Alex and Eric in Slovakia: nuremberg

One of the best things about the holidays in our part of Europe is the various Christmas markets. Bratislava has a really cute one, there are several in Vienna (the largest and most popular being in front of the Rathaus), Budapest, Austria, etc. We went to Vienna one weekend to make the rounds, this time going to one we hadn't been to before, behind the Museumsquartier. We also went to Schloss Hof, an Austrian palace just over the river from Devinska Nova Ves, just over 10km from Bratislava. We took a weekend to go to the Nurnberg market, one of the oldest in Europe. And of course, we went to the Bratislava market several times. I love to stroll around the market, looking at all the stuff available at the different stalls. Gluhwein (varenne vino) is my favorite. In Nurnberg, we also tried blueberry gluhwein, not bad! Nurnberg is famous for their nurnbergers, short little sausages. They smelled fantastic!

Eric's aunt and uncle embarked on a Danube River cruise in September. We saw them while they were in Bratislava. We dined with them on the boat (top class!) and even enjoyed the deck-top jacuzzi under the lights of the UFO Bridge!

We flew to Munich Friday afternoon. We spent the evening in the beer garden in the center of town. There was a wonderful ambiance that evening - there were multiple stages with live music set up all over. I think it was some sort of Munich city festival. The stores were even open especially later so we took advantage and did some shopping at 10pm!

Saturday we went on a bike tour of Munich (with Mike's Bikes). Highly recommended - it's a great way to see the city! I really loved biking through the English Garden and having a beer in the beer garden there. The surfers on the river were really cool to see as well.

Saturday afternoon we left Munich for Nuremburg, about 90 minutes north. Driving on the autobahn was a fun experience although we really wished we had a better car (we had a compact little rental). We were getting passed by cars going over 200 kph! We also saw fields of hops growing all over. It took us a while to figure out what they were, neither of us had ever seen them growing before.

That evening in Nuremberg, we met up with a friend who took us to dinner (Eric had the traditional Nurembergerwursts) and a night tour of the town. We walked up to the castle to take in the evening view. We all had a drink at a cute bar near her place. It had a library/salon feel, with bookcases, red velvet seats, low lighting, dark wood bar.

Sunday morning we had a wonderful brunch along the river. Then we picked up Eric's aunt and uncle from their ship. We gave them a repeat of our evening walking tour, this time in the daylight. It's a cute little town (at least the old part), we plan to return for the Christmas market, it's supposed to be among the oldest in Europe!