Saturday the 13th in Nürnberg………

We dock early this morning so that we may meet our guides for the day at nine. The boat is split into two tours; one tour will focus on Nazi history in the area and the other on medieval Nürnberg.

Paul and I had been here two years ago and visited the Zeppelin Fields, the Documentation Center and the museum attached to the Ministry of Justice where the post-war trials at Nürnberg were held.  That was both a moving and draining experience; I know it will be the same for today’s visitors.

We are headed into the old town with guides Edith and Martina leaving the waterway and passing through an industrial area and the massive railroad yards.  Many hotels have sprung up here due to the proximity to the beautiful central railroad station.  We pass the lovely opera house. Ninety percent of the town center was bombed in 1945 and it took thirty years to rebuild.  Five hundred thousand people live in Nürnberg and it is a busy place.

Walls and a moat encircle the old city, bisected by the Pegnitz River. Heavy circular guard towers stand at each compass point.

Built around a castle that sits on a rocky crest, the settlement dates from around the year 1040.  German King Henry II who later became a Holy Roman Emperor envisioned and engineered the project.  We enter the castle crossing over a huge dry moat.  The walls are zigzagged so no blind corners were available to invaders as hiding places.  In all its long history no foe ever took the castle.

Once we climb the considerable distance to the uppermost terraces of the castle, we enjoy the view over the old city below and greater Nürnberg beyond all the way to the Zeppelin fields.

Our next stop will be the house of artist Albrecht Dürer.  Born in 1471, he was a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci.  While he was a fine painter, his fame came from his engravings and copperplate images.  Good copies of his paintings are on display with the originals housed in museums all over the world.

The house is a hodge-podge of little rooms with the original ceramic heaters.  The kitchen would make anyone who has recently prepared a dinner weep.  How anyone ever turned out a meal without filling the entire house with smoke escapes me.

The top floors are devoted to Dürer's work areas with an art studio containing all his pigments and solvents on one side and a room with his printing press on the other. An artist in residence demonstrated a copperplate engraving, first filling the mold with color, removing most of it and then sending it through a hand cranked press sandwiched with heavy felt pads.

Our guide was very knowledgeable but she forgot that we follow her every move like a baby duck sticks with mother.  So when she would dart out of one little room into the hall all her twenty ducks went with her only to have her jump back inside.  This back and forth dance kept up all throughout the tiny spaces of the Dürer house so we tripped over each other and the second group on the tour until we were released into the sunshine.

Headed toward the center of town and the Hauptmarkt, we pass St. Sebald’s church, reconstructed after the war and containing a cross fashioned from nails taken from the destroyed Coventry Cathedral in England.  This gift was a gesture of reconciliation from the English people between cathedrals both heavily damaged in the war.

We also pass the famous Bratwursthäusle, where two years ago we dined with friends Gary and Chris and fellow traveler and kleptomaniac, Janet, making for an interesting dining experience for all, especially her.  We returned today for their beech wood smoked sausages and sauerkraut for lunch, but all the crockery stayed with the restaurant this time.

There is free time to shop and we browse through the market stalls offering everything from beer and sausages to cheesecake and a farmer’s market selection of fruits, vegetables and beautiful flowers.  Stand out was the mushroom stall with every imaginable mushroom on offer.  Nürnberg’s famous gingerbread, Lebküchen, was sampled and enjoyed.

The stalls fill the Hauptmarkt space at the foot of Our Lady’s Church.  Here another glockenspiel, this time featuring King Charles, serenades us at noon.

Back on board, I admit I napped on the sun-soaked edge of my bed.  There was a guest lecturer this afternoon on the Main-Danube Canal, its origins from the time of Charlemagne to its completion in modern times.  Paul represented the Krupp family and as soon as he gets a blog we’ll find out all about it.  Charlemagne tidbit aside, he has not been too forthcoming with details.

Tonight was a gala night on board with a special one seating dinner.  Here is the menu for my foodies:

Goose liver pate with port wine jelly

Morrel mushroom cappuccino

2110 Brudersberg Riesling VDP Großes Gewächs, Rheingau, Germany

Seared prawns with saffron beurre blanc

Terrazas, Chardonnay, Mendoza, Argentina

Cassis fruit sorbet

Whole roasted veal fillet with date sauce, carrots, broccoli and crepes filled with potato mousseline

Or

Roasted seabass with cilantro oil, artichokes and tomato noodles

Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Reine Jeanne Ogier, France

Champagne mango mousse

Homemade bonbons

It is understandable that such a night should end with some top- drawer entertainment.  So on come the MS Treasures’ cast for some beer-centric jokes, a few amusing vignettes, two songs played on an unusual Indonesian percussion instrument and a rousing dance finale.

They were joined on stage by some of our spirited passengers.  Who can resist the strains of the Village People’s YMCA?

As I write this, we have already crossed over the Continental Divide so it’s all down hill from here.  Tomorrow we enter the Danube.