yk's trip to Nürnberg, Bayreuth, Bamberg & Würzburg - with lots of spargel!
 

Hi fellow Fodorites-

I went on a 1-week solo trip in mid-April this year to Northern Bavaria region (aka Franconia) and visited several towns including Nürnberg, Bayreuth, Bamberg & Würzburg.

The trip was wonderful, and I really enjoyed my visit in April for the following reasons:

1) LACK of tourists. For the most part, the tourists I saw are German-speaking. In Bayreuth, I think I was the only tourist in town. I didn't run into any Japanese tour groups until I reached Würzburg. I didn't even hear any American English until my last day in Frankfurt.

2) Beautiful weather. Spring has just arrived in Germany during that time of year. Everything in sight is blooming. Temperatures were 40s at night and high 60s during the day. Perfect!

3) <b>Spargel</b> season. I first had spargel (white asparagus) in Salzburg in 2003. Had them again in Antwerp in 2005. This time, I had it every day - I think. They are so fragrant and tender, just absolutely delicious.

Actual trip report to come...

<b>Day 0 - leaving Dallas</b>

I arrived at the airport way too early... Spent a few hours at the AA Admirals Club in Terminal D. Finally got on the plane and sat in an aisle seat (economy of course) on a completely full 777.

Is it my imagination or is the food serving size getting smaller on AA (compared to my transatlantic trip 5 months ago)? I'm not a big eater, but even I find the portions a bit on the small side. I was not able to sleep much at all, and was just happy to get off the plane 9+ hours later.

[BTW, I bought my ticket on AA with my destination as N&uuml;rnberg. AA has codeshare with DB, so my ticket includes 2 r/t train portions on the DB train. FYI, the prices of the plane tickets DFW-FRA or DFW-N&uuml;rnberg are exactly the same, so it's a pretty good deal doing DFW-N&uuml;rnberg and get the train portion &quot;for free&quot;.]

<b>Day 1 - N&uuml;rnberg</b>

My plane arrived just after 7am. Without any checked luggage, I was out within minutes. It took me a while to find an ATM (none in the airport, several at the train station).

I walked to the Fernbanhof (long-distance train station) and caught an earlier Eurocity train to N&uuml;rnberg. The conductor took a look at my rail coupon (which is actually a flight coupon) and gave it back to me. She didn't tear it out or stamp it or anything.

I arrived at N&uuml;rnberg at 10:30am. The train station is located in the SE corner of the old town, just outside the old city wall. My hotel, <b>Gasthaus Pillhofer</b>, was very easy to find. It is about a 2-min walk from the train station. The tourist information center is located right across the street from the hotel. My room wasn't ready though, unfortunately. I was hoping to freshen up with a shower and a change of clothes. I left my suitcase there and went sightseeing.
http://www.pillhofer.net/hotel.htm

The old town of N&uuml;rnberg is easy to navigate, and very walkable. I followed my guidebook, visited St. Lorenz Kirche (with a famous woodcarve work by Veit Stoss), Hauptmarkt, Schoner Brunnen, Altes Rathaus. I continued on North towards the <b>Imperial Castle</b> located in the north end of the old town. It was quite a hike up hill to the castle.

The castle grounds is free, but to see the buildings inside require a ticket and guided tour. As I was feeling tired, I didn't have the energy to go on the tour, so I just walked around the grounds.

Lunch was at <b>Gastst&auml;tte Burgw&auml;chter</b>, which was located just at the exit ramp of the Castle. You cannot miss it. Despite its strategic location, there were only 3-4 other diners there. I guess this is really not the peak tourist season yet. They have fresh <i>spargel</i>, so I ordered the traditional dish - <i>spargel mit butter und neuen kartoffeln</i> (asparagus with butter and new potatoes). Total for lunch was &euro;15.
http://www.restaurant-burgwaechter.de/

After lunch, I walked around part of the old city wall in the East side of the town. Even though N&uuml;rnberg was bombed during WW II, about 90% of its city wall still remains.

