Stellar Breakfast, 2-Headed Baby Doll, Dead Rabbit Sculpture, More Tasty Eats (Nuremberg, Germany)

Lunch on Tiergartnertorplatz

The breakfast at Hotel Victoria was stellar.  The breakfast room has high ceilings and huge picture windows, which make it light and inviting.  You can also choose to sit outside if you can find an empty table.  There were many delicious choices including eggs, bacon, many breads, vegetables, fruits, several flavors of yogurt and cereals, juices and as always many cold cuts and cheeses.  I stuck with a pot of coffee but mom opted for a cappuccino.  This is the kind of breakfast I need to have everyday. 

Two Headed Doll at Toy Museum

First stop is to the Toy Museum.  It is three floors of antique and modern toys.  It houses a large doll collection, which totally wigged me out.  I have always hated dolls as I did and still see them as tiny, demon transmitting vessels from hell.  My fear of dolls was only amplified by this place.  There was a two-headed doll and also one that was positioned to crawl like a crab with belly to the air.  That is only the two most terrorizing, believe me there were more. 

Off to the Castle we go.  There is lots of cool castly things in the museum…. medieval weapons, armor, and other knights in shinning armor stuff.  We also went to the top of the tower, which gave fantastic views of the city. 

Another crappy history lesson:

There is a record of a castle at this location as early as 1105 and King Conrad III had a second built on the site in 1140.  In the 13^th Century Nuremberg became an Imperial Free City thus becoming the care of the city.  During WWII the castle was sadly damaged and only the Roman Double Chapel and Sinwell Tower survived.  It was restored after the war.

Durer Hare

We now head off along the numerous cobble-stoned streets that line the old city in search of the Dead Rabbit sculpture.  The sculpture is actually called Durer Hare and has sat in Tiergartnertorplatz since 1984.  It is a bronze and done by sculpture Jurgen Goertz.  Durer Hare is an odd little dude but very much worth a must see in my book.

We finally stumbled upon the Rabbit accidentally.  We were hungry and stopped to eat on Tiergartnertoplatz but there was some roadwork or cobblestone work being done and didn’t see it until the work truck moved and Little Dead Dude was reveled.

Nuremberg Castle

For lunch I had boiled sausage again…. can’t get enough of it.  Mom had potato pancakes with delicious applesauce.  Seriously why is the food so good here?

Mustn’t forget that it is ridiculously hot here right now.  Back at the hotel we had drinks and let the girls place in the fountain to cool off.   The play lasted only a few minutes before all were back at the table as Meika had kept her flip-flops on and taken a mighty spill.  She didn’t even cry and the cut was a good one, on the verge of needing stitches.  Cortney, the good little nurse, took perfect care of the injury and brave little Meika was good to go.  Her knee will bother her a bit the next few days but healed up well.

There was a major music festival going on and it was almost impossible to find food in the evening.  Germans do know how to have a good time that is for sure.  In the end we went back to our Lederhosen wearing server for dinner. Cortney and I split that beautiful salad again and a pork wiener schnitzel.  Once again a brilliant meal. 

View from the Castle

 

Freak Flip Flop Fountain Injury

Museums that Inspire, Hate Minimalist Art and Tasty Grub (Cologne, Germany)

Another long, yummy breakfast to get the day started right. 

The great thing about staying near the train station is that I was able to grab a ticket to Nuremburg while I passed through the station to start my day.

Jumped off the Hop On/Off at Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum on Nuermarkt because they had an exhibit called ‘14 days in Benin’ by photographer Albert Watson.  It was a wonderful exhibit and glad I added it to my day.  It got me stocked for the Western Africa portion of this trip to be sure.

Turns out this is a pretty cool museum in general.  I spent quite a bit of time in the regular exhibit on World Culture.  It covered everything from culture, language and customs.  They also had an area on Burkina Faso dealing with the masks, costumes and dance rituals.  Like the Benin exhibit this bit got me pumped for Burkina too. 

Lunch at Ludwig Museum

Back on the bus and to the center of town to check out Museum Ludwig.  This museum covers Pop art, Modern and Minimalist arts.  I enjoyed all but the minimalist art.  Minimalist art sucks at least for me.  I have never liked it and just don’t get it…. I too can paint a canvas black. 

I grabbed a delicious quiche, salad and local wine while people watching at the Museum Ludwig Café. 

Just those few things on the itinerary lead to another wonderful, long day. 

Wandering Cape Coast, Ghana

View of Cape Coast Castle

I am staying in the older part of town and decide as I usually do the first day in a new place to simple wander.   It is smallish town with a bustling market and active vendors.  There is a statue of a Crab about a ½ mile down from the hotel on the way to the beach.  This Crab statue will before a location device and meeting place on my stays in Cape Coast. It seems to be the central area and a bit of a round about to boot. 

If you turn left you go over London Bridge that leads you to a road that lines the fishing area.  This area is much more interesting to watch as lots of kids are about playing in the streets as the smell of fresh caught and drying fish permeates the air.  Love that smell.  After less than a mile you end up at the Cape Coast Castle. 

I decided to wait until tomorrow to check out the Castle.  While watching the waves crash against the rocks around the castle a street artist approached to chat.  Often I will try to get out of talking to sellers but decided to see where the conversation went.  In the end my new friend Evans and I talked and walked the beach and town for hours.  He had been hanging in front of the Cape Coast Beach Restaurant waiting for a tour group to finish so he could try to sell his wears.  

Along the beach in Cape Coast pigs rule the manor.  They root around for food and dig down to wet sand to nap in.  I guess the saying here would be ‘Happy as a pig in sand’, not mud.

Walking around fishing areas has always been a highlight for me wherever I am and Ghana is no different.  Actually, the smells here are much fresher than in most of Asia. 

The fishing boats here are long, large and canoe like.  Many are brightly colored with blues, reds and yellows.  All are in varying degrees of disrepair.  When you look across the expanse of 10-20 of these boats it really is quite majestic. 

Red Red

I ate my first Red Red at the Cape Coast Castle Beach Restaurant. Red Red with Chicken is my  new favorite dish ever!!!!! it consists of black eyed peas with a red, palm oil based Ghanaian curry like sauce with fried plantains. For sure my new favorite food ever.    The restaurant’s menu will satisfy anyone.  It ranges from Western  breakfast foods to local dishes and everything in between.  Several pages long in fact.  There is also an excellent selection of spirits.  The spacious, open sitting is amazing especially with that ocean breeze coming in.  One could hang here for quite some time. 

I managed to get myself back to The Prospect to meet Obehi for a tiny dinner.  Nothing on the menu made me happy as my head was filled with visions of Red Red and chicken.  (I am writing this a week or two after I ate that Red Red for the first time and I have had it several times since…and yes, it still makes me as happy as when Bev sends me my 2 minute Thai Noodles from New Zealand).