Getting ready for the Market...countdown begins

So tomorrow is our "American" Thanksgiving.  Which I will not be partaking of.  We tried to celebrate it when we lived in Germany the last time and while the food was good it was a bit of an ordeal.  The Pie alone cost something like 50 Euro!  It was hard to find the right ingredients. Not to worry our two grown children will prepare a feast for us when we return to the states - in early December.

With that said it is time to focus on the task at hand. The Nuremberg Christmas Market!  It is one of the largest in Germany and the most famous in the world.  And I have the pleasure of living right here. I remember years ago when my husband was here on a work trip, he called and held his phone out the window for me to hear the most wonderful sounds. I had no idea that I would make it to the market myself one day. I am anxious to look over the more than 180 stalls of Christmas things. It opens every year on the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent. Hmm that would be in 2 days....

The old town has been hard at work already for more than 2 weeks constructing the stalls and putting up the greenery. I am told that they are not allowed to have any artificial greens, no taped music, etc.  The more than 400 year old market has it all; mulled wine, gingerbread, Nuremberger sausages, and the most yummy warm sugared covered almonds.  It makes the most disagreeable night(if you happen to be having one) a pleasure.  The cold disappears and the people all seem to smile.  I can't think of a better way to end our stay in Germany.

Friday at 5:30 pm, I will be downtown waiting to see and hear from the Christ Angel. She officially opens the market with her prologue, from high atop the Frauen Kirche.

Be back soon with more....

A few detailed sights from Nürenberg, Germany (home)

The Schöner Brunnen Fountain - one of my favorites. No matter how many times I walk into town, for groceries, or coffee, or just for some fresh air, I can't help but stop at this amazing piece of art.


Some interesting facts... there is NO water in this fountain. It is located in the Main Market Square near the Frauen Kirche. It was built around 1385-96 by Heinrich Beheim. It is about 62 1/2 feet to the top. It has three tiers - Forty stone figures are arranged around it's octagonal base rising up to the top.  They are from the 14 century and represent the world view of the Holy Roman Empire.  The first row are the Philosopher and the Free Artists, the middle row the Evangelists and the Latin Church Fathers and the third row are the seven elector of and nine heroes.  The very top is Moses and the seven prophets.

If that is not enough to keep your interest the metal framing around the fountain can catch me forever.  The metal work is intricate in its own right. A beautiful example of Renaissance iron work. It was forged in 1587 by Paulus Kuhn.  Then in 1902 it was repaired by Albert Leipold. He then put in the well-known "golden-ring" that turns. 

Visitors are encouraged to turn the ring, three times 360 degrees each time,  and your wishes come true. (Okay I don't believe it but couldn't help to jump up and turn it myself)  A side note, what many visitors don't know is the "gold-ring" is not the original or real one.  There is a black ring high on the other side of the fountain that was the real one.  It is said that because it blends in with the ornate railing that the "gold" one was added to make it easier for tourist to find.  Bahhhh here we go again a little sparkle has left the fountain.  But perhaps that makes it more intriguing for those of us that know where the real one is.  I admit too that on many occasional while standing near the fountain I have, on occasion, pointed out the "real" one to a person or two!

Beautiful iron work

Can you see the little brass ring in the center above the horizontal black bar?

another view of the "brass" ring

right in the center you can see the original black ring!

 When the railing went up the sandstone figures were also replaced with shell lime ones. So when you are in Nürnberg, don't forget to turn the ring...the black one high on the back!

New shoes and a guest for breakfast

Okay so I got some new shoes, for walking, well sort of, you can walk in them and they look really good, but they aren't boots.

 hmm I tried them out this morning as I walked into town for my groceries.Not so good on the big cobble stones but I made there and back. I think if we in the US had to carry all of our groceries home in bags we would probably not eat so much!  Not to worry - I did get the Lebkuchen, and chocolate   I mean after all ,with all the walking why not ha ha.

David has been gone most of the week, so I ventured out and found a lovely art store. I bought some colored pencils and decided to draw again. It has been a while but why not.  This morning I was all set to draw when I thought a cup of coffee for breakfast would be good.

Oh first let me digress....I think I have mentioned in an earlier post that Germany does NOT have window screens!  Nope they don't think they have bugs here or something.  When we lived her for years we found some screening and velcroed (is that even a word) it to the windows, but this time being shorter (we think) we decided to save a little money and not put them in.  The windows here are the sizes of doors.  And actually it is quite lovely on a nice day to have the window open.

Okay so back to breakfast and my "guest"  As I walked past the kitchen. The size of your pantry, I noticed what I thought was a brown brush of sort stuck in the ivy right outside my kitchen window.  I had a closer look and it was my own personal Squirrel.  Yupe right here in my kitchen.  Thank goodness I had not gotten around to opening the windows as i do every morning.  Grrrrr, One more thing I can't do now.

