Central Europe Tour: Day 01: Frankfurt/Nuremberg

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After a good breakfast (mini idli, dosa) in plane, we landed in Frankfurt 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Needed to brush our teeth and use the bathroom. We cleared the immigration before heading to baggage claim. I could not convert my dollars to Euro ahead of time. I had to get to an ATM first to rent a cart for the luggage. We inquired and found the ATM. My card did not work! We tried calling the number on the back that was 'call collect' from outside US. For some reason, the operator said that the number rejects calls. We were pretty much stuck not able to use my debit card. This was frustrating initially. I rushed to a nearest money exchange place and converted 100$ to 62 euros. The commission was 5 euros! After checking our 3 other big bags in long term storage (7 euros per piece up to 30 kg per day), we headed toward airport train station that is located within the airport complex. Before reaching the station, I tried in one of the ATMs near by again. Now I got the Euros!. My card had started working. Thank the heavens for this. Now, with confidence, we headed to purchase train tickets to Nuremberg. There was a manned booth and we were able to use credit card to buy the tickets. It costs approximately 52 euros per adult, and we were charged only for 3 as a accompanying minor 14 or less travels free. It was 10:20 am by now. Our train was leaving in 9 minutes. We rushed to the platform. One thing about German efficiency, the train arrived exactly at 10:29 am. We got into the closest car and realized that it was first class. We also did not reserve as the person in the counter said it was not necessary. But we did notice lots of seats have been reserved as we moved about to the connecting compartments. Finally, we were able to get 4 contiguous seats and settled. The train goes through historic city of Wurzburg. It reached Nuremberg at 1 PM. Now the kids were very hungry. We came out to the main station area. There were quite a few eateries. We wanted some local vegetarian dish and found that in a crepe/waffle place. We ordered crepes for all us. Most of the items in the crepes menu are sweet, but they do make tomato/mozzarella. It was very good. The vendors typically speak some English and we were able to manage. One huge issue is that most of the signage and information are written in German. It is not that easy to follow. Few important signs/instructions are translated in English. By 2 PM, we hired a taxi to head to the Smile hotel. It would be about 2 KMs. We got down and noticed a locked premises and no other way to get in to the building. We walked around the building and finally noticed a calling bell in the front. A tall German stepped and pleasantly shook my hands. He invited us inside and started explaining about what to see in Nuremberg. He also explained about how he met Sarathy few days ago as Sarathy was on a scouting mission to see where we were planning to stay. He is the owner of the place and his name is Norbert. He showed us our room. For Europe standards, this was a big room with 4 beds and very cute bathroom. Internet is available for 2 euros. We had not showered after landing in Europe. We all took turns showered and freshened. I was able to communicate with Sarathy and figured a time to meet up him in the hotel by 7 PM. For 4 to 7 PM, we decided to visit the old town Nuremberg. It is marked by 4 castle towers and each end. In the middle there are 2 huge churches and in one end is a huge castle, Nuremberg castle. Lot of these structures are built during 14-15 centuries. Within this huge square of 2 by 2 kms, there are plenty of shops and sightseeing places. A river run through in the middle and there is even a small island formed by this river. All the streets are cobblestones. Flowers are profusely used in decorations. There were plenty of cafes and restaurants with eating areas outside. We first visited a church and headed toward the island and the castle. Lot of Museums close on Mondays here. We walked around, had ice cream/coffee in the cafe and visited the mock island. We went all the way to the castle which was on the other end. By the time we returned to hotel (all by walking), it was 6:50 pm. Sarathy was waiting outside. We greeted and headed back to our rooms. Sarathy had purchased a SIM for my use in case of emergencies. We set that up and chatted for some time. By 8 PM, we headed to a near by restaurant. Norbert had recommended one nearby called 'Prisma'. Meanwhile, we were able to check the internet and gather that there are plenty of Indian restaurants as well in Nuremberg. In Prisma, there were quite a few menu items that were vegetarian. We ordered veggie burgers, rice veg pilaf and pasta gogonzola. Veg pilaf was par for the course. Sarathy was so happy that he could get some item like this here. Since the time he has been in Nuremberg (2 weeks), he had not attempted to eat out. The prices were reasonable about 8 euros per dish. One thing to note here. There are rivers that cut through in all major cities, but water is not free here. You will have to pay for it everywhere. Beer is cheaper than water! Sarathy showed the subway system etc as we returned back to the hotel. Sarathy bid us good bye after 30 minutes and we crashed immediately. We had not slept the previous night since the flight from Bangalore was at 3 AM. We got some sleep in the plane. That was it. The weather is a cool 15 (65 F). It intermittently drizzled but not to bother us from sightseeing.

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