We drove into the city after breakfast at the hotel, usually about 35 minutes to the parking garage, today a little more because of road works (a constant theme on this holiday) and also because we stopped at a supermarket to pick up a few of the essentials that one always forgets to pack (eg. my deoderant was about to run out), but also some laundry detergent and bottled water for drinking on the road.
We soon parked in one of the many parking garages within the old town part of Nuernberg, which are usually well-hidden underground, or in out of the way corners. One of the (many) nice features of German cities and their traffic control systems is that not only are directions to off-street parking well-posted, but the signs directing you to the various garages tell you how many free parking spots are available. This allows you to choose which one to go to - if the sign indicates only a few places left at the one you initially thought you'd park at, and another has several hundred, the decision is obvious. This avoids arriving at a parking garage, only to find it full, and then having to find another. It requires some infrastructure; the data from all the the "in" and "out" gates at all garages has to be fed to a central computer, which then adjusts the numbers indicated on the dozens of direction signs to each garage, but the result is saving on driving times, and many fewer frustrated drivers; and probably significant energy savings and less pollution. The question for our cities; this technology obviously exists, why isn't it being used here?
Having parked, we began our walk. The inner core of Nuernberg, like most German cities, has many automobile-free streets. It's not that automobiles are never admitted, but they are restricted in time. Thus, delivery trucks are permitted, but only before 7:00 a.m. or after 10:00 p.m; just one example. All this makes walking safe, a pleasure, and makes the city a friendlier place. Shopping areas especially are often long and wide pedestrian areas, with street art, and street performers, and street vendors selling pretzels and sausages and other food, and the restaurants set up outdoor tables and chairs where one can stop for a snack, a meal, a beer, whatever. It's just so civilized!
Our first order of business was to walk to the opposite end of town, to an artisans' market at the Koenigstor (King's gate) near the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station) but still within the old city walls. If interested, a map of the old city of Nuernberg can be found here http://www.planetware.com/map/nurnberg-map-d-nurn.htm. For many, many years I have been saving my pockets by putting paper money into my wallet, and coins into small leather purses for my left-front pocket, rather than just carrying them loose. Since such purses are not commonly available in Canada, or if they are they are too large, or ugly, I always buy one or two (they do wear out) at a leather crafts shop, here in Nuernberg. Having again stocked up for the next few years, we walked up Koenigsstrasse (KIng street) towards the Lorenzkirche (Church of St. Lawrence). It was a bit of a drizzly day, not enough rain to keep you off the street, but just enough to be unpleasant, and so there wasn't much life, although the Nuernberger Bratwurst (Nuernberg roast sausage) vendors were trying to drum up Brotzeit business - Brotzeit, literally bread time, is the equivalent of what we would call a coffee break; a time in mid-morning, or mid-afternoon when workers of all kinds can replenish their energy, except Germans replenish with much more than just a cup of coffee. And more on Bratwurst, Nuernberg variety, later.
Next place to visit was the Lorenzkirche (Church of St. Lawrence). Old Nuernberg has two chuches which dominate the skyline, although there are a few others within the old walls that are notable. South of the river Pegnitz, which roughly divides the city in half, the main church is the Lorenzkirche. North of the river, it is the Sebalduskirche (Church of St. Sebald). Dominating the entire skyline to the north is the Kaiserburg (Imperial castle) built about 900 A.D. by the Holy Roman Emperor (cynical historians have noted that the Holy Roman Empire - the 2nd Reich in Hitler's scheme of things, his being the 3rd - was not holy, nor was it Roman, nor was it an empire, it was simply a loose federation of Germanic states). However, being an imperial seat, and probably more importantly, being on a crossroads of north-south and east-west trade routes, caused Nuernberg to become a very wealthy centre, with the consequent spill-over of support for the arts, development of industry, and considerable invention and entrepreneurship. Several Nuernberg artists of the middle ages are world-renowned not only for their art, but for moving art techiques forward; Albrecht Duerer is only one. A local toy industry began trading their wares all over Europe. And the pocket watch and the world-map globe were invented here.
