Vacation 2010 Day 7: Nuremberg

Next day in Nuremberg was blessed with the same fine weather as the day before, so I set off early to explore the parts of the old town I hadn't visited the afternoon before.

I headed up to the castle (or castles) that overlook the old town. Though Nuremberg had been virtually destroyed by bombing during the war I was impressed with how the old town had been restored back to its former glory.

It was also nice to be around so many stone buildings.

At lunchtime I met up with some friends and they drove me out of town into the countryside.

Since living in Japan I have come to appreciate the countryside of Europe......

That night I went to my friends's bands last concert of their European tour.

I decided to walk from the concert hall back into the city center to catch an early morning train.

I misunderstood directions I was given and spent several hours wandering around in the suburbs.....

Vacation 2010 Day 6: Nuremberg

After the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart I hopped a train to Nuremberg. I had a room inside the old town walls, so spent the afternoon wandering around there. Nuremberg was once the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire, so of course there are many large churches and cathedrals.

There are some pretty impressive large temples in japan, but the main differences between those and European cathedrals I noted were that the combination of height and light made for quite a different focus. In temples usually the only light is focused on the statues, whereas in cathedrals the building itself was the focus. Focusing in versus out.

I didn't stop in here for lunch as I am not overly fond of sushi.

The Hangmans Bridge crosses the River Pegnitz. Apparently contact with the hangman was avoided so he had his own bridge.

More churches........

The big surprise was just down a narrow alley from my hotel. The new Museum of Modern Art cleverly uses a curved glass facade to reflect the surrounding traditional architecture and therefore avoids standing out like a sore thumb.

In the foyer was a wonderful spiral staircase...