Hey everyone, guess what! We’re in Nuremberg, Germany, and it’s my favorite city we’ve visited yet!
Although, how many times have you heard that on this blog? I should probably wait until our semester of European travel is over before making that call. Oh well!
Anyways, today marked our first full day in Nuremberg. We spent the previous night and this morning enjoying all of the lovely amenities of our hotel before visiting three of Nuremberg’s best and brightest churches the following day. You hear that? We’re gonna talk about MORE CHURCHES! Afterwards, I was able to catch up with some friends that were on the same Oxford program as I am, but a different track (ours is religious history and architecture, theirs is political science). We hit some bars and even a German nightclub, which was a whole new experience in itself.
So here’s a rundown of my time Nuremberg thus far:
Our Hotel
We have had some great accommodation during our class’s travels across Europe. From converted monasteries to resorts in the Dolomite mountains, we’ve had a variety of stays, but none (in my opinion) as nice as the Hotel am Josephsplatz.
To me, the most important part of any stay is the room itself. Our room at Hotel am Josephsplatz was both homey and gigantic. We had a 2 level room between the three of us roomates! The main level featured a high-ceilinged living area and a master bedroom, while the upper level had two more beds and a study space. I am staying up here. Right above my bed is a window, and when I pop my head out of it, I can see all of Nuremberg including the St. Lorenz church and the Imperial Castle of Nuremberg.
Views o’er Nuremberg from the window above my bed.
One special amenity at this hotel is the gym and adjacent steam room. It should be a given that I am not working out, but I wanted to try out the steam room because I’ve never used one before. Right when we arrived, I put on a bathrobe and brought my courage with me to the steam room. Turns out, I ended up leaving my dignity there as well.
When I stepped in, it wasn’t as uncomfortable and stinky as I’d feared. Plus my roommates and I had the steam room to ourselves. The room was, in fact, quite steamy and has a wooden interior kind of like how people describe an old-fashioned steam room in books. There is also a bucket of water and hot rocks that you can use to raise the temperature. Using some misplaced courage, I scooped up a some water from the bucket with a wooden ladle and dumped it onto the rocks. Bad idea. Unbeknownst to me, there was peppermint oil in the water that is meant to make the room smell good. Also unbeknownst, I added far, FAR too much water, and the second it hit the sizzling rocks, the room filled with steam and vaporized peppermint oil. Hence, it should have been no surprise when my eyes and throat started to burn. I didn’t scream, but I will admit I “panic yelled” as we all fumbled to escape the pressure cooker that I had created. And that was the end of the steam room experience.
Just to be super clear: all my fault. I did the steam room wrong. Probably will not reattempt for a little while.
Okay so I thought the steam would give my skin a nice peachy glow. Instead, I look like an earthworm fresh from the ground.
Perhaps the most popular feature of the Hotel am Josephsplatz is the breakfast buffet, which includes bottomless mimosas. Oh yes, mimosas. Just in case you couldn’t find enough to drink in Germany. So every morning my roomies and I have the pleasure of waking up to have mimosas and lox in the hotels elegant dining area. Hard to have a bad day with that kind of start!
After breakfast and gathering in the lobby, we set off for the first church of the day: Saint Lorenz.
I didn’t get paid to write this, we just had an awesome time at hotel am Josephsplatz. Click here if you want to visit their site.
St. Lorenz Kirche
Saint Lorenz is described as a Gothic parish church, but it’s hard to assign it to a specific artistic period because construction continued from the 13th to 15th centuries, with many stylistic contributions across that period.
If I had to describe it with my own words, I would say the exterior looks just like the Notre Dam in Paris before it burned down.
The front facade of St. Lorenz church
Saint Lorenz has also suffered, though. It was bombed during WW2, and while most of its art was brought to safety, the church itself was destroyed, so most of what we see today is kind of a replica.
A lot of the surviving art includes contrapasti statues (statues that lean to the side and smile), and the Rosary- a circular hanging wooden sculpture. The Rosary is also a survivor considering it withstood the bombing, the post-reformation iconoclasm, and a devastating fall from its hung position. Most churches don’t have things just hanging from the ceiling, so I thought that it was pretty cool.
