Germany 6: The three castled road to Nürnberg, air raid cellars, the laundromat, and local cuisine

   The trip to Nürnberg was estimated to be about four to four and a half hours of driving, whether I stopped at three castles along the way, or tried to go direct.  I opted for the stops.  The first was Burghausen Castle.  There was a small parking lot and then a twenty minute walk to get to the inside of the castle.  The inside of the castle really wasn't anything special, and I skipped the museum.  However, the three bridges and castle exteriors on the way there were interesting.

  Next up was Trausnitz Castle, which had a pleasant museum to walk through.

  The final stop was New Castle, in Ingolstadt.  I was hoping there would be a courtyard, for more architectural views, but there wasn't.  The entire inside was a museum.  The most interesting part of it was a tower that was dedicated to mass amounts of miniatures.

  I continued on to Nürnberg and parked in a garage across the street from my hotel.  

The first view of Nürnberg.

On my first full day in town, I walked up near the castle and along the walls.  I was hoping to catch an entrance to the walls, or the towers, but there was only a tiny viewpoint where one was allowed in.  Walked along the outside of the walls, where there was an elevated walkway.  I walked into the castle court yard as well, where people were entering to see the museums.  

The Star Wars related convention sign was interesting.

  I scheduled to join a tour into the tunnels below the city, as this was the only way to access them.  They connected the tunnels used by breweries, to form an air raid shelter to be used during the British and American air raids during World War II.  I learned that the Star of David is used by breweries.  Eventually, the tunnels were even used by a cucumber factory.  

The first star, just outside of the tour's tunnel exit.

  My hotel room was the first on my German trip to have air conditioning.  It also had a shower with a sliding door on the outside, so one could look inside from the bedside.

  On my second day I walked twenty minutes outside of town to a local laundromat.  

  For dinner, I decided to try a dish that my German friend from Denmark recommended, Käsespätzle.  As an appetizer, i tried Nürnberg sausages.  While I normally don't eat meat, I was willing to try these out, since Germany is so known for sausages.  It was served with sauerkraut, which I had never had before, and potato salad, which is a popular food here in Germany.