Next was visiting <b>Albrecht Durer's house</b>. He is the most famous artist from N&uuml;rnberg. He lived in this house for quite many years. An audioguide in English was available. None of the artwork in the house is the original, but some of the furniture and the kitchen was from his time.

I was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the tour, so I headed back to the hotel for a nap. The next 2.5hrs went by like it was just 5 minutes. I had a hard time peeling myself away from the bed.

The <b>Neues Museum</b> (Museum of Contemporary Art) stays open until 8pm. It is located just behind of my hotel (my room window actually faces it). It holds contemporary art after 1945. It is quite interesting. Most works are by German artists whom I've never heard of, but I saw a few familiar names including Richter, Beuys, Thomas Ruff, and Candida H&ouml;fer. The current special exhibition is quite interesting too, with works by Christiane M&ouml;bus.
http://www.nmn.de/

Given that I was still tired, I decided to eat at the hotel. Afterall, my hotel is more of a restaurant, with a few rooms to let. Dinner was so-so. I had a platter of meat (pork and beef) with potato dumplings. I didn't finish it as the meat was too salty. Dinner was &euro;15.

Despite being tired and jet-lagged, I really enjoyed my day in N&uuml;rnberg. It is small enough to enjoy it by foot, and most buildings within the city wall are historic without many modern chain stores.

Hi y,

I'm looking forward to the rest of your report! Wurzburg and Bamberg are two of my favorites. We'll be in Wurzburg in about 3.5 weeks.

This is great - thanks, yk! The tip about booking the tickets to N&uuml;rnburg was a great one for those who can use AA. I'll be following this report to see your experiences in these cities AND solo traveling.

Brava daaaaling, so far this is great. =D&gt; I can see you have your brother's talent for writing trip reports. Or should I say, he has YOUR talent!! :-d

And no, it's not your imagination that AA serves small portions. Their food barely qualifies as &quot;snacks,&quot; and it s/b a crime against travel to call AA's food a meal. :-(

Thanks and looking forward to more.

yk,

Great report, I can't wait for more!

I have two rooms booked at the Pillhofer at the end of this month. How was it? I won't change regardless of your opinion, I'm just interested in your impression. I read several good reviews about it before I booked. Great location as we're arriving by train.

MvK

yk,

Last year we visited Franken (Franconia) for the first two weeks of April. We were just ahead of the flowering season, but it was a great trip.

During two army tours in Germany I was assigned in W&uuml;rzburg and N&uuml;rnberg. It is still my favorite area of Germany for travel and late this spring we are going back with our kids. There are more tourists in the summer, but excepting Rothenburg (also in Franken) the area never seemed inundated to me.

The American military presence in N&uuml;rnberg is long gone and it is going in W&uuml;rzburg, else you might have heard a great deal of &quot;American English&quot;.

Regards, Gary

MvK-

I will probably post a more detailed hotel report at the end, but to answer your Q - Gasthaus Pillhofer is fine. Thanks for suggesting it. The single I got is very spacious. In terms of service, there's minimal. I don't think they really cleaned my room during my 3 nights' stay except for emptying the trash can. No change of bedsheets or towels, but that doesn't bother me (I don't change mine at home every day anyway!). I got a free bottle of still water (750ml) each day in my room, which I thought was a nice gesture.

My room faces the back, and it's quiet. I would be somewhat concerned about a room facing the front, as the restaurant has an outdoor patio in the front and I think it can be noisy - esp on weekends with drunk diners.

There is no elevator in the hotel, and the rooms begin on the 3rd floor (ie 4th floor in US). And don't expect anyone offering to carry your luggage for you.

There's no front desk for the hotel, and no offer of maps etc. It really is more of a restaurant than a hotel.

The front door locks at 12MN I believe, but the room key can let you in.

Breakfast buffet spread is a bit lacking compared to other B&amp;Bs I've been. The choices are not much, but definitely not lacking in quantity.

