Day 6 and another stau and bus ride. We ended up at least an hour behind from just one traffic jam, and there were a couple, which cut into our time at our two stops.
Bayreuth
We got to Bayreuth right when a thunderstorm started, so waited a little on the bus, but the rain let up and we were able to wonder a bit.
We had less than an hour allotted for this stop. We first dashed over to the Markgrafliches Opernhaus, to check to see if we could even get tickets--they had timed entry tickets only. The first opening was in about 20 minutes, but we figured we'd give it a shot and bought the tickets. While we waited we went about and looked around the town.
Soon it was back to the opera house, built in 1744-1748,.
The inside was really pretty and very much baroque, and just reopened from renovations last week.
On the way back to meet up with the bus, I stopped in a bakery and got a schnitzel sandwich to eat quickly for lunch.
It was good even though I ate super fast. A quick stop at Wagner's theater in the outskirts of town (19th century German composer Richard Wagner built the theater and only his works are performed there),
then on to Nuremburg (in the rain).
Nuremburg
The weather had let up some by the time we got to Nuremburg, but we decided to wait with the group instead of heading off on our own since we had an included dinner in a restaurant tonight. After an hour break (really a waste of time) we got back on the bus and drove up to the castle for an overlook into town.
Next we wandered down towards the Hauptmarkt,
anchored by the Frauenkirche.
We had just a little time to go to the one open church nearby, St. Sebaldus, which has been restored since being badly damaged in WWII.
We spun the rings on schoner brunnen (beautiful fountain) 3 times so our wish would come true.
On to dinner at a restaurant just off the square.
We had three different sausages with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes and I tried the local beer (which tasted like beer).
Dessert was a chocolate cake with nuts.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel (about 10-15 minute walk) to see a bit more of the town instead of heading back with the group.
(Heilig-Geist-Spital, Holy Ghost Hospital)
(Lorenzkirche)
Seeing how short your recap is for this day really makes me realize just how much of our German vacation was sucked away by the constant staus. :(. If that is just the inevitable status quo in Germany, then Globus really should just stop offering this particular tour (or drastically reduce the price and the number of activities promised).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, obligatory babbling:
• The opera house in Bayreuth was so pretty! Remember how we had to ask permission to leave early (in order to be on time for the bus) and they thought we hated it? Good times!
• I think Bayreuth was also the stop where Pasquale had to move the bus from the established pick-up spot and so massive chaos ensued.
• Your photos from Nuremberg are really nice! I have weirdly few pictures from Nuremberg, so I'm glad you got some pretty ones! Especially No. 35!
• My clearest memory from Nuremberg was the terrifyingly steep descent from the castle and having to focus 100% of my attention on my knees and ankles not buckling.
• I don't remember the dinner at all but your plate looks good and I assume I had the same thing, LOL.
• Unrelated to this particular entry, but I just remembered that this was the trip with that tiny, ancient man who was--clearly unwisely--traveling alone. Where were we when he didn't show up for the bus, and so we waited around forever before finally giving up and returning to the hotel, only to find him asleep in the lobby? I think it may have been Cologne... I remember he bought like $50 in chocolate bars everywhere we went (and then, when he was tricked into buying a suitcase the ONE time Mario left him unsupervised, which I think was on the very last real day of the trip, he said he needed it to transport all of his chocolate home). Good times, good times.
Also LOL @ that random dinosaur statue.
Delete