Sunday, October 17, 2010

A Visit to Nürnberg

 Yesterday we were in Nürnberg, despite the rainy, chilly weather.  Armored with umbrellas, hats and hoods we toured the old city from one end to the other.  Nurnberg, as it turns out was at the heart of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, so many of the large beautiful churches are Lutheran.  The architecture was beautiful, very Gothic and it took us until 5:30 pm to finally find a Catholic Church. 


Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, was a smallish church that has a interesting history available to read in a dozen languages at its entrance.  In medieval times, the church vicinity was a Jewish community.  A Synagogue had stood there but under Emperor Charles IV there was a persecution that resulted in the death of about 600 Jewish people and destruction of the Synagogue.  Frauenkirche was erected, but became a protestant church in the 1800's.  It eventually was restored to a Catholic Church.  There was an organist playing while we prayed and we enjoyed especially a lit miniature scene of the parable of the Prodigal Son.


The children were very happy to find out that Nürnberg has a Spielzeugmuseum.  Every kind of toy was represented in the four floors of this museum.  Aside from dolls, doll houses, trains and race cars, the best part of the museum were toys to play with!  We could say that they played to their hearts' content, but we are not sure that point of contentment exists.  There was even a control board to turn on constellations in the ceiling.


After the museum, we trekked towards the Imperial Castle.  It was a first for all of us to visit an Imperial Castle.  We were not sure what to expect.  In fact, as we were walking around within the castle walls, Max bellowed out, "I want to go to the castle!"  The castle has a bittersweet memory for us, though, because that is where our stroller broke.  Have we mentioned the cobblestone in Germany?  Very picturesque, but very traumatic on umbrella strollers.  Rachel had been mentally composing her would-be praise of this simple stroller to post on Amazon, but now she has to eat her words and swallow hard when paying many Euro for a new stroller.


Right outside the castle walls is the once home and museum of Albrecht Dürer, German painter.


After the castle we enjoyed an authentic German meal made of Nürnberg sausages.  This dinner was a highlight of our visit and the waiter allowed the kids to stuff their pockets with candies for the train trip home.









Phil was very proud of this corner he constructed.


Making the stars twinkle.




put a bonnet on this happy/sad doll!



A.Maz.Ing Doll Kitchen



























2 comments:

  1. I love the Spielzeugmuseum (toy museum?)! Did you see the stove in the Doll House Kitchen? Rachel, I think Edy looks very much like your Mom when she was small! Did anyone else tell you that? Great photos!

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  2. Thanks, Aunt Kathy! That is the best compliment! Actually, I've seen the Kwapich in her since she was a baby! But not many people agree, so its nice to hear it from you. The dolls and doll houses in the museum we soooo fun to see.

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