giant Lebkuchen cookie. I made it through about half of it and decided to save the rest for later. I also picked up some lunch. By then I’d had enough of walking and was overheating with the heat, humidity, and lack of a hat so I went back to my hotel.

I have been napping for a bit since I didn’t get enough sleep last night. I’m feeling slightly more refreshed now. I may wander out again for a bit and then come back and nap some more.

Oh, I see you’ve now read this far and are thinking BUT WHAT ABOUT THE BIKE!?!? I’VE BEEN READING ALL THIS DRIVEL ABOUT YOUR SWEATY WALK AROUND NÜRNBERG AND YOU HAVE YET TO MENTION THE BIKE!?!?! Ok. Calm down. I’ll update you now.

Prior to my nap I gave lost baggage at Frankfurt airport a call. They had no update for me on the bike. So I took a nap. Actually, first I called the place at Frankfurt airport that supposedly sells bike boxes. Given that the bike and box are coming here and I kind of need the box to take the bike back in, it’s a problem. To come back here from Wertheim by train where my ride ends is not just inconvenient, It’s highly inconvenient. So far I’ve called this baggage service center about a box several times and no one answers the phone. The lost luggage lady said keep trying. They’re probably very busy right now. They also have no answering machine.... The Iceland Air flight the bike was sent on was supposed to land around 2pm. When I awoke from my nap around 3pm I called again for an update. The lady I talked to said there was no info in her computer to say it arrived. I reminded her that the flight had been at the gate for quite some time. She said sorry. Keep waiting. It takes them awhile. Within seconds of ending that call, I received a phone call from another lady with baggage handling. The bike had arrived at the airport and was being sent on the 5:10 Lufthansa flight to Nürnberg that will arrive around 6pm. I’ll head for the airport around then to pick it up. I’ll have to determine on the ubahn ride over if I need to assemble the bike there, or if I can bring it back to the hotel box and all. I also don’t know yet what I’ll do for a box to ship it home. With my trip ending Saturday evening, bike shops will be closed and the same can be said of Sunday so finding a box that way is not an option. I will ask at the airport if they can send the box back to Frankfurt on the plane, but my guess is condor will not be of any help with that given that they have not been helpful about anything else!

Moral of the story? Don’t fly condor. And do everything you can to make sure TSA gets your bike on the plane!

I passed hotel reception on my way to retrieve the bike. The gentleman that had checked me in last night was back at reception for the night and wanted to know how things were going with my bike. I told him I was about to head to the airport to retrieve. Not only was he pleased to hear that, but he loaned me his UBahn card so I could get to and from the airport for free! Maybe Condor should consider hiring him and Kim from MSP baggage handling to overhaul their customer service. This is how you build a good business reputation!

The UBahn ride to the airport is fairly quick and exceedingly easy. Just ride to the last stop. That a mid sized town has an UBahn plus strassenbahn and busses is really incredible. The US could learn a lot from them about mass transit. There are very few cars driving about in the extensive Altstadt area. It took me walking the length of the Nürnberg airport to finally find the lost baggage office. They initially seemed unsure of what they were supposed to do. I don’t think they get a lot of formally lost bikes sent to them. They did find it quickly though and brought it out to me on a luggage cart. Then a security guard guy wanted to quiz me. That part I wasn’t expecting so it was rather an awkward experience. “Did you just buy this bike?” “No. Condor failed to send it on my original flight. I’m hire on a cycling vacation except the bike wasn’t initially along for the ride.” That seemed sufficient for him.

The question of what to do with the box may still be in the back of your head. My friends Kurt and Monika did some searching for me. I called the number of the Frankfurt airport website 3 times and never got an answer. Kurt found another number and was able to determine that there is a place in terminal 1 around area C, I think he said, that has several sizes of bike box and they’ll pack it for you. I will decline the part about them packing it, but I will accept the box (and expect condor to compensate me for the €25 it will cost.) With that in mind, I unpacked the bike and for down to assembling it. In true irresponsible TSA fashion they had opened the box. However, it appeared they had not removed a single thing. Why it took them 45 minutes to d this is beyond me meager capacity to comprehend. They’ve always opened the box in the past too and it has never delayed sending the bike. I’ve watched them do the check before. They swab it for signs of explosives, run it through their machine, and send it on its way. It takes maybe 2 minutes. Tops. Everything I had packed was in the box and so far it appears nothing was damaged though the box was certainly a bit worse for the wear. This was the third plane trip for that box and sadly will also be the last. During part of the bike assembly process I was visited by an older gentleman in a power wheelchair who stopped by to ask about the bike. He offered to help, but by then I was fairly near the end. In fact, I think it took less time to assemble the bike than it did for TSA to determine it was not a societal threat. As I was nearing completion a lady came by on cleaning duty. I asked her where I could dispose of the box. Not only did she give me directions, but she offered to take the box out herself.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to be up early enough to take the train to Kinding an der Altmühl where I can pick up my originally planned route for tomorrow. At most I will lose maybe 25 miles of the planned route, most of which was along a very old canal running from Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz to Beilngries. I’ll miss seeing Berching and Beilngries, both of which had a bunch of wall remaking around the Altstadt area along with the castle overlooking Beilngries. That’s okay though. There are other castles to come and plenty more Altstadts to see. I don’t have a lot of wall space left in my house to hang pictures anyway. Next quest is good weather. Reports still seem varied. Today was same as yesterday, incredibly hot and muggy. Not much wind.

Special thanks goes out again to the following people: the airport cleaning lady that took care of recycling my old box, the reception guy at Hotel Probst who loaned me his train card, Kurt and Monika who helped me find a replacement box in Frankfurt (having friends that speak fluent German and know how to get answers from other Germans is very helpful), all the people who listened to my tail of woe the last couple days, Kim with baggage handling that located my box very quickly and expedited it on the next flight to Frankfurt and then on to Nürnberg, the actually helpful people at lost luggage at Frankfurt airport, and especially to my mom who kept after people until she got action. Real action. Real results. Massive answer to prayer. Miracles can happen, even with seemingly mundane things like a vacation. Los geht’s!

Example of valuable art in the local churches

I could tell you which church this is, but that would involve me remembering

Not the fountain I wanted to show you a picture of. Photos of the fancy fountain must be all on my real camera.

Actually, this may be the fancy fountain I was earlier referencing

Some sort of important relics most people must know what it is because I saw no info sign

Finally some fachwerk buildings. I believe I read this was once the street where the pig butchers lived. Sad history.

A gate. Presumably near the area where the castle gardens are. I walked all over looking for the castle garden entrance but never found it.

Turret along the north end of the city wall

Fachwerk house along the base of the castle wall

Part of the castle. To my right was the area they were renovating.

Part of the Spital complex sits over the river. Kind of neat.

Today's ride: 5 miles (8 km)
Total: 10 miles (16 km)

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