Lorenz -- Nuremberg's Shopping and Business District

 

This shot shows the Koenigstor from the interior.  This city tower was the first landmark visible from the train station, which was barely visible in the background.  That was one of the great things about Nuremberg -- its train station was a major hub, and the old city center was right outside its front door.	This was the Handwerkerhof, a tiny year-round craft fair at the base of the Koenigstor.  This was one of our favorite places in Nuremberg, an enclosed shopping and eating center that time forgot.  Souvenir stands, antique shops, and Frankish cuisine was in abundance in a square barely half the size of a football field.  The Handwerkerhof was in its prime during the Christmas Market season, but it is a great place to go year round.
Going further on the main street, we passed this structure, called the Old Gate.  There were several other medieval structures mixed in with modern buildings like the shopping mall to the right.  Similarly, there was the massive Old Customs House on the Haidplatz a block or two to the west.  It was nice to see how the older structures were being preserved.	St. Lawrence's Church (Lorenzkirche) sat at the Lorenzerplatz, where Karolinen- and Koenigstrasse met.  It was a tall classic Gothic church that unfortunately has been under heavy renovation for years so this was about the best photograph we could get.  The Lorenzerplatz typically hosted weekend markets that extend down toward the river along Koenigstrasse.  It was also a popular spot to catch street musicians and performers.
The Lorenzerplatz also hosted Nassauer Haus, shown here.  The Nassauer Haus was a decorative stone tower that now anchors a series of department stores in both directions.  Deep in the basement is a wonderful traditional Frankish restaurant set in the original wine cellar.  Off in the distance was the main tower of the Kaiserburg.	Breite Gasse was one of two main pedestrian streets that converged at the Weisser Turm, or White Tower, shown above.  The White Tower was at the old city's southwest at the base of Jakobsplatz, home to the St. James' Church.
The base of the White Tower hosts Nuremberg's most unusual attraction, the Marriage Merry-Go-Round Fountain (or Ehekarusell).  This was a twenty-year old bronze sculpture based on a German poem about married life.  The fountain contained a series of odd, grotesque images that depict married life in various phases (but not in sequence) -- young love, arrival of children, middle-aged bickering, ending with the couple in old age ready to kill each other.  Not necessarily a happy story, but hey, it was different.	The Jakobkirche occupied the southwest corner of the old city which was generally rundown (and also hosted the city's red-light district).  Not too many people went beyond the Weisser Turm here, but it was clear that the city was targeting the area for expansion of its downtown.  Beyond the Jakobkirche were several blocks being upgraded from crumbling old residences to new restaurants.
These final two shots followed along Kartaeusergasse to the southern part of the wall.  This shows the Human Rights Memorial, a series of thirty columns that each contained one verse of an international treaty on human rights.  The columns were engraved both in German and one other language -- including Russian, Chinese, English, Georgian, Hebrew, or another language.  A Human Rights Museum was established at the near end (the southern city wall was in the distance).	This scene shows the massive moat that guarded the city.  We took it from the footbridge that ran from the biergarten and restaurant at left to the Nuremberg Oper Haus at Richard Wagner Platz and the Nuremberg Railroad Museum next door to it.  This sector was known as the Frauentorgraben.  As the photo shows, the moat had been converted to a park with walking paths.

Those looking for a quick bite to eat, and not a sit-down meal, would be advised to follow the Koenigstrasse back toward the train station.  That was where a number of fast-food places, German and ethnic, resided.  The train station itself also had a wide range of fast-food options.  This part of town was also the home of several budget hotels, which we have stayed in a couple times.  

Trips taken 26 August 2000, 22-23 June 2002, 15-16 May 2004 -- Page last updated 01 September 2006