Before I continue on with the trip report, let me just say a little about the <b>language</b> issue...

I have visited Germany a few times and had never had a problem with language. I know about 20 German words, so pretty much I rely on the Germans speaking English.

Before this trip, I never anticipated language to be a problem at all, and I was surprised.

In N&uuml;rnberg, Bayreuth, and Bamberg, I came across many who do not speak much (if any) English. And these are people who work in the tourist industry, such as waitresses in restaurants recommeneded by guidebooks, or people who sell tickets at tourist sites. Most restaurants (again, listed in guidebooks) do not have an English menu, and most tourist sites only have German-guided tours.

I guess I was surprised somewhat because even though these towns are not must-sees, they are still tourist destinations (eg, Bayreuth festival or Bamberg which is a UNESCO site).

Nonetheless, I never really ran into any difficulty during my trip. I was able to decipher the menu enough to order food, and with some gesturing and guessing, able to get to where I needed to go.

Of course, the people who work at Tourist Information centers speak excellent English.

Language problems? Considering the US Military presence in that area that ended 12 years ago, you'd think it there would be NO problem at all.

Guess I'll find out when we visit at the end of this month. Luckily, my German skills are a bit more extensive that yours, not much, just a bit.

MvK

YK,

Thanks for the report, I'm looking forward to the rest! These are some towns I'm considering for my next trip (first to Germany) so I appreciate your impressions, recommendations.

We ran into quite a few people in Nuremberg who didn't speak much English, and that surprised me - based on the relatively recent American military presence.

We took the tour at the castle, and it was only in German and I think we were the only non-German speakers on the tour - our German is marginal, good enough to order food, get directions, read signs, do some basic shopping, but that is about it. The guide spoke clearly and repeated some things for us so that we could get the gist of what she was talking about. She was really great.

Thank's for sharing, yk.

((I))

J_Correa - Now I'm really glad that I didn't take the tour of the N&uuml;rnberg Castle! I don't think I would survive a German tour of it in my jet-lagged state. Plus it was a very warm day that day (must be high 70s) and I wasn't dressed appropriately.

<b>L&auml;nder-Ticket</b>

I took advantage of the L&auml;nder-Ticket on 2 days of my trip. To be more specific, I'm referring to the L&auml;nder-Ticket for Bavaria, aka the Bayern Ticket.
http://tinyurl.com/2883al

It is a good deal. One can travel unlimited times on IRE, RE, RB trains of DB during a one-day period. One has to travel after 9am if it is a weekday.

For a single traveler like me, the Bayern Single is &euro;19. But for groups of 2 to 5 people the Bayern Ticket is &euro;27, which is even better.

In addition to travels on DB trains, the ticket is also valid for local transportation at towns - including S-bahn, buses, trams etc.

If one buys the Bayern ticket from the ticket office, one has to pay a &euro;2 surcharge.

At N&uuml;rnberg train station, there are 2 types of ticket machines that sell the Bayern Ticket:

Machine #1 &quot;Fahrkarten&quot;
This is operated by DB. It is newer and has a fancy touchscreen menu. English is available. It only sells DB tickets and only takes Credit Card (or debit card). Overall, it's easier to navigate the menu and very user friendly.

Machine #2 &quot;Fahrscheine&quot;
Somewhat older machine operated by the local transportation company. It sells local transport tickets as well as some DB tickets. It has English also, but harder to navigate. It only takes cash.

The Bayern ticket has a date printed on it, so one does not need to &quot;validate&quot; the ticket before use.

The language issue is surprising. But I guess the places are probably not the most popular ones for tourists.

As you know I was just in Germany also. Both Heidelberg castle and Rothenburg o.d.T. actually offered English tours. I guess they are more popular.

&gt;surprising
Why would american army bases in a foreign country make locals learn English. It's strange that someone stays in a foreign country for years and doesn't learn the local language.

I can't speak for others, but I was mainly surprised because the people I interacted with are those who work in the tourist industry, so I kind of expect them to speak some English.