Here and There Blog

Nuremberg shines in the heart of the historic district. All the Christmas decorations were going up, people were moving about and it was a fun place to be. While the front door of the church was locked, the side door was open so we looked around.   Best of all, we were in time to listen to the final 10 minutes of the organist's rehearsal.   Bridges and Waterways Nuremberg certainly has charm and it must be a good place to live because so many locals were genuinely friendly to the tourists.

Going to train museum isn't my idea so we can all guess that it's OB's idea of fun. Nuremberg's Train Museum actually is fun and has enough going on in the world of trains that you don't have to only look at train after train. I realize that if I was really doing this, I would have burned my hand. Oops!  Sometimes though you are looking at trains.  Or you might be trying to find the interactive button to ring the station bell and then when you press it, the bell is really loud! The upper level of the building is also home to the Museum of Communication. You can stamp your name in Hieroglyphics.  Mrs. OB and I sort of successfully did this.  The letter "E" is not part of this alphabet. I am KARN. Except now that I look at this, I realize that I used the German "K" and it's not on the English paper. 

The old city walls are lettered in areas. So K is for Karen! At least for this moment in time.  Strolling along the river.  Back at the main square. We took the underground tour of the cellars that were created to store beer, then later used as shelters during WWII air raids. It was too dark for pictures but at the end of the tour we were shown a whiskey room.

I arrived in Nuremberg in the evening and had time and energy to do a quick look around the hotel. There's plenty of walking areas in the old sections and churches with bells going to remind you of the time. Today it was get an early start and check out the castle. Of course one of the must-do's was take the stairs up the tower to get the view shot on this sunny (but very cold) day. Looking out from the castle. 

The sun slowly gave way to clouds then rain. This is not a city for walking in the rain. Before it was time to shelter and stay dry, I did one last walk around the area. The business district and surrounding areas are clean and little graffiti or murals. Found this flamingo? near the old  city.  While the leaves probably congest the waterways, they do look cool floating on the water.  Ornate door entrance. Soon after this was taken, the clouds and mist lowered and the top of tower stayed obscured for the rest of my stay. I decided to pass on paying to go to the top when there was no visibility.  Back in my hotel room I saw this rainbow emerge right before the rain started pelting down.

Army of the Dead and dying? Death battle? I'm not sure but there was a lot of detail put into this.  Looking up at one of the old churches.  And up close and personal.  Town Hall. Some cities have cows, some lambananas, and Dusseldorf has Cartwheelers. Not just ones like this but as a city symbol that pops up everywhere. I don't know if I was so happy today to do one but the two girls on the left of this photo were playing around the Cartwheeler so there must be something to the joy of the moment.

The true destination for Thanksgiving 2017 is Nuremberg but I had extra time and hotel points to burn and decided to give Dusseldorf a look. First up the shopping promenade is a great location and perfect for walking. The small historic district is nearby and several gardens and parks make for a pleasant visit.  Here's a few from the late morning post jet lag coffee walk. Sea Serpent Captured? Not quite sure what was going on here. Amazingly sunny and not horribly cold. This is near one of the larger gardens. One of the old churches.   Not sure. Representing poverty, shoe-less, and trying to get a fitted shoe on one foot? Lots of little sculptures like this are around.

After what seems like 3 years of continued summer the weather has finally dipped to high 60's at night. Add in a seabreeze and it's time to bring out the winter gear. Our bodies don't know what to do with this drop in temperature! I am happy that I can exercise without sweating off the sunscreen for the next couple of months.  This was taken last night post sunset even though it wasn't even 5:30 pm yet. The clouds were kind of swirling around out from the sun. It looked better in person as sunsets always do.

The morning fog burned off quickly today. Luckily the air stayed chilly for good beach walking. It was strange (in a good way) to not have to slather up in sunscreen. No boats, no surf, even the birds were somewhere else today. Just a lazy perfect Saturday.

Tray 7 of 17 begins. It's still going well with the weekly trays although they are tight start to finish. No more of the super loose trays at the end of the second week. It feels and looks like the first six weeks of refinements are bringing my teeth to where I thought they'd be after the first round.  I also am getting slack when it comes to keeping them in as close to 22 hours a day as I could. I'm more around the 19 - 20 hour mark this time around. Like Yertle in this photo, I'm slowly sprinting to the finish line of this program.