The Lorenzkirche illustrates some of this artistic development. Not only is the building itself (started about 1250) a gothic monument, with high soaring nave supported by impossibly thin pillars, magnificent stained glass including an outstanding rose window on the west wall, it contains at least two significant (and many others, several of the many altars and most of the windows are masterworks) pieces of art. One is the Engelsgruss - the angel's greeting - Angelus, a carving depicting the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary. It hangs high in the nave; within a circle of 55 roses (the normal number of beads in a rosary) are the virgin and the angel, seeminly fully formed as 3-dimensional figures - except when viewed from the sides, it is impossibly thin, and two dimensional. The artist, Veit Stoss, was one of the pioneers who worked out how to depict three dimensions in two, along with his fellow Nuernberger, Albrecht Duerer. The other major piece of art is what in English might be called an aumbry, a small box in a church in which the blessed sacrament is kept for the needs of those not able to be in church for Mass (Eucharist). In the Lorenzkirche, the small, ornate "box" the Sakramentshaus (sacrament house) is contained within a towering structure, floor to high ceiling, carved from stone with impossibly thin vines and branches, all highly decorated. The "aumbry" itself, and the whole structure are supported on the backs of a few figures, one of which is the self-portrait of the sculptor, Adam Kraft. St. Lorenz, like many churches, ask that you not take photographs, so there are none on our photo website, however, much of the art in this church can be seen here http://www.lorenzkirche.de/kunstwerke/index.html; however, the descriptions are in German. A full 360 degree panorama view (needs Quicktime) is available here http://www.lorenzkirche.de/rundgang/panorama-gross.htm
From there we went northward, towards the Marktplatz, the market. Late in the year, this is the place of the Christkindlesmarkt, literallythe Christchild's market, the premier Christmas market and prototype for all others http://www.christkindlesmarkt.de/english/index.php?navi=1&rid=2 . On an ordinary day, like the one we were there, it is a farmers' market, with produce on sale from the surrounding countryside. However, unlike our farmers' markets in Ontario, which have become tourist destinations, this one is still a city market, where the locals shop for their produce (and it needs to be remembered, that there are many people living within this old city, many of them in apartments above businesses, often working within a few meters of where they live), so such a market is a vital part of the city's life.
Two notable sites on this market. One is the Schoene Brunnen - the Beautiful Fountain - a stone carved fountain that has been painted and gilded, standing very high, with wedding-cake like layers of figures from history and from the biblical stories - popes, kings, emperors, prophets, evangelists ... It is surrounded by a tall wrought iron fence, with spouts that can be manipulated to bring water outside, to be drunk, or carried in buckets, although little of that happens today. Embedded within the wrought iron is a brass ring, perhaps 12 to 15 cm across. Its story is that an apprentice in ironworking wanted to marry his master's daughter, and was set the task of producing a work in metal that the master could not reproduce. The ring is it, and event oday metallurgists have not been able to discern how it was incorporated in the iron structure of the fence, as neither the brass ring, nor the three circular openings in which it is fastened into the fence show any evidence of joints. The apprentice got the girl, and today turning the ring three times in its fastenings is considered to bring good luck, and it keeps it well-polished.
The other notable site is the Frauenkirche - the Church of our Lady - on the eastern side. Somewhat plain iside, although with a number of art treasues, it has a remarkable clock. Every day at noon, as the clock strickes, as little theatrical performance happens on the front faced of the church. Trumpeters raise their horns, little men with hammers strike bells, and the electors of the Holy Roman Empire move around a circle, stopping in front of the figure of Emperor Charles the Great, who waves at them with orb and sceptre, then the elector bows. All this from a clock perhaps 500 years or more old. Known as the Maennleinlaufen - the running of the little men(?) - it is one example of the ingenuity of Nuenberg rafts from its golden age, during which, among other things, the first pocket watch was invented, as well as mechanical clocks of this type.
(To be continued)
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