Christmas Eve in Nuremberg Pt. 2
I seek out grocery stores everywhere I go. Sounds weird, sure, but it is something I do. That is where you find the real people, the true residents and culture of the city. It’s become a bit cliché to visit farm markets or large city market places (like our own Reading Terminal back in Philly) in an attempt to say you’ve found the true local culture, cliché to the point that they become tourist attractions in their own right. But I think to see a bit of what actually living somewhere is like, one should explore the regular stores in residential neighborhoods. What is regular life without a bit of the mundane, right? But even being rather mundane, it can still be an adventure as its fun to see the small differences in our daily lives apart from just the major things. As a cook, dropping into these places means even more to me, as I get to see what ingredients and delicacies they use here that we don’t get back home. We stumbled upon a Rewe grocery market, and were able to go in and do a bit of shopping. We wanted to get a few items to prepare a quick lunch and dinner for Christmas Eve/Day as we didn’t know what would be open, and needed a solid backup plan in case the answer was nothing. We wanted to grab a few snacks for the upcoming car ride as well. We found a can of herring in mustard sauce – a popular snack here – and picked up some fresh bread also. And of course gummi bears made their way into the basket! We browsed the beer and wine aisle, and actually found Gluhwein in a liter carton for 1.90 EUR! That’s for our Christmas toast later tonight. At checkout we picked up one of their reusable bags, but this one is a thick burlap with strong ropey handles. “Hallo, Umwelt!” with a simple globe drawing adorned the side, advertising its environmentally friendliness and also making a cute yet practical souvenir to take back home!
We made our way back to the altstadt with groceries slung over our shoulder in our Rewe bag, secretly hoping more than a few would think we were locals. Strolling through the Christmas Market for the last time while in Nuremberg, we again had a craving for the Drei im Weckle. I’m really going to miss these when we leave, they are so good! We went back to the stand where we got our first one yesterday, and ordered another two.
As he was about to hand them over to us, we said “Mit sauerkraut, bitte!”
He looked at us with wide eyes, and said “Oooooooooh, mit sauerkraaaaaaaaaut!” as he heaped huge amounts of the fermented cabbage onto our sausages. Did I mention how much I’m really going to miss these???
We had a good luck turn of the ring on the wishing well, had some white gluhwein (didn’t even know they had white before this), and bought our Christmas Market gift to ourselves – a paper-thin wood sheet with the city skyline cut into it, that wraps around a glass candle holder to silhouette the city around the light. Before leaving the market, we also peeked inside the Frauenkirche for a moment or two.
We followed the river, taking pictures of the waterfront buildings as we went – including the picturesque stone façade over the water that housed the dining room we were heading to for the evening. We decided on Restaurant Heilig-Geist-Spital for dinner. It looked so pretty there, they were open, and they were offering a special Christmas Eve menu that looked amazing. The restaurant was pretty busy, and was beautifully decorated for the holiday. We ordered from the special menu to share everything and were not disappointed. Goose is traditional here for the holidays like turkey is back in the states, but rather than settling on the pricey entrée we started with the goose soup. Not what we were expecting as it was actually creamy instead of a chicken or turkey soup style, but it was fabulous! A bit sweet, a bit sour, and deeply savory… I must find this recipe!! We also started with the tomato-orange soup... and I bet you probably have the same reaction reading that as we had when we read off the menu. It was very interesting, like a rich tomato soup but with that cutting tang of the orange. Beth then ordered the cheese spaetzle (German egg pasta) and I got the pork knuckle. All were fabulous, and left no room for dessert!
We spent the quiet Christmas evening strolling through the cobblestoned city streets, eventually winding up back up at the castle where the gentle glow of the giant decorated tree softly illuminated the grounds around us. Leaning over the walls we looked out at the city lights, all the houses probably filled with families enjoying their holidays together. Our families were back home, probably finishing up their own early Christmas Eve scrambles. This was our first time away from home over the holiday itself and we have lots of plans to visit everyone when we get back. But tonight we celebrated the holiday together, with the cool night air on our faces, a carton of cheap grocery store gluhwein in our bag, and the wonderful city of Nuremberg stretched out to the horizon below us.
Merry Christmas, Germany… and to everyone back home as well!
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