We weren’t exactly sure what we’d end up doing today. I was fairly certain we’d nixed the Documentation Center option since most of it is closed (and it required a bus ride of, I think, 30 minutes or so), but we had the option of a museum or two.

First, though, coffee and a light breakfast! (And that was after showering and moving in an extremely leisurely manner.)

Leaving the coffee place (a spot called Auckland, in case you are interested: coffee was good and we shared avocado bread and a salad with egg slices) …

… we decided we would check out one of the recommended churches. When we got to St. Lorenz we saw there would be an organ recital at 12:15, so we hung out for a fair amount of time in order to hear one of the largest organs in the world. The organist wasn’t exactly top notch, but it was great to hear the instrument! While the church was originally Catholic it became Protestant during the Reformation. I was surprised to see all the Catholic work still in the church after seeing so many in Scotland that had destroyed anything that hinted at Catholicism.

From there we walked over to Trödelstuben restaurant (the one we tried for last night). What a place it is. I can’t imagine working there: you have to navigate a stairway that twists a bit and it’s narrow. The kitchen is on the second floor, which is where we sat, but there is also a downstairs.

We both had potato soup and some garlic-cheese bread. It was just right for this overcast and cloudy day.

Walking, we saw a couple getting their photo taken in front of the trees. So why not?

Then we walked to another church, Frauenkirche — Church of Our Lady Nürnberg. This one remained Catholic after the Reformation, but they do acknowledge that it became a Catholic Church after a progrom in, I think, 1349, when a Jewish synagogue was burned down (there is a Star of David in the church somewhere, but we looked and didn’t find it). It has quite a bit of a modern look, even while having a lot of the old in it. We didn’t stay all that long, as there wasn’t much opportunity to wander and right after I snapped this shot Dan told me no photos were allowed. Oops! (Everyone, it seemed, was taking iPhone photos, and the person watching over things didn’t say a word, so I doubt it’s much of a big deal.)

Finally we went to St. Sebald’s (Sebalduskirche). That was my favorite of the three.

This little area was dedicated to children who had died. People could take a star and write a child’s name on it and hang it on the tree.

More from the church:

Then it was time for a treat, of course. We went out of the church to find it raining very lightly on this day when the weather app said there was 0% chance of rain. Ah well!

Going to the Christmas market I did a very tiny bit of shopping, and then we found a place that would satisfy both of us: I had a macaroon and Dan had lebkuchen.

From there it was back to the hotel for a bit. My eyes were so tired! I set my alarm so I wouldn’t sleep too long, but I simply had to rest.

After a bit of rest time, we went down to the lobby because, Dan having his great status and all, we were given a voucher for a free drink and snack. It said it included the high end wine, beer, or drink of our choice. But of course there was the disclaimer “at the discretion of the hotel”. In truth I got whatever red wine they were serving at the time, Dan got a beer, and there were no snacks at all. But who is going to complain about free stuff … right?

Then we went back up to our room to dress for the cold, but no rain jackets since the chance of rain was 1%.

I’m sure you can guess what happened while we were out, yes?

Yes, we got wet.

We went up some stairs for a view of the market:

At the same spot we heard a choir we now heard a brass band.

We were looking for pretzels because I had read that one must get a pretzel while here. But where?! We looked and looked. Finally we saw a young woman with one so we asked her (she and the man with her were from the states … Iowa or some such place). She pointed to a stand and said, “But I got the last one!” We looked and looked, but never did find any. Ah well. I think we’ll survive.

We finally went back toward our hotel and the first Christmas market that we had originally thought was the market.

We had some flammkuchen and then a last Nürnberg gluhwein, but we couldn’t use our souvenir cups up at the closer market. Such is life. We suffer. We suffer in silence. (Name that musical.)

Now back in our room we already finished up the remainder of the marzipan we purchased yesterday and I’m having a cup of chamomile tea. Soon it will be bedtime. already my eyes are feeling awfully heavy.

Tomorrow our train doesn’t leave until after noon, so we have a good amount of time to just relax, maybe go out for a bit, and then walk to the train station.