Germany Vacation - Nuremberg stop

       Sitting on the bus waiting to depart, I am entertained by people watching. This cute scene of a little girl pulling her own little suitcase just like her Mom was my favorite.

    The plan for the day is to travel to Prague with a short stop at Nuremberg. When we arrive at Nuremberg it is grey and drizzly, but that does not stop us (although some of my pics will have odd 'fuzzy' spots on them :-). Our tour guide leads us from the bus to the 'square' and points out several sites that we may want to visit and tells us to be back at this spot in just under 1 1/2 hrs. Then we are off on our own to explore and the race is on to see as much as we can in that allotted amount of time!
    We quickly decide to walk to the Kaiserburg, which looms high above the city. Almost there, I turn around and see that the road is as steep as my heavy breathing  indicates.

I hope those cars have their parking brakes on.

 Ahead of me is an outer wall of the 12th century castle, where people naturally pause to take a picture

....and the climb is not over. We make our way up between the massive walls of one entry towards a tower.

     

Past the tower is another wall with an arch entry.

 

Close up of fancy details above archway.

Looking back again I see that, yes, the path was as steep as I felt it should be!

At the top is, yet,  another tower...

 

and also, great views of the city.

Since there is not enough time to really enter the castle and the museum that is there, we head back down.

What a HUGE door!

Ending our tour of..

We spent our time in the courtyards between the red and blue dots (free areas).

We retraced our steps down the cobblestone road, towards the Hauptmarkt ( square)

Model of Nuremberg's Altstadt (old city)....does not have the hills represented :-)

and stop between the quite large, three-story Altes Rathaus (old city hall) and Nuremberg's oldest church- St. Sebalduskirche.

People look quite small in this setting.

Fancy decor over one of the entry ways into the Rathaus.

St. Sebalduskirche's  has many religious sculptures and symbols adorning its exterior.

Inside the church we spent awhile appreciating its beauty.

Glass painted windows

Pink-veined sandstone was used in the construction of the church.

So many beautiful works of art to view.

 

Next stop is the Hauptmarkt (square), where the last two sights are located- the 14th century Frauenkirche and the 19 meter tall, Gothic spire-like Schonen Brunnen (beautiful fountain).                                                  

The original  Schonen Brunnen was replaced in 1902 due to the original sandstone figures had fallen apart.

I like the little gargoyle heads :-)

The figures in the fountain represent the world view of the Holy Roman Empire (Philosophy and the Free Arts, the evangelists and Latin Church Fathers, the seven electors and nine heroes, at the very top Moses and the seven prophets.)

The beautifully detailed wrought-iron protective fence was made  in 1587.

I wonder if the little, green cherub represents the Free Arts.

    After viewing the fountain we head over to the oldest Gothic hall church in Bavaria. The builder of this church, Peter Parler,  was also the head builder for St.Vitus Cathedral in Prague ( which we will also be seeing). On the way we pass by some very colorful markets.

At this time of year, Spargel (asparagus) is quite the rage. Especially, white spargel!!

Beyond and above the awnings, the intricate facade of the church can be seen.

 Here are some of my favorite pics of inside the church.

 On the way out in the vestibule, I can't resist taking these last two pictures :-)

 

   The clock high above the entry was created in 1509. Everyday at noon, seven figures (the electoral princes) parade 3 times around Emperor Karl IV  while the clock chimes. This spectacle is called 'Mannleinlaufen" (running men).

We do a little window shopping at the square...

 while this friendly building watches all the bustling activity in the square.

 

We have a few minutes left so we walk around the block, and see these little tidbits.

colorful window boxes

Spielzeugmuseum ( museum of toys from old-time wooden and tin toys to recent computer games)

typical narrow, winding, cobblestone streets

rental bikes

In all the places we visited, I especially enjoyed seeing all the unique decorative accents to the exterior of the buildings. So, I will include them in my blogs :-)

Love this one...the fossil looks so real!!

     Quite a whirlwind of sightseeing done in 1 1/2 hours...but we now have seen a sampling of what we will be seeing this week: beautiful churches, castles, colorful markets, and the very unique old city centers with their narrow, winding, cobblestone streets, lined with tall wall to wall buildings; all at the same speedy pace!