Today, Phillip and I are in Nuremberg, preparing to fly to England to board our cruise tomorrow. We've been in Munich, Lupburg, and Nuremberg in the past few days. Today is the first day of Oktoberfest in Munich and we are happy to be farther north in Germany to avoid the Oktoberfest cowds. We went last year so we have the "been there, done that" bragging rights and it's perfectly fine to miss it this year. Phillip and I did walk to the Oktoberfest grounds. The City of Munich puts signs on the sidewalk for people coming from the train station to Oktoberfest.
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| sidewalk signs leading partygoers to Oktoberfest |
Beer trucks, many beer trucks, and other vendors were coming and going thru the main gate that we used last year.
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| This location will be crowded for the next three weeks |
Phillip wanted a haircut, so we wandered around north of the train station and found a hair salon for him. She cut it a bit shorter than usual, he calls it his German haircut. And I noted that the shorter cut shows even more gray hair!
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| Phillip getting his German haircut |
On Wednesday, we rode the regional train to Parsberg where Becky met us at the train station and took us to her house in Lupburg. Her husband, David, was able to come home for a bit to visit with us, but he is staying quite busy in his Army assignment.
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| David and Becky |
Family time consumed Thursday: grocery shopping with Becky then Reese's tumbling, Ryan's football practice, and Reese's cheerleading at a football game. The best pictures are from Reese's cheerleding.
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| Reese on the right |
The football game was flag football for kids her age, 7-9 years old. And yes, they did have a girl on one of the teams. The winning team, by the way!
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| The cheerleaders cheered for both teams |
Reese, at 9, was one of the older cheerleaders, and of course, the best and cutest one on the squad.
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| Reese, 2nd from the left |
After dinner, Becky took us to our favorite Parsberg location, the ice cram parlor. Although the weather is cold enough for jackets, the ice cream was still wonderful.
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| after ice cream |
Yesterday (Friday), Becky and Reese (with a day off from school) brought us to Nuremberg. We found parking in the Old Town area and walked a bit.
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| in Nuremberg's Old Town area |
Becky had arranged a tour for the four of us. We arrived early and waiting in a nearby plaza where we saw this statue, entitled "The Hare." It was odd, so I looked it up on my friend Google. One website said some people think it is the ugliest public art in Europe. It comes close in my book!
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| The Hare |
Our tour was of the art tunnels under Old Town. Before the inevitable bombing started in Nuremberg during WWII, local leaders made an organized effort to save paintings, church statues, and irreplacable art works. They built ventiation systems and humidity controls into the tunnels and caves under the churches in the Old Town area.
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| original doors to art storage |
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| ventilation/humidity control piping |
The artwork was moved into these tunnels and preserved during the war. These were local people, not Nazi looters, so the items were returned to the churches and museums after the war. It did take several years for items that came from other countries and were stored here to be returned, but that was because the Soviets were in control in this countries, for example, Czeckoslovakia.
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| debris remnants from WWII |
The locals who preserved this artwork were absolutely right to do so. Nuremberg was second only to Dresden in the amount of damage done by Allied bombing raids.
After the tour, Becky took us to our hotel, but we had a final bit of adventure enroute. Apparently yesterday was a global day of protest regarding climate change. In Nuremberg, that meant bicyclists blocking the traffic in front of the train station. Becky had the misfortune to be the second car at the light when the thousand or so bicycles came into the intersection. The car ahead of her somehow managed to get around, but four bicyclists then blocked Becky (and the hundreds of cars and buses behind her. We could only sit and wait for the police officer to come (twice) to make them move. It took us 20 minutes to go one km. But, once we made it past the train station, the road was totally clear!
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| bicyclists stopped in the street in front of Becky's car |
Today, a 1:30 flight to Heathrow Airport, followed by a bus ride to Southampton. Tomorrow: cruise day!
Well, I’ll have to backtrack to try and comment on all of the posts I missed, but I don’t want to miss the opportunity to wish you bon voyage before your cruise! I doubt you’ll have internet on the ship, so I’ll thank you now for your wonderful record of your adventures in Europe. It was, as always, delightful reading. I’m sad there won’t be fun posts to read, but glad you’ll be back within visiting distance soon. I hope the cruise is wonderful!! Kiss England for me and tell her I’ll come see her someday. :-) Love you guys so much!
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