Nürnberg

The next day I left for Nürnberg by train: I had a presentation to give at a nearby University. I arrived early in the afternoon, dropped my things at my hotel, and ran off to explore the Altstadt or old city.


Old Nürnberg is surrounded by an incredible wall. I can't believe the view of it I had from my hotel room:


On my return flight, I sat next to a gentleman who remarked that Europe is filled with churches, any of which, were they located in the US, would be national treasures. Nürnberg is no exception.

St. James the Less, in Jakobplatz. I attended an English-language service here (Episcopal) on Sunday night.


St. Lorenz.


And others.


This particular church has a special place in my heart. Or my stomach, depending on your perspective.


The reason is that it overlooks the Bratwursthausle where I had dinner my first night in Nürnberg. The waitstaff was ... unappreciative ... of the fact I was American. However, the sausage, beer, potato salad, and pretzel (with mustard!) were fantastic.


Like Dresden, Nürnberg is situated on a river (the Pegnitz).


Nürnberg is also home to a remarkable fountain, dating to 1385 (the original is now in a museum, pictured is a replica).


And so ended my adventure in Germany! Nürnberg is definitely a city I'd like to return to when we can all go and see some of the sites, for instance, the Playmobil theme park and Train Museum!

Another day in Dresden

My next chance to go out into the city was the following Friday, after my conference was over. I hadn't had a chance to go shopping for goodies for Sarina or Micah yet, and so it was time to see what I could find before leaving for Nürnberg the next day.

It wasn't a terribly nice day out: it was cold, windy and rainy. I started out by walking along the opposite of the Elbe from my convention center. I came across the spot from which the artist Canaletto captured the view of Dresden back in 1748.


Things look a bit different 250 years later, though some features of the painting remain.

Greetings from Dresden

I'm in Germany this week. Back in September, I submitted a paper which was accepted for presentation and publication. This was great news, of course, as this was the first time I've been able to publish results from my dissertation. On Sunday, I started traveling, from Charlottesville, VA to Dresden, Germany-- over 4000 miles!

My trip started out quite well, with a free airline ticket! Apparently the flight from Charlottesville to Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC, was ''overweight.'' I checked in, I was asked if I wanted a free ticket in exchange for taking a cab instead (and of course, United paid for the cab, too).

I had a nice cab ride, and got to Washington about the same time I would have if I had flown.

Next up was my 8 hour flight to Frankfurt. I arrived in Frankfurt just after 7 AM local time (6 times zones different from EST), somehow needed to be able to stay up the whole day to beat my jet lag.

I finally arrived in Dresden at 10:30 AM local time, and by early afternoon had collected my conference things and eaten lunch. It was time to walk around a bit to try to stay awake.

The convention center (congress center, as they are called in Europe) is right on the Elbe river.


Snow? Yeah. It's been cold, ha.

I walked along the river toward the old city center. The architecture is quite different from what I'm used to in the US. There are a lot of statues.

Statues on the museum,


and statues on the church,


and some gold statues someplace else.


During World War II, Dresden was (without cause, it is alleged), firebombed by the US and I'm told that the old city was essentially leveled. Then started in 1989 and over 20 years, different parts of the old city were rebuilt from photographs. A stunning example of the restoration is the Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady. This was all that was left standing after the war: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frauenkirche_Dresden_1991.jpg.

This fragment still stands in front of the restored church, as a reminder of the war that brought its destruction. The church now looks spectacular.


The stained stones are from the original church, stones gathered from the rubble.

After my walk in the cold, I still needed to take a nap to get through the rest of the day. There was a reception in the evening and the conference proper started the next day. It's Thursday now, and the conference is over. If the weather cooperates, I'll go walking around a bit more in the city tomorrow. On Saturday I take a train to Nürnberg.