Oh and the noise I have been hearing scratching around in-between the floors, I am pretty sure it is my breakfast guest.  All morning I have been trying to think of how to tell them here that there is a squirrel in this apartment complex.....Not something I learned in my German learning! However; yesterday I learned that animals frisst and people isst!  ha ha so maybe I could say something of interest ha ha

If you don't laugh you are gonna cry!
Es ist Eichenhörnchen fressen außerhalb meinem Küchenfenster - there is a squirrel eating outside my kitchen window....somehow I am not sure that is correct.  Oh bother

In our own backyard...

A nice quiet weekend in town. And I do mean quiet. The people who live above us have 4 kids in the same size place as us! And the little girl who we jokingly call Pima (pain in my - well you get the idea) Runs all day long from one room to the next. No lie I am not exaggerating one bit. I hear thump thump thump thump and then it almost always ends in hysterical crying. Amazing at first but not so much now! They must be out of town, I hear NOTHING. I told Dave maybe we should stay in all weekend ha ha.... So back to the quiet weekend.

We had a nice walk around town on Saturday purchasing some wine, phone min., and a few groceries from the big market. Then off to dinner at a Dave's boss's house. He does the cooking for his family, and it was very very good! Sunday we headed out for a bit of sightseeing "in our own backyard". Nuremberg's city center is pretty big and it is amazing how much there is to see. I had read about a fountain that I wanted to visit so we headed out taking a different path every time we could. We found we could walk along part of the city fortification and while up there found lovely gardens and views. Then there were a couple of churches and another one of the city's towers we had not seen, so off we went. It was rather funny when we finally got the bottom of the city and found the lovely fountain we found out we were literally on the corner of where I shop every week! Too funny. You just never know what is just around the corner here. And really you shouldn't miss a thing.

St. Elisabeth, Catholic church

St. James on the left, the town tower in the background and St. Elisabeth on the right

the Marriage Carousel fountain - created by Prof Jurgen Weber,
according to the poem by Hans Sachs in 1541; "Bitter Sweet Married Life".
Hans Sachs himself in standing on the corn. hmm

Bitter-Sweet Married Life
god be praised and honored
who has given me a god-fearing wife
with a home I have lived for twenty-two years
God gave me a home even longer
although in my married life
both sweet and sour have often happened
'My wife' is heaven and hell, devil and angel, peace and strife.

looking down from the wall to one of the entrances to the city...in the background
you can see the Nuremberg Castle and another on of the towers

a long day of walking needs a little refreshment

You have to love a country where you can have Chocolate for breakfast!

What a nice way to start the week! Chocolate. With my cup of coffee in hand and my Brötchen mit Schokolade I am ready to face the world, well at least the laundry!


So we had a pretty good weekend. Friday we walked into Nürnberg for dinner and found a quaint little place along the river for some good Tia food (well is sounded good- and it was). We walked around looking for my Gummi Steifels (rubber boots) It has been raining a lot here and I didn't bring any thinking it would be more fun to buy them when I got here.  Weird I can't seem to find them anywhere in this town. They were all over Dusseldorf...I bought 3 pair last time grrr.  So that is on my list to keep hunting for!  I like a challenge.


Saturday we got up and headed into IKEA for a few household items. When we returned we walked into Old Town to find a few of the landmarks.  We started at the main Castle.  First we ate next to the castle - Nürnberg is know for their sausage so we had to have that as well some AMAZING Cheese Spätzle   I do mean amazing.  They brought some yummy huge pretzels while we drank our beer and waited for lunch. Oh so good.  After that we headed up to the castle and I mean up it was a heck of a walk. Then over to the Albrecht Dürer Haus (from 1471-1520, the most famous artist of the German Renaissance, which represented the renewal of cultural territory outside of Italy.)

Albrecht Dürer Haus in the right side 

 Young Hare, 1502, Watercolour and bodycolour (Albertina, Vienna).

Then off to the Toy Museum, the Main Market, Milch Kaffee break and then back towards home.  A frozen pizza for dinner, a bottle of Chianti and a place to raise our feet!

Sunday we watched our church service -streaming on the internet and then headed out for a sasual walk around the Old Nazi party rally grounds - Reichsparteitagsgelände, literally: Reich Party Congress Grounds)  We walked from the Stands to the Document Center and then around the lake to were we started. It was very interesting as well as eerie.  We then headed back home to drop off the camera and walk back yes back into town for "real" pizza.  We stopped in a wonderful little place and had Pils, brochette, and pizza, finished off with coffee and tiramisu!  Anther great travel day.

