Prague, Czech Republic to Nuremberg, Germany – October 3, 2012

The skies were clear  in Prague this morning when we awoke at 6:00 AM to prepare for our departure and travels to Nuremberg, Germany.  We were at breakfast promptly at the opening time of 7:00 AM, and much to our surprise, we were the first and only persons there, imagine that.  It was not long before we were joined by some of the other guests.  The breakfast was just as good as it was the day before.  We stuck to the basics, no greasy eggs and bacon this morning since we were going to be on a bus for 3.5 hours traveling to Nuremberg, Germany.

We finished breakfast, and completed our packing once again.  It is getting tiresome to live out of suitcases, especially now that we only have one night stays until we come home.

We checked out, once again going through some of the Czech Republic “money” situations.  The reservation was made in Euros through booking.com, but it was clear that the payment would be in local currency for this hotel, which is our favorite Czech koruna.  So, when we checked out, the amount we were given for the cost of the room was in Euros, the same as the reservation amount.  Then, the credit card machine “converted” the Euros into Czech koruna, not sure what the exchange rate was on the conversion  but typically, the standing rule is to pay in the local currency and let your credit card company convert the amount.  So, with the now Czech koruna amount established at an unknown exchange rate, the credit card was charged in Czech koruna, now to be converted by MasterCard into US Dollars.  Whew!  I am sure we were, as they say on Big Bang Theory, “attached to another object by an incline plane, wrapped helically around an axis”.

I think I will do some investigation on the whole Czech Republic, Euro, Czech koruna, situation.  I think that there must be some reason, probably driven by the economic condition of the Czech Republic, on why they are in the European Union, but not on the Euro as currency.  Maybe the “black market mafia” runs the money exchange businesses, and it would be a big hit to their income since money exchange companies are about 2-3 per block.  Nonetheless, money is a real issue here, and the worst part it that they don’t seem to want to deal with their own currency.

After walking about 7 minutes back toward the Old Town area, we once again rode the same #9 Tram back to the Train Station, but of course, in the opposite direction.  We got on the back of the tram where there is more luggage space, and validated our tickets.  We never did pay the additional “fee” for our luggage transport on the tram, but supposedly, it was another 16 CZK per bag.  We did not ever see anywhere to purchase tickets in those denominations since the regular tram fare for a person was 24 CZK.  We counted our 6 stops, and sure enough, we were at the station.  We then had another 5 minute walk to where the bus had dropped us off two days ago.  Once we went up some stairs to the street level, we could see the bus at the stop, already boarding.  It was a smaller bus, only one level, no first class.  We boarded, and this time, knew how to find our seats, located about 4 rows from the front.  The seats were really close together, we could hardly get my camera case between the seats.  We were hoping that there would be some empty seats near us to set the camera bag on, but all the seats on the bus filled up.  Promptly at 8:38 AM, our departure time, the bus left.  It was about a 3.5 hour trip, and seemed longer due to the tight seating.

The bathroom on the bus was very interesting, it was really hard to get into since it was not in the back of the bus, but in the middle where the stair exit to the side door was located.  The steps into the bathroom were the same steps to depart the bus, but as they got closer to the bottom, for the bathroom, they got really narrow, like about 10 inches.  Once you got into the bathroom, it was large enough, but getting in and out was a struggle.

We arrived a few minutes early in Nuremberg.  Our hotel was only about 5 or 6 blocks from the station, and it was an easy walk until we ran into a race (no pun intended).  There was some type of running race going on, and people were everywhere.  Apparently, the start/finish line was only a block or two from the hotel, and we had to work hard to navigate through the crowd.  If anyone reading about this trip recalls from our planning posts, today is German Unification Day, which was the whole reason for us to stay in Nuremberg in the first place.  Because of the holiday, we could not get our rental car anywhere in Germany today and drive to Rothenburg, which was the original plan for our itinerary.  So, we had to spend the night in Nuremberg and get the rental car tomorrow morning.

The holiday did mean ALL the shops were closed.  The only things open were the restaurants and coffee shops.  Once we migrated through the race traffic, we arrived at out hotel, the B&B City Hotel Nuremberg.  It was a nice place, and had a lot of rooms.  The price was good, but it was just a room, which was all we needed.  It had a large shower, which was nice after having had several small showers in some the rooms on the trip.  The hotel was certainly clean, and seemed to be empty.  It was such an unimpressive room that we did not take any pictures of it, only the second hotel on the “skip pictures” list, following the hotel room we had in Strasbourg.

We headed out into the town, heading into the Old City.  The race route was right through the old city streets, so we had to navigate around all of the taped off areas.  We headed for the center of town, or at least where we thought it was.  First on the agenda was lunch.  We found an open sandwich shop and got some food.  It was decent, but nothing to brag about.  However, today, with the holiday, our choices were limited.

We then headed in the direction of the Nuremberg Castle, or Kaiserburg.  Not to be left out of the mix with the rest of the castles we visited, yes, it was on the top of a damn hill, and the streets going up there were really steep, and yes cobbled.  We did not purchase an entry ticket to the castle, we just walked around the grounds on the outside.

By this time, we were looking for the ole WC.  We wandered around the castle grounds, and finally found a map of the Castle.  We soon learned that we had passed the bathroom higher up on the grounds, and on the route we were on, were already going downhill.  We headed back up the hill and found the very vaguely marked WC.  We had literally passed right by it.  I guess they wanted the signs to fit in with the scenery, and they did.  At least after all of the walking, it was a free WC (sort of rings).

We took pictures of the walls around the castle, and of course, it was cloudy.  Although the day had started out sunny in Prague, by the time our bus had arrived in Nuremberg, it was getting cloudy.  The forecast had been for rain tonight, an into tomorrow, so these were the first of the approaching clouds and rain, so we thought.  We generally just spent time walking around, still dodging the taped areas for the running race, although in many areas, the few remaining stragglers in the race  were now dodging the tourists and locals.

We stopped in the St Lorenz Church Lutheran Church, which is one of the largest churches in Nuremberg.  We then walked by the Holy Ghost Hospital, which spans over a river running through town.  It was built in the 14th Century by one of the city’s residents.  Next, it was the Frauenkirche, or Frauen Church on the Town Square, along with the Town Hall.  By this time, we were surprised with the sun peaking through what had been an overcast day.

We walked back to the hotel, tired from the less than comfortable bus trip.  We both do not think our stamina is as high today as it was in some of the prettier cities earlier in the trip.  The side trip to Nuremberg was nice, but not as nice as another night would have been in Rothenburg, our next stop, and one of our favorite places that we visited the last time we were in Germany.  The Unification Day holiday set this path in motion, even though we had tried to figure out a better plan early 0n.  However, in the end, the extra stop in Nuremberg was the only viable option if we wanted to get the rental car for the remainder of the trip.

Wake up time tomorrow morning is 6:30 AM.  We are getting our rental car in the morning, and we want to be able to get to Rothenburg as early as possible to maximize our time there.