Nuremburg

Today we went to Nuremburg, where Andria & Said live, to visit with Jane & Marlin. Andria was gone, but Saif showed us around. It's about 2.5 hours away, so we set off in the morning and got there around 10:30. We had an adventure trying to find an ATM (we finally did), but we were otherwise successful in the trip down.

We headed into town on the U-Bahn (subway), and popped up in Old Town. We weren't quite sure what we were going to do  - since it was the day before Easter, we weren't sure what all would be open. So, we wandered. We were hoping that the Tower of Illusions would be open, so we headed that way. Nuremburg is pretty cool. Much of the old city wall is still there, as are the buildings built into it. We walked just outside the wall, in the area between the wall and the former moat. The moat is now a road, and the area between it and the wall is a park. In the photo, the moat is on the left of the low wall, and the city wall is the big one on the right.

The Tower of Illusions was indeed open! It's in one of the former watchtowers in the city wall. It was a whole museum about optical illusions. From the top floor, there was an awesome view of Old Town.

View from the top of the tower

After that, we were pretty hungry, so we headed towards a restaurant that Jane & Marlin had heard about. They didn't know the exact name, but they knew it was behind the castle. So, we went back towards the center of town and up to the castle. I love the old bridges and buildings.

It took a little while, but we did find the restaurant. I'm glad we waited, because it was adorable. Am Hexenhausla - something about a Witch House. We got to eat in a gazebo, and we sat next to an outdoor oven that looked like it could have held Hansel & Gretel.

After lunch, we headed back in the wall, towards the castle. We didn't go in, but we walked around and the kids played on some rocks that Max had played on as a kid. :) Then we walked towards another house museum, but it was closed, so we just kept on walking. We walked towards the Ostermarkt - The Easter Market, in the old town square. I was hoping for lots of little Easter-y things, but it was quite a wide variety. There were some Easter-y booths, but otherwise, it looked a lot like an upscale swap meet. I did see some lovely Matryoshka dolls (which I collect), but they were too expensive. We also saw some dental tools. Hmm....

We were getting tired by then, and headed back towards the place where we had gotten off the subway. On the way, though, we saw a modern art museum, so we went in. Everybody but me seemed to really enjoy it. Modern art isn't my thing. But, the whole rest of the day was stuff that I liked, so I didn't complain. Plus, Em found an English Horrible Histories pop-up book in the gift shop, and you can't beat that. Then we headed over to have some dinner before we went home. Jane & Marlin knew of a restaurant that was a giant medieval wine cellar, so we went there for dinner. I felt pretty cool, becasue I was able to understand a lot of the menu. :)

Then we went back to Saif's house and drove home from there. It was a long day, but a good one.

Emma says - My favorite part of the day was either the tower or the rock wall at the castle. If you go, beware of the candies and taste sticks at the Tower of Illusions.