Jonathan Neufeld Outdoor adventure photography and mountain life

Today was one of those rare days, looking out my window I could see stunning green hills and crystal blue skies. I mean pure blue, the kind of blue that makes you look twice becuase you can’t believe that such a blue exists… just amazing. I went for a short drive around town, just doing some chores and errands mostly, but with the windows rolled down and signing along to French radio and mangling the words; it was fantastic. Unfortunately I had to work most of the day, it would have been perfect for hiking, climbing, picnicking, walking, reading, running, really.. just about anything other than working! At least I could work with the balcony door open in January though, there is that.

I am really hoping that we are still here when I get back from my time off. It isn’t often that I really hope for that, but I feel like I haven’t explored enough of this island yet, for one thing I haven’t even found the motorcycle rental place!

I think tonight I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves and tomorrow I’ll add the words.

The outside of the old hospital in the previous post

Figure on a statue in the main market square

Cars parked on an angle

Part of the castle with the moon in the background, I really liked the sky in this one

A better shot of the same castle

Click here for another alternate version

Towers on the outside of the castle

Saturday and Sunday are definitely different. Where Saturday is vibrant, busy and jam-packed (sort of like some cookies I know…) Sunday is quiet, restrained and contemplative. Saturday would be the campus bar and Sunday would be the library, or perhaps more appropriately the Church.

We were walking along a little side street, doing some semi-random navigation and an old bent-over lady with shocking white hair stopped us and started chattering in German, clearly telling us that there was something nearby we had to go see. I had to ask her to repeat it and she threw in some English words the second time and we figured out to go up the staircase and through the low, iron-clad door. Through the door we found this:

A 400 year-old hospital, and it was completely devoid of people. It is currently used for housing and there is a restaurant on the other side, which coincidentally I’ve eaten at twice already without knowing that this part was here.

If you were to turn around and look behind you,  you’d see this:

I like the date on that, 1371…. wow. I’m pretty sure the date-stone is modern but the carving it refers to must have survived the war.

Working towards the far end in the first picture you go past arches on rough cobblestones to find this:

I can’t remember who this fellow was but he was interred here in 1426.

Some more semi random navigation, wandering amongst the streets and stopping for sausages, we seemed to follow the wall almost subconsciously.

The wall eventually lead to a gate and going through the gate we followed along the canal for a while, gawking at houses, watching cats climb out of trees, and mostly enjoying the walk in and of itself.

I really like that scene, the moodiness of the sky, the water and the spire in the background; very cool.

I added an interactive Google map of all the places I’ve been over the last few years. Check it out here and let me know if it works well. You can also get to it by clicking on the world map at the bottom of “Where is Jon?”   PS (Blue = Work, Green = Fun)

Today I allowed myself the afternoon off, it is Saturday after all, and I caught the train to downtown Nuremberg. The Hauptbahnhoff takes you into the lower section of the Old City which is surrounded by walls with immense round towers for defenses. I have posted enough pictures of walls and towers though so instead I’ll post one of two skeletons battling on top of an iguana.

yup, that whole fountain was very surreal. The figures were all very distorted and grotesque, it was unsettling somehow.  The street were thronged with people today, everyone shopping and walking around and just milling about the old downtown, it was great. It didn’t feel claustrophobic like the urban settings often can, rather it felt natural and enjoyable.

I also made my way up to the old imperial castle, it wasn’t spectacular and you could tell they had the best parts locked up and shut away from tourists. Mostly I just cruised around, people watched, enjoyed the windy moody weather and spent time away from the computer.

On the way back from the palace i saw something else kinda weird that definitely needed a picture taken:

Yup, thats a mannequin…  what else can I say?

Today we had dinner up in the Citadel, an amazing 14th century building and an amazing 3hr dinner… I also stood on the quay and watched massive white waves break against huge towers. Unfortunately I’m pretty tired tonight so I’ll probably write about it tomorrow.