Oct 18 -- Explore Nuremberg, Hof, and Dresden

Oldest bridge in Nuremburg at river's narrowest
point to avoid washout during floods.

We had kind of a lazy morning. Waiting for our laundry to be done, we couldn't leave Nuremberg until noon, so we got up late and wandered around the southern part of the old town we had skipped yesterday. We followed a guide of historical details on the buildings til we came upon a shoe store with short red boots, and Jim pushed me to try some. European shoes are not a good fit for me, but I gave it the old college try and left with nearly a dozen rejected pairs in my wake and nothing to show for it. When we checked out of the hotel and got to where the car should have been, we discovered that it had been elevatored down overnight (we could just barely see it in the gap of the lift) and hotel staff had to come out to rescue it.

Oldest pharmacy in Nuremburg

Old hospital for poor funded by a rich guy
to help him skip purgatory. First part built in 14th century

Fountain of Seven Virtues

On the road again, I noticed that our route to Dresden passed near Hof, which is one of the towns some of my ancestors came from (actually, it appears there may be several Hofs, but this was the only one we'll be near) so we diverted briefly and drove through. Amazingly, Alice (navigation system name changed from Edith -- Jim wanted it to be Lynn, but that was going to be way too confusing, and I wouldn't let him use any other of my family's names either) didn't freak out. She tried once to get us to turn around, and quickly re-oriented to take us on a 5 mile detour and back to the main road. Maybe I'll get to like her after all. Hof looks mostly new, and we only took photos as we drove thru, but still, maybe in the 1600 and 1700s, our family ancestors were born there.

Street on main road through Hof

Just before we got back to the autobahn, Jim pulled off the road and I got my chance to drive. It is so cool to be able to drive over 90 mph and not worry about a speeding ticket. I edged up to 98 a couple times, but now we know we're not supposed to go over 100 for a while, and we'll be back in Germany later, so we're being cautious. Surprisingly, there were lots of slowdowns on the road, including one accident.

The Zwinger -- palace complex of rulers from 1200s to WWI.
Now houses several museums.

We quickly found our next apartment hotel in Dresden -- looks a bit seedy outside, but very nice inside. Best kitchen/room combo so far, but we had to pay for wi-fi and can only use it on one device at a time. We stocked up on breakfast foods at the local grocery store and headed into the old town to look around (we're about 15 minutes away on foot). The city was devastated during WWII by the fire-bombing and the Soviets got control over the war, so fixing up the beautiful old stuff was not a high priority for them. Many buildings were just razed, but some remained and have been largely restored since Germany reunited. The stones are really black, which I suppose is the result of the fire more than soot from coal burning like in most places. There are some really spectacular buildings, but I didn't bring the guide so I wasn't all that sure what we were looking at. I'll probably figure it out when I label the photos.

Interesting tower on the Zwinger

Taschenberg Palace, now known as Residenzschloss,
which operates as a museum

Something really special was a horn trio playing for spare change in the covered part of a gate. They played a couple classical tunes I am familiar with (but don't remember the names of), both of which I really loved. And of course the resonance in the arched stone hallway was spectacular. We found a place for dinner, then walked back to the apartment and focused on what to do next.

Palace Gate. The horn trio played on the right of the center section.

Just south of here is a German national park known as Saxon Switzerland which it looks like it might be fun to hike in. But the first order of business was to decide how much we wanted to drive each day and where we would go. I now have a route planned out for the rest of the trip that includes a day of hiking tomorrow. AND I think I know what to tell Alice for her to get us there. YIPPEE.