Document Center #7

Zeppelinfeid #11 

Map of the Rally Grounds.  It was a beautiful walk but amazingly strange at the same time. So much history and to be walking in it just seemed amazing.

Home!

Another day...end of a very long work week!

Okay, so I guess I am getting a bit braver in my old age.  Funny if you knew me you wouldn't thinkI had a hard time venturing out on my own.  But ever since the whole eye thing last time we were in Germany I feel a bit, well introverted  Not sure why but need I digress....

So after many days of only venturing out 1/2 a block to the City Park (oh yes we have also had horrible Thunderstorms...Like bowling balls going over the Cobblestone walks...or like when you were a kid and it was the angels bowling...non stop!) I decided to grab my cloth shopping bags and head to town for a few groceries. That and we were out of food! You can only shop for a few days here as the food spoils, overnight, and the fridge is only big enough to hold college size food - or should I say drink.  You get the picture.  It was a nice walk, no rain and pretty cool. The US is in a heatwave this week.

I actually had two full conversation in my broken German.  Let's face it I did not want to stand in front of the Deutsch Post if no one could help me. So in my bravest face I asked the older gentleman in front of me (all in German) "Hello, I am sorry, my German is not so good, but can I mail my letter here?"  Big step as we have been away from Germany now for 4 years and there has been no need to use German in the States hmmm.  So he answered back "German, German German,something about she will be right back and yes it would be okay German German German your German is not so bad!"  Wow well if that isn't what he said I am believing that is what he did say.  My spirits lifted a bit I figured I could tackle the big grocery store alone!
Off I went taking my time to look over everything.  I picked up 3 days worth of groceries and tried to figure out what the difference was between süße Sahne and Schlagsahne...I knew in Dusseldorf (sweet vs. whipped) but here there seemd to be niether on the shelf.  Here we go again.  The store was a bit empty and still feeling lifted by Herr German I decided to ask the women next to me.(In German)  "Entschuldigen, mein Deutsch is nicht so gut, aber, was ist Shlagsahne und ist das heir?" Always start with excuse my, my German is not so good but.....
She was great and told me she didn't know what it was in English, speaking in English and German and apologizing her English was bad because it was early in the day.  I said no problem thank you blah blah and then she showed me where it was in the store! Woo Hoo not so bad .  But wait it gets better.  NO you say....


After paying for my groceries (with the largest bill I had just in-case I didn't hear them correctly and gave them too small a bill. Tricky I know.) I went next door to the Penny Markt.  For the "icing on the cake".  Two yummy bottles of Riesling wine from the Mosel Valley, some great chocolate, and yes a bouquet of roses - mind you the whole bill for that was only 11 Euro.  They do price the important stuff right over here!


I must admit that is a great way to end the quiet, long work week.  I am looking forward to David being here and heading into Old Nürnberg to play and take photos.  Hopefully the travel on the weekends will get me through the long quiet weeks!So check back often...
tschüss

A day in the life of a returning Expat....

Okay so we are here in Nuremberg, Germany.  It is rather cold and rainy. I have spent the last few days reading and translating the everyday tools of life; the washer, the dryer, the microwave ( I will get to that later), the oven and few other things. Yikes a lot of work!

The first day was good..we had an appointment in town for our residency permits, so when we got there early, we stopped for a cup of coffee.  The best part of Germany is the Milche Kaffee, outside in the lovely coffee shops.  I must admit this was the best Milche Kaffee I have had yet!  I also walked 5 blocks for a bit of groceries, only to remember, after getting there, that you NEED to bring your own bags. Well I NEEDED groceries so I carried them home in my hands.  A bit funny walking down the street with a head of lettuce, some cheese, cookies and few odd's and ends in my hands but well I got the groceries didn't I?  Next time I won't forget the bag!

So the microwave...this morning when we got up I thought it would be nice to make David an egg.  I found a little dish and rubbed some butter in it, I don't know if they have "Pam" here yet. I dropped in an egg, scrambled it and popped it into the microwave.  Punched in what I thought was a min. and waited.  Upon opening the door I notice a bright red glow on the top of the microwave.  Hmmm is that what the grill sign means - this microwave grills as well as microwaves?  So I punched in another 30 sec and this time figured out how to just microwave the runny middle of David's gourmet egg! Success. So after he left for work, I wrote down everything in German from the microwave on a paper and headed toward the computer to figure it all out.  Job well done, well until the next time.

So the week is off to... well a start, let's see what the rest of the week brings.

Until next time tschuss (informal good-bye)
Regen, regen, wo ist mein regenschirm?
(Rain, rain, where is my umbrella?)