Nuremberg

So I’m currently sitting in Starbucks at 13:00 waiting for my train at 1:15 so I may as well write my blog.

Nuremberg was definitely one of my favourite parts of this journey and definitely the best way to end it, it rivals the time I spent in Frankfurt though considering they are so different from each other it wouldn’t be fair to compare.

Nuremberg is a beautiful city and I was actually pleasantly surprised, it really is like taking a step back in time with very few of buildings being particularly new though everything being in such good condition. There are plenty of old and amazing architecture to see such as towers, churches, city walls, sculptures, corner statues on buildings, murals etc., its the type of place you can spent the day just wandering about and not get bored. In contrast with Munich I think Nuremberg has really lived up more to my expectations of Bavaria only with a bit less beer drinking.

The hostel I stayed in was amazing, being built into the old second castle, only opened this month and despite having limited beds available this month I somehow managed to end up in a 6-bed room on my own, everything was very comfy and cosy and they have tried to keep some of the character of being in a castle with stone pillars and wooden beams, would definitely recommend.

I would also recommend Nuremberg purely for the architecture, tradition and visible history, it’s often thought of just for the Nuremberg trials/rallies, which is a shame.

The market is also a must see, which stretches quite a way out of the central square, is a permanent feature and really makes the need for a supermarket here unnecessary because you can get almost anything you would need at the market, which kept a lot of the very traditional feel to the city.

All in all an amazing city which I have had a great time in :).

Josh xx

Munich

Currently sitting in Munich Hbf waiting for my train to Nuremberg. It has been an interesting time here and Munich is very different to the rest of Germany, unfortunately it attracts a lot of English stag dos but I had a good time nevertheless.

The city is a lot more difficult to navigate compared to other German cities and is a lot more lively. I was surprised that a lot of people really do walk around in lederhosen here as standard dress.

I mainly just wandered around the city whilst I was here which I still couldn’t tell you how to get around easily, I also paid a visit to Deutsches Museum which was good and a lot bigger than I realised, took at least 3 hours if not longer to get around, the electricity demonstration was good to see.

Probably need a bit more time here to get the most out of the city as it takes long enough just to figure out where things are. Would have spent a lot more time drinking (as is the main thing to do in this city) but I thought I’d take it easy for a bit having drank enough over the past few days. Plus on the first night I bought one drink at the bar and then ended up with a ridiculous amount of people buying drinks for me in with their rounds.

Looking forward to Nuremberg which is a lot more traditional German with a large old town area, plus my youth hostel is in a castle ^^.

Josh xx

Stuttgart

So I’m currently in Munich after spending two nights in Stuttgart, as I knew the city pretty well already I didn’t have too much to do and ended up using the trip to recover a bit from wading through the snow in Frankfurt.

The youth hostel was great and everything was nice and new, unfortunately not much atmosphere and most people just wanted to keep to themselves.

I had a wander around the königstraße and also visited the Wurtemburgische Landesmuseum which was a lot bigger than I had realised and had some really impressive things on display, with finds from the area starting from the Stone Age and progressing up to the Middle Ages.

I also ended up going to the zoo, I hadn’t planned on making two zoo trips as I did go to the zoo in Frankfurt but it was nice, cheap and in walking distance so it was a nice way to finish off my time in Stuttgart.

Frankfurt

Arrived in Frankfurt on the 11th and decided to take the 30 minute walk to my hostel instead of taking public transport, I’m glad I did as I got to see the city from the riverside which is an amazing view, Frankfurt really is one of the most different cities you can visit in Germany, it’s skyline makes you think of America and it really has got something for everyone. Got unpacked at the hostel and headed straight into town, had a wander through the banking district to see all the skyscrapers and the European Central Bank, also saw the old römerplatz part of town which almost looks out of place and also visited the shopping district which you could find literally anything you would want at. It did start snowing very heavily whilst I was out which the wind turned into a blizzard and I had to take refuge in Starbucks, though none of the snow stuck.

The next day I woke up and was surprised that it seemed to have snowed again in the middle of the night and every bit of it stuck, it also carried on heavily through the day with a minimum of 5 inches making it awkward to walk through, due to this I ended up not going up the main tower and seeing frankfurt from high up unfortunately, however I headed to the zoo instead and had a great time having most of the houses to myself, the nocturnal house was awesome and I think it’s the first time I’ve seen an aye-aye in person.

Frankfurt is an amazing city and I will definitely come back at some point as I didn’t have enough time or the right weather to do/see everything, next stop is Stuttgart, hopefully there will be less snow to wade through.

Josh