Germany Part II: Day 5 Nürnberg (part 1)

There is a TON to talk about for Nürnberg, so appropriately (I think) I am going to split up the day.

Kate and I slept wonderfully at Jens and Marija's. We awoke and they continued to be wonderful hosts providing coffee, juice and a light breakfast. Around 11:00 or so we were off on our way exploring Nürnberg with Jens our personal expert tour guide!

The first photo shown is a city street leading into Nürnberg. This wasn't any particularly special road or section of town, but being a tourist I felt the need to snap the photo. It is geared towards being a pedestrian area as you can see. We have some pedestrian areas in the United States, but not enough. I suspect this will begin to change in time as we become more mass transit oriented.

The photo of the castle like structure with the Moorish turrets is an old Nürnberg city gate. Next is a photo of an interesting appearing building in the city center. Notice the details in the stonework on the building, and the massive cobblestone square. These cobble stones are nice and smooth too, unlike those in the "Old Port" which I've tripped on time and time again.

Our first major attraction that we saw was St. Lorenz Church. "The Lorenz church is a bit younger and larger than it´s twin St. Sebald, the second big church in Nuremberg's Old-Town. It was built between 1250 and 1360 on the foundations of an earlier Romanesque basilica. Until the 2nd Half of the 15th Century, it was expanded several times. The towers rise about 81m into the sky." (We visit Sebald church later in the day, while I don't have photos of the inside of that one, I should be able to point out both churches on the Nürnberg skyline in a posting soon to be composed.)

I was pretty excited to see these big old Medieval Gothic Cathedrals. Nürnberg has two very large churches, with one (St. Lorenz) being slightly larger than the other.

They asked for a 1.50 euro donation to see the interior. The funny thing was that they wouldn't let anyone take pictures, UNLESS... you purchased a 5 euro license. Jens, sneakily went over and bought me such a license and slapped it on my chest. I had fun walking around snapping pictures. I was stopped once by a church official who scolded me for snapping photos, but then I just showed him the "license" and he sheepishly backed off. That sort of made the 5 euros seem worth it! Truthfully, for me it was worth it. I managed to get some nice shots, (although I shot a lot of blurry ones too!), and the money goes to rebuilding and maintaining the churches which were completely destroyed during WWII. An investment in the tourism industry, and preservation of history.

The first photo of St. Lorenz that I posted was this one that displays a beautiful crucifix above an altar. The stained glass window speaks for itself.

The photo that displays an intricately carved spire, next to a major support column is amongst my favorites. I actually like how the sunlight coming in is so intensely bright that it shows up blurry in the camera.

When these churches were built the idea of the flying buttress and Gothic arch construction was made to let the light in, as to awe and inspire. It is meant to seem that the heavens themselves were coming in on the parishioners and to give people a sense of the power of God. The people who came up with these designs were nothing short of genius. Even today with all of our modern technological marvels... there aren't very many structures that I seem to have the same sort of "wow" factor, especially when you consider what it must have taken to build these in days before cranes and complex machinery.

Another neat, if not weird photograph is the one I took of the painting. Notice the boy whose eyeballs are hanging by their ocular nerves / veins (whatever). Creepy right? Jens's theory on this was that it probably was intended to represent the ill coming to the church to be the recipients of miracles.

Anyway stay tuned for more cool stuff! Thanks again to Jens and Marija!! The photo of the spire was one of many that I chose to have reprinted in black & white. I made my self a framed collection for my wall which I have up in my kitchen. While my souvenir stein is nice, I REALLY like the framed photos.

I've always been averse to putting up those trendy black & white photos of Europe that so many people have (even though I find them appealing). I just always believed that I really needed to personally see for myself anything that I might have on my wall. Each morning when I stumble into the kitchen for juice or coffee it is a pleasant reminder of a great trip.