Day 28: Lauf to Heilsbronn

May 27, 2014

I was able to confirm that our guesthouse for last night was indeed built in 1414. So that makes it 600 years old! Now looking down the corridor, I am not saying that any of the doors opens to a room with an armoir that contains a portal to another world. I am not saying that, but it's a maybe. A lot can happen in 600 years.

Breakfast was served this morning by the old old lady, assisted by an old lady that we took to be her daughter. This was the total apparent staff. We do not know the history of these ladies, but we assume they have been here a long long time. Not 600 years, of course!

We cycled through the Lauf square on the way out the other gate, and appreciated again the interesting and old buildings. Then we were off to Nurnberg. We followed our favourite green cycling direction signs, and made our way slowly along the Pegnitz valley toward the big city. As we drew close to Nurnberg we found the river area had been carefully preserved as a park. This featured numerous signs about the wildlife and other park features, including a schloss standing in the middle of all the greenery. Unfortunatly all the dense German was too much for us to make out.

The European Parliament elections were on Sunday. We have been watching the adverising posters for thevarious parties since we got here. Apparentlyright wing parties made some progress, but not in Germany! The CDU/CSU, currently the ruling party within the country, is centre right, SPD is centre left. An academic analysis of party platforms last year showed all parties are moving left.

This fellow, Martin Schultz of SPD caught our attention because he had (paid for) the most posters. We see in the paper that he won.

One of the zillions of Martin Shultz signs we have been seeing all over.

Closer in to Nurnberg, we were still passing park and even some farmland. We remarked at how unlike a major North American city this was. However we had seen something similar coming in to Berlin last year, and in fact even with Bayreuth in the last days, we did not really see the city until we were practically in the middle of it.

The Pegnitz remains nicely wild coming in to Nurnberg

From a tourist point of view, Nurnberg has two neighbourhoods - the altstadt, with it churches, market, and imperial palace, and the Nazi parade grounds and museum. We made no effort to reach the Nazi stuff - just don't have the stomach for it. For the altstadt, we prepared by reading the section on Nurnberg in Rick Steeves' Germany book. He goes through the sights, starting from the train station and walking down Konigstrasse.

Steeves, who is generally trustworthy, had some things in his article that we did not agree with once we were looking at things in person. Mainly, there is the claim that Nurmberg has done a good job of rebuilding from the 90 percent destruction of the war, and that once you are in the altstadt you do not feel as if you are in a big city.

Whil it is true that the altstadt is enclosed in a wall, with impressive towers, inside the wall are both a very large number of post war buildings - some plain and some ugly - and too many cars, somehow even in the pedestrian zone.

Steeves also devotes a lot of ink to the little craft market buildings just inside the Frauentor gate. We found this to be a non-event. Then, along Konig Strasse on the way into the heart of the old town, were not only chain hotels but also general chain big city stores. Not so quaint was this part.

One thing always found in city sections like this are eis cafes. When the first one came up, Dodie said "No way. We have to stay out of these places. We are gaining weight on this tour!". Good sentiments, but they fell apart within 30 seconds. It was not some super eis cafe that did it. It was Aunt Greta. Aunt Greta, the sister of Dodie's dad, had long ago moved to the US from Germany, but still managed to send the family Lebkuchen every Christmas. These cookies found a special place in Dodie's heart. Now lebkuchen are not exactly cookies, they are cakey things, often chocolate coated, and kind of gingery. Back home, we buy them a fair bit during the holiday season. They are "pretty good".

So now, what caught our attention was a Lebkuchen store. That is, a whole store devoted to this cake/cookie style. Wow. The evil lady behind the counter offered us a taste sample. So then we bought about 10 euros worth. Each four inch diameter cookie/cake was about 2 euros.

We split one, out in the square. Then we split another one. Then we ate the rest of what we had bought. These lebkuchen were not quite like the ones we had had over past decades, but, Dodie claimed, were just like what Aunt Greta used to send. They contained citrus peel, nut bits, who knows what else. They were nothing at all like fruitcake, and not like anything else we could mention. They were, however, really great.

As often happens, just down the square we found another Lebkuchen store, and another. It turns out that Nurnberg is some sort of Lebkuchen capital. I know this, because the souvenir shop had a post card that said I (thumbs up graphic) Lebkuchen. when a feature is well enough known to make it to postcards, it must be famous, even if it is news to you. Later we found several other lebkuchen stores or stalls. So score big plus for Nurnberg on that one.

Entering the Nurnberg old city, via a gate that features a little craft village.

A Lebkuchen stall, the first we saw, caused a lot of excitement. Later we found Lebkuchen is big here.

Look at the cakey, chewy interior of this lebkuchen!

Another lebkuchen stall in the middle of the market square. Note the nice but plain buildings surrounding.

