Nürnberg Christkindlmarkt

Day 5 of the advent calendar meant a short trip to Nürnberg to check out one of the most famous Christmas Markets.

There were plenty of bratwürsts, lebkuchen, and glühweins consumed. The variety of glühwein was immense and included blueberry, elderberry, and white wine. The consensus was elderberry was the best, because it wasn't so sweet.

We brought back some of the 'bruch' (broken) lebkuchen, which actually aren't broken at all, but the package presentation isn't as nice as those that are giftable. We also picked up some white glühwein that was named after Albrecht Dürer - the famed printmaker and painter from Nürnberg.

I love the markets, however there are a few things I would improve upon - adding a soup stand for a food option and those outdoor restaurant heaters or fire pits. Spending a few hours outside in the snow means even with several layers the elements begin to really take their toll. We were all frozen to the bone as we ventured back to the train station.

The Christmas season always passes too quickly, but I'm looking forward to visiting more christmas markets before we have to miss them for another year. I'll post photos soon!

Karottenkuchen

My father in law is a great baker. He is always making tortes and cakes that are unique and delicious. I keep hoping that Stefan will gain his skills through osmosis or over time, however it's not looking likely. Fortunately, my father in law is willing to share his recipes and entertain my desire to bake.

I often joke that Germans add apples to virtually every dish. Since living here I have seen apples in salads, potato salad, cakes, yogurts, sauces, and ice creams. When in doubt or if a baked good is remotely moist, the answer is often apples. My mother in law said she never thought about it until I mentioned it and now agrees.

This weekend my father in law made a delicious carrot cake with... you guessed it - apples. His cake reminded me a lot of the lebkuchen from Nürnberg, because it also doesn't have flour and instead uses ground almonds. It's easily the best carrot cake I've ever had.

I'm going to attempt this German recipe with more predictable results. Hopefully I am able to replicate it and put it into my permanent recipe collection, although I will make mine cupcakes with a dollop of cream cheese frosting.

Nürnberg

Yesterday I made it to Nürnberg (Nuremberg for people from the US). We had just under two hours on the train, which was a nice ride.

The city is known for a lot of things, including lebküchen, the largest International toy fair (which begins next week), The Nürnberg Trials, Heilig-Geist-Spital, which housed lepers and was one of the largest in medieval times, the Nuremberg Kaiserburg, a castle made of sandstone rock (below) and Albrecht Dürer, the great artist.



It's a really beautiful city that of course has tons of history to go along with it. We walked all day and stumbled upon some great things.

The Hauptmarkt is a smaller take on Munich's Viktualienmarkt, with plenty of fresh foods + flowers. Located directly behind that is the Schöner Brunnen. This is the fountain I mentioned previously that holds the lucky golden ring. Finding the ring, without loads of tourists there to ogle it was a different story and took some time.



Several things struck me - they love their polar bears... Nürnberg is where the polar bear recently gave birth to twins, one of which disappeared and the other named Flocke is Germany's newest Knut. It's rumored Munich zoo is getting a baby polar bear as well. I really hope if they do they'll put some money towards the polar bear habitat there, because it's not so great. As we walked through the city it was evident the people are very proud of their polar bears, demonstrated through window displays and in several pastry shops.



The city itself is really quite old, and was a major trade route from Italy + Northern Europe. While the city was bombed during WWII and ninety percent was demolished, they seemed to have rebuilt very nicely.



I was happy to see the Albrecht Dürer Haus, where the artist mapped the stars of the northern and southern hemispheres and created many beautiful engravings, woodcuts, and watercolor paintings. His rabbit statue is a bit strange, but that seemed to be the norm around the city. Very bizarre sculptures.

There are plenty of churches for devout Catholics that dot the city. As we were exiting the door to one of the churches was really heavy. After getting it open a little old German man said he thought there was a child on the other side. We got a good laugh out of that. The interiors are distinctly different, however my favorite church was St. Klara, which is close to the train station. It's a beautiful ultra modern church with a lot of character and great design elements. It also had a slightly kitschy touch in the prayer room that sort of screamed 'viva las vegas'.



Also no surprise... I loved the lebküchen - the German gingerbread that Nürnberg is so well known for. I went for the moist ones with a bit less sugar, but they are divine. If Stefan's lucky I might just share them with him.

Luck in Germany

Brock + Manel invited me to go to Nürnberg tomorrow, to enjoy the small Bavarian city that is well known for their lebküchen (christmas cookies). Surprisingly I have not been, especially with history that I find so appealing - it was on an old Roman trade route and home to the master print maker, Albrecht Dürer.

It seems many German cities have a legend to go with something you touch. In Munich it is the four lions by the Residenz, however you are only to touch three for luck, touching all four is greedy.

In Frankfurt there was a feng shui Chinese garden created in memory of the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Guarding this park are two lions and it is said to bring luck if you spin the ball in their mouth. This was one of my favorite places to spend my days when we lived there.

Nürnberg appears to be no different. They have a ring in the Schönebrunnen. Their legend says the daughter of a nobel man fell in love with a blacksmith, who her father didn't approve of. In order to prove his love and skill he created this seamless brass ring in the middle of a monument in the Market Square. The nobel man had a change of heart and the blacksmith and his love were able to be together. They say that if you turn the seamless ring 3 times with your love, you'll have a love that endures the test of time.

Hopefully I will be up for that and see what kinds of trouble we can get into. I'd also like to check out the rock cut caves that beer was made and stored in. If it's anything like the chalk caves where they make champagne in Reims, it will be really fascinating!