After lunch, we head back down into the old town, heading toward the gorgeous gothic Sebalduskirche which just dominates the square. 

We have plenty of time before our Underground Art Bunker tour at 1:00, so we plop ourselves down at a café across from the church for cappuccino and milchekaffee – which came in a bowl! Sitting on the square, enjoying our coffee, we watched as person after person came up to our table and took pictures above our heads (and the umbrella that covered us).  We didn’t know it at the time, but when we left we found we had been sitting under these amazing sculpted windows!  

Time for the tour, we head back to the upper Old Town, passing the Albrecht Durer statue on the appropriately named Albreht-Durer-Platz, which was one of the few monuments left standing after the war.  Then up to wait at the entrance for our tour.

In a word, amazing!!!! We can’t say enough about the Underground Art Bunker tour – First of all, those Nazis thought of everything. They used this – the biggest – and other beer cellars to store all the precious artwork during the war. Couldn’t fit it all but they fit a lot- or their own artwork and a lot of stolen art too. We learned about all the different tunnels and cellars, saw the firefighting equipment the townsfolk had to help extinguish fires, listened to explanations on how some of the monuments were boarded, or even bricked up, to preserve them, saw where St. Mary’s altar was stored and learned of all the bombings in the city of Nuremberg. Fascinating!

Plus, the guide was a hoot.  He had all sorts of quips and funny stories – including about the rebuilding of the city – and why the city officials chose to build this one “ugly” building in place of the old gorgeous architecture.  He also talked about Monuments Men – the book, which he thought was excellent, and the movie, which he says is “George Clooney’s 3^rd worst movie”.  Never got him to tell us what the #1 and #2 were!

Still with plenty of afternoon left, we hit the City History Museum. Again, fantastic. Housed in an old residential home restored just for this purpose. We learned so much about Nuremberg with city models showing the war destruction, photographs, paintings, a great table with city outlined etched in it.

On one floor there are rooms after rooms of gorgeous carved wood cabinets and wood decorative panels, rococo ceilings, painted ceilings, painted wood slatted ceilings saved from destruction during the war and reinstalled here as one of the last remaining ceiling types of its kind in all of Germany.

There were great VR presentations where we put on goggles and could explore around the Hauptmarkt and the Frauenkirche back in the 1500s. And a fab before/after/now photo presentation of city/war destruction/reconstruction.

• Hauptmarkt
• Albrecht Durer-Platz
• Fleischbrucke
• Egidienplatz (With the “ugly” building that our underground tour guide talked about)

Excellent visit.  On our way back to the apartment, we walked through the Hauptmarkt past the Schoner Brunnen (the replica 14^th C fountain built to resemble a Gothic spire) and the Frauenkirche sitting front and center, past the Wurst museum which is sadly closed, and along the gorgeous Pegnitz riverbanks with its covered bridges. 

Close to the apartment, we wander through this really cool old cemetery surrounding the Firedhof St. Johannis.  As we are leaving, we found a map showing the location of Albrecht Durer’s grave.  Sweet – we will go in search of him tomorrow.

Later in the afternoon, we make a run to Rewe for dinner supplies, passing the lovely little park that a couple have created in a niche between the shops.  There are seating areas and little fountains, as well as this really creative birdfeeder – with cute little sparrows and Eurasion Blue Tits pecking at the food. 

Taking it easy, we hang out at the apartment, thankfully in cool weather, and have an  awesome dinner of smoked Nuremberg sausages and kartoffellsalat, gazing at the “beautiful” view from the terrace (when you use the super zoom inbetween the many rooftops that separate you from the church towers).