Our goals of the day were to head west into Germany, to the Franconia region south of Saxony and Dresden. We'd spend the afternoon and night in Nuremberg, a city we first visited in 2015 and still our favorite in Germany. It's also near the home of our good friends Owen and Brigitte, who would join us for the rest of the trip! I really wanted to see Richard Wagner's Bayreuth Festspielhaus along the way. Melissa's health was much improved, but Lorna got the same bug, now recognized as a norovirus, much worse. This impacted the rest of the trip.
I had tickets for an opera in Munich, but along the way we would drive through the small town of Bayreuth, where the brilliant German composer Richard Wagner built his perfect opera house for staging performance of his operas. As far as I know, Wagner was very well respected as a composer, but not particularly well-loved as a human being. His operas are truly masterpieces, although not to the taste of all opera fans. One of the best known pieces in all of western music, the famous "Here comes the bride" wedding march, came from his 4.5 hour opera Lohengrin.
Along the drive through far western Czechia and then Upper Franconia from Karlovy Vary to Bayreuth, we stopped at a funny little husband-and-wife imbißstüberl (snack bar) in Neubauer Forst-Sud. They were very chatty, in German, but quite friendly. This isn't the kind of place you go to for a Michelin star, but the ladies needed a rest room, and I was happy for the opportunity to get the wurst of the situation: I got a currywurst, another common now-classic sausage of finely ground pork with enough curry seasoning to not only flavor it but to color it distinctly yellow inside. I didn't think it would be the Next Big Thing in the USA, but I'm glad that I got to try it. After a little while, I heard the wife whistling the old Sinatra favorite "Fly Me to the Moon" I sang along with her as best I could, and her husband hummed a bass line and drummed the counter. That was fun!
Then we stopped in Goldkronach in the Bayreuth district. Goldkronach was once a site of gold mines, and the great explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt lived here for a while working on local herblore and other advances for the good of the miners. There’s a Humboldt Gasthaus (guest-house, or B&B) and Melissa and I shopped at the Humboldt Apotheke where we got currywurst potato chips, Goldberger liqueur, and some Perenterol to combat lingering gastrointestinal distress. Goldkronach is a quiet, pretty little town in Upper Franconia but I didn't see a lot of tourist activity or attractions there.
In Bayreuth, Melissa and I looked at the Festspielhaus complex and the workers getting everything prepared for the Festspiele coming in mid-June. The Festspiele is an annual event showcasing Wagner's operas, and it is sold out 10 years in advance. I've given up all hope of every seeing an opera there, but I wanted to see the place as part of my tour of the great opera houses of Europe, and I was not disappointed.
Also in Bayreuthe is the Margravial Opera House, older than the Festspielhaus, and grander, but we did not get to see the inside.
As we drove on, Lorna got violently sick. We had paper towels in my big suitcase, and some workers were able to give us a couple of plastic bags for her soiled clothing.
When we arrived in Nuremberg, we settled into two rooms. Lorna was sick some more and wanted only water and sleep. Melissa was mostly recovered, not 100% but well enough to see the city. Nuremberg is a beautiful city with many marvels.
Owen and Brigitte came into town and Melissa and I explored with them until dinner time. They're great traveling companions who traveled with us in Venice and Verona in 2023 and in Vienna and Venice last year. We crossed the lovers’ island to the other side of the river, and we saw the famous Carousel of Marriage sculpture and much scenery and architecture. I especially like the river views. At the Steiff shop I bought a colorful parrot for Lorna.
At 7:00 PM we ate at Weinstuben at a great table in the window above the river. Melissa wasn’t feeling well, so she went back to the hotel while we ate and planned the next few days. I did not note what Brigitte got. Owen and I had Krustenschäufele mit rohem Kloß und Sauerkraut (crispy roasted pork shoulder (on the blade bone) with potato dumpling and sauerkraut). When ordering, Owen asked for the “schäufele” (the exact same thing with way fewer syllables). The sauerkraut was soft and somewhat sweet. As in Prague and in Karlovy Vary (and in Austria last May) there was a special spargel menu for asparagus season. We got no dessert.
My thoughts on German food from two visits to Nuremberg and Munich, and last year's trip to Austria: this is no place for a vegetarian and worse for a pescatarian. Remoteness from the sea means most fresh fish is farmed river fish. If you're lucky you can get trout, but there's also Zander and Carp, both of which were, to us spoiled from New England's seafood bounty, bland and of a disappointing texture. Thanks to the spargelmenu, it was easier for vegetarian Melissa to eat than for her pescatarian mother. The desserts were excellent, on those occasions that we had them.
When I returned to the hotel at 9:30 both of the women were asleep.
We stayed at the hotel Karl August, Augustinerhof. Parking is in a public lot beneath the Augustinerplatz. It was a very nice place. We had two rooms. Lorna was very ill, but the front desk was accommodating and very friendly. The location was excellent; we would stay there again if we return to Nuremberg, so far our favorite German city.