A Trip to Nuremburg and the Spa

I finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince yesterday. Only took me a week. I would've been done much sooner of course but I have to leave the hotel once in a while. LOL Anyhow, it was really good but Rowling really left things off very differently than she has in the other books. Also, the last few chapters were pretty depressing. So how long will it be until the next book is out?

On Saturday a group of us along with Bernd went to Nuremburg, which is only about an hours drive from Coburg. It really is a beautiful city. Even though it sustained a great deal of damage during WWII, there are still a great deal of the old buildings in tact. One church we went in had had it's whole roof destroyed during bombings. Luckily it was later restored to it's original state, but you can see clearly where the original stones end and the new ones begin because of the color variation. It was a Protestant church so it's decor was a little less flashy than some. We were not able to get any pictures though, because it was prohibited. We next headed to the market square where the Schoener Brunnen Fountain is located. I have never seen anything like it. It looked as though it was painted, very different from the carved stone and bronze cast fountains that we have typically seen. There was a cast iron latticework cage around it, which I am guessing was put in to protect the fountain and to prevent people from using the cannons that were once used to fill buckets with water from the fountain. In the latticework surrounding the fountain there is a single gold ring. Bernd told us that us the ring was allegedly placed there by a goldsmith that was wishing to marry the daughter of a prosperous man. The man told the goldsmith that he was not good enough at his chosen trade to marry his daughter. So in order to prove his proficiency at his craft he installed the gold ring into the latticwork of the fountain. So now people who visit the fountain go up and give the gold ring a single turn in order to have their wish come true. Pretty neat! LOL We then headed toward the city wall and the Albrecht Durer House. We didn't go into the house but did come across a rather morbid bronze statue that another artist had created as a tribute to Durer. Albrecht Durer was a key figure in the German renaissance who did carvings, etchings, oil paintings among other things. This bronze rabbit we came across was pretty crazy. You just have to see the picture, because words just don't do it justice! LOL Next we climbed ANOTHER big hill that lead us up to the Kaiserburg Castle. The view from the castle wall was amazing! You could see the whole city from here. I suppose it was worth the pain and suffering of walking up the big cobblestoned hill! LOL That cobblestone is some rough stuff. We got some lunch finally! We ate at this place that we guessed was some sort of Argentinian restaraunt. Everything was great, especially the crepes we got for dessert! Can we say YUMMY! LOL We tried to go to the "Blind Cafe" next but I guess it is closed on Saturday, so that was a no go. Marsh was pretty bummed because he was really looking forward to going there, but we'll get there another time. We then decided to head to the Toy Museum. It wasn't as great as we anticipated to be honest but it was still pretty cool. They had toys from all throughout history. There was a big arched bridge that went over one of the doorways that built completely with an Erector Set, or Mechano for you Canadians. It even had a little train on top of it that went back and forth across it. They had huge rooms from dollhouses that had fine china, ornate furniture, and one even had a working clock. Oh the things money can buy! LOL There was a rather large model train setup that was supposed to resemble some cattle town in the midwest, whose name I can't remembeLOL lol It was impressive though. On the top floor they had play area for kids and a room with a time line kind of deal set up with toys to show the evolution of toys throughout history. I felt a little old when I started noticing things that I played with in there! LOL I'm sure my mom will remember "Barbie and the Rockers." Well they had her! The exact one I had! LOL Eric would've crapped because they even had a Star Wars exhibit. I even recognized the Ewok Village playset that Eric had, the one that looked like a treehouse with a platform held up by three treetrunk! LOL I have to admitt, thoughts of the long lost Gilligans Island bathtub toy drifted through my mind. I am still a little upset about losing those seven stranded castaways and there little island! LOL After all that walking we decided to find the Fountain of Life and head home. The Fountain of Life was quite possibly the most amazing thing I have ever seen with my own four eyes! LOL It was beautiful. The outer edges were carved out of marble and the center part of the fountain was bronze. The fountain told a story of sorts. Each section of the fountain showed a different part of life and it was just huge. We will post some pictures this week hopefully.

Yesterday we decided to take it easy. We went for what was supposed to be a short little drive, but turned into a three hour drive. We went north of Coburg and drove through this really hilly area. When we finally got back to the hotel, Marsh of course took a nap and I finished my book. Around six we went calling on Bernd to get directions to the spa. He decided to come along, and we were off to the Bad Colberg Spa. We decided not to go in the Sauna, because quite frankly I don't enjoy sweating my ass off to begin with, and I certainly would not enjoy doing so in the nude! LOL I guess that's how they do things here but I still think it's grody and have no desire to get nakey with a hut full of other nakey sweaty people. EWWWW! So we just stuck to the mineral baths. Each basin had different minerals and or temperatures of water in them, and there were about 10 or 12 different tubs of water. It was nice because they weren't super hot nor were they smelly like the place I went to in Sulfur Springs! LOL Some pools had really strong jets, some had currents that created a whirlpool kind of thing. Others were more mild with subtle jets creating gentle curents or bubbles. There was even one that had salt so that you couldn't do anything but float! LOL It was the strangest feeling. I of course made the mistake of leaning forward and trying to swim when I first got in and my ass just went flying up to the surface and I ended up with a face full of salt water. ICK! LOL The salt water would've been a lot better if I hadn't had a big cut on my arm and razor burn on my legs. Can we say OUCH! Two of the pools allowed you to enter from indoors and swim outdoors. One of these indoor outdoor pools had these like gigantic faucet looking things on one side that all of a sudden started spurting out water and creating a pretty strong current. I walked under it and it about knocked my head off of my shoulders! LOL The spa was cool though, especially after a day of walking up and down hill in Nuremburg. We will definately be going back.

Well hope all is well with everyone at home. We will post more pictures soon. Take care and leave us more messages, I mean look at how much we write for you guys! LOL