Inside St. Lorenz, ‘hanging out’ with the Rosary sculpture
One final work of art worth noting is a sandstone tabernacle created by Adam Kraft. A church’s tabernacle is made to store holy items, so they are meant to be an important part of church services. However, Kraft went above and beyond to create this tabernacle for Saint Lorenz. It is nearly 20 meters tall and delicately carved like a church spire.
Kraft’s tabernacle rises all the way up to the church’s ceiling. Talk about overachieving!
At the very bottom of the tabernacle, Kraft even decided to carve himself holding up the tabernacle. That seems a little pompous to me, but I guess if you create a piece as gorgeous as this, you earn the right to take some creative liberties. 🙂
Kraft himself, sporting a burnt-macaroni beard
Frauenkirche
We didn’t actually go inside Frauenkirch, also known as the Church of Our Lady, but it stands in a historically infamous place. Hitler held rallies here, and after learning that, it felt haunting to stand in the square which hosts a lively Christmas market and smells like gingerbread.
The facade of Frauenkirche
St. Sebaldus Kirche
Saint Sebaldus is the other parish church in Nuremberg, and according to our professor, they are bitter rivals with Saint Lorenz.
Standing outside St. Sebaldus with the tympanum
With its rounded windows and lack of flying buttresses (a funny way to describe support beams), you can tell that Saint Sebaldus was originally a Romanesque church with gothic elements added over time.
Lots of altarpieces and contrapasti statues inside St. Sebaldus church
The most prominent feature of Saint Sebaldus is its reliquary. It is made of gold and shaped like a little house, lovingly decorated as well. Even more noticeable than the reliquary however is the giant bronze cage that has been built around it. Our professor informed us that the building of the cage was rooted in antisemitism, which was awful to hear.
The bronze cage depicts figures from Pagan mythology, and is completed by large bronze snails adorning the bottom. Why that is, I cannot say.
Snails?!
Trying Gingerbread at the Christmas Markets
After leaving Saint Sebaldus, we returned to the Grand market square to enjoy the beginnings of their famous christmas market, Christkindlesmarkt. The market isn’t in full swing yet, considering it’s early November, but there are some stalls around selling gingerbread and christmas ornaments. Our professor got us some gingerbread from what he claimed was the best stand in the square. I was floored by how spicy-sweet and soft the gingerbread cookies were. I’ve never been a fan of gingerbread but I guess that’s because I’ve never had homemade German ginger bread!
The almost-christmas market in Nuremberg where we got to try gingerbread
Dinner time!
We had some downtime between the visit to St. Sebaldus and a catch-up dinner with our political science friends. This time was spent relaxing in our fabulous room and catching up on journaling.
On a side note (from the future/July2020): I am so glad that our professor made us keep an academic journal of our travels. At the time we were traveling, I was so tired after every day that I was never in the mood for writing, although I can’t see how I would’ve remembered everything we did 7 months later without having it in writing!
For dinner, we chose a traditional German restaurant that served bratwurst and sauerkraut. I can’t remember what the name of the place was, but it’s a popular spot and we were able to get a seat at a table outside by some miracle. I’m not much of a pork or sausage fan, but I will admit the brats were tasty. Almost too much so!
The only pic I managed to get at dinner. Go figure.
I love German food but it’s just so HEAVY with all that meat, bread, and beer. Thankfully, we were going to get to dance it all off later in the night.
German Nightclub time!
It just so happened to be a classmate’s birthday, so after barhopping for a bit, we made our way to a dance club! Boogiewoogiewoogie!
After visiting a few nightclubs in Oxford, England and not being terribly impressed by any of them, the crazy-fun-ness of the German nightclub was a fantastic surprise. The scene there was absolute INSANITY.
Instead of having a few smaller rooms, this club was one huge multi-level dance floor. It was darker than usual with random flashes of colored light, and every 30 seconds, a foghorn would blare over the music and huge, colored plumes of smoke would be fired into the crowd. Like I said, total insanity. I loved it.
Boogiewoogiewoogie
My Verdict:
I’m gonna wait until our time in Nuremberg is over to give my final thoughts on the city.
Partially because that will give a more insightful overview, and partially because I am just so tired today. I think it is time for a diet coke.
See ya!
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Where did she come from? Nordlingen and Rothenburg, Germany
Where is she going (next)? Aachen, Germany