One of the things that Rick Steeves had mentioned were the famous (apparently) Nuremberg bratwurst, known for being the smallest. We spotted one nondescript bratwurst restaurant, and wondered what Rick Steeves had been going on about. However, deep in the market square, near the Frauenkirche, was a building with a whole lot of smoke coming out the top, and a whole lot of people seated inside and out. A sign offered take out bratwurst, 3 in a bun for 2.50. I made my way inside and found a very busy scene, with waitresses scurrying around, and lots of people.In the centre was the grill that was pumping out the smoke, and on the grill were hundreds of little bratwurst. At this point I had what I consider the honour of being gently bulldozed out of the way by a large dirndl clad waitress. I asked a less imposing one just how to buy some bratwurst, and got a quick instruction in German. Sort of following that, I presented myself to a little bar, and got directed to the side of it, also in German. There a lady took my 2.50 and scribbled something on a chit. Now what. More fast German instructions. I presented myself back near the grill and waved my chit. This had the desired effect of producing three little bratwurst on a bun. I was bold enough to ask were the senf (mustard) was, and somehow understood those instructions. So after that I was back on the street where Dodie was waiting with the bikes, with my treasure. And yes, they were good.

We had actually been directed to the bratwurst place by a man who stopped to chat. No English, but this did not matter too much. This man was only one of several people who stopped us, and within asking the usual questions, made us feel very welcome in the city and in the country. Everyone, of course, has a relative in Canada, has just come back from Canada, or dreams of visiting Canada. That is our entree, but it is the warm welcome to here that makes us feel the best.

One of those particularly tickled to see us here was Eric, the driver of a sightseeing rickshaw type bike. He had someone takes his photo with us, and then went around to some of the market vendors near his bike stand, explaining where where we were from and showing his photo. Most interesting, Eric was born in Czech but raised here. Still, he had an intriguing eastern accent. In that accent, he gave us a potted history of the town, and the reason that Hitler had been so fond of it.

Nurnberg had been a major player in the Holy Roman Empire, which seemed to be largely centred in Germany. According to Wikipedia: The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. The core and largest territory of the empire was the Kingdom of Germany, though it included at times the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Bohemia, and the Kingdom of Burgundy, as well as numerous other territories.

The empire grew out of East Francia, a primary division of the Frankish Empire. On Christmas in the year 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe after more than three centuries. After Charlemagne died, the title passed in a desultory manner during the decline and fragmentation of the Carolingian dynasty, eventually falling into disuse by 924 The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne and beginning a continuous existence of the empire for over eight centuries.

Somewhere in this lie the first two German "Reichs" or empires, which preceded Hitler's Third Reich. Clearly he had read his Wikipedia (or equivalent) more than me, because he clearly was very in to this stuff, and he recognized Nurnberg as an important centre of the empires.

Eric too seemed up on his empires and great kings, but I did not catch it all, or at all.

The altstadt features three major churches and one imperial castle. We only skimmed by two of the churches, before collecting our bratwurst and calling it a good visit. Certainly the churches were beautifully decorated and impressive. We also threw one golden fountain, the Schoner Brunnen - beautiful fountain, into our brief tour.

Ah, one other thing - there were two musicians - on french horn and trumpet - that attracted our attention. They were from St. Petersburg, here to scoop up some German tourist traffic. We spoke to them for a while. To us, like Eric, they were exotic, coming from the "far east". They were only the second and third real Russians we have ever met! (Bought two of their CDs too).

An intersting skyline, but I had t shoot above a gaggle of cars and less attractie stuff.

Part of a large display of figures in a store window. Don't remember the company name, but figures like this are iconically German.

One of the typically ugly buildings in the only partly restored altstadt.

The Frauenkirche - interestingly decorated

Two towers - the beautiful fountain in the foreground and maybe the St Lorenz church in the background.

We made our way out a gate, and began to wend our way through the city, heading eventually for the small town of Heilsbronn. Outside the altstadt the city actually still appeared like quite a pleasant place. Not that it was broad green avenues or anything, but still fairly attractive buildings.

The city did not end but in time become the next town for us. The cityscape just evolved from Nurnberg to Stein. In Stein we found an unexpected thing - the Faber -Castell factory, by the river. Just like with Levi Strauss we had never really thought of who or where Faber -Castell was, even though their pencils were a staple through our lives. Well, they are from Stein, outside Nurnberg!

We found that not every German road has an obvious bike path beside it, and that Google Maps was trying to put us on such busy no shoulder, no path roads. We had to noodle around quite a bit, but did find a safe way to Heilsbronn Heilsbronn is the home of Ortlieb, and we hope to visit the factory tomorrow. For now we have found a place in, yes, a guesthouse, and yes, it was built in 1132. 1132! And from 1132 to 1555 it served as the slaughterhouse for the nearby famous monastery. So we are sleeping in an almost 900 year old slaughterhouse? Ok, fine!

A typical street in a not altstadt part of Nurnberg

A Fabeer-Castell factory. We have not checked as to whether this is the main or original one. It seems to say Factory 3 on it.

Trying to follow Google Maps routing, we ended up several times back to our old staple of riding the white line. We still say this is a pretty rare circumstance in Germany. However we did see that even the little green bike directional signs can sometimes take you on tough roads.

We used the GPS to get us off riding the white line. It did find roads (like this) that took us back on more official bikeways, but it was still just a little hairy getting to Heilsbron.

Our 600 year old slaughterhouse still looks pretty comfortable!

An outside look at our guesthouse for the night. Maybe soon, with improving weather and back ina more touristy area, we will be back camping. We will miss the soft beds and breakfasts, though!

Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 1,600 km (994 miles)

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