Old Nurnberg

The rest of my day in Nurnberg was not nearly so jarring.  The city is also home to Albrecht Durer and some great fountains, churches, and at least one good museum.

Lunch was so good that it was a little blurry.

First, the city is famous for its miniature sausages, often sold "3 im Weckla," or 3 in a roll.  I figured I should try these, but was also told that a local restaurant made another local favorite, roasted pork shoulder.  Fortunately, the place had a combo platter to give a taste of both!

The pork was pretty great (see right)...it came with some sauerkraut, and they mercifully substituted fried potatoes instead of potato salad for me.  The sausages on the other hand...well, it's not that they're not good, it's just that they are exactly what you'd get if you ordered sausage links at Perkins.  Same deal.  So, they tasted fine, I was just expecting something a bit more.

One of the cool sites along the way was a fountain built by Emperor Charles IV (of the Holy Roman Empire), who was a huge fan of the city.  It shows the electors of the empire, representatives from Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and more.  Just a few of the figures are at left.

There's a gold ring on the fence surrounding the fountain that one is supposed to turn 3 times for good luck.  It's a big tourist attraction

Finally, the city also houses the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, or museum of German culture.  The museum has over 1.2 million objects in its inventory, dating from prehistoric times to the present.  The most interesting to me were major works by several German artists, including Altdorfer, who I'm beginning to like.

Also on display were the two oldest known globes in existence.  The one pictured is, I think, from about 1519, and does not include the Americas.  The second-oldest one in the next room does.