We set our alarms for 6:30am to catch our 8:34am train to Cheb. The train had been “cancelled” but in a weird way that an English speaker might be confused about. We had coffee and bread and cheese in our room and then checked out. The elevator in the hallway made a sound as the doors opened that sounded like “cheezin”. Certainly the elevator isn’t talking about cheese, right? I like to imagine a weird world of whimsy sometimes… 

We walked for twenty minutes to the train station through the old city centre of Prague, arriving at the station for 8am. We figured out that our train was leaving from platform number four, using the station signs and then went on a side quest to find ourselves some more coffee. The coffee used up the last bit of our Czech koruna, the last of which we left in the tip jar on the counter. We then walked to our platform where our train was already waiting, and boarded right away. We sat in our assigned seats (apparently if you book on the Czech website you get to choose your seats for free whereas the German website charges a fee to choose a seat). If you do not have a seat assigned then you can sit in any seat that does not have a destination marked above the seat on a sign. 

On the train journey I saw nine deer and a big billboard that read “Snow Bitch” in a small village. I assume that the “Snow Bitch” billboard was in Czech and did not in fact say what I think it said (if anyone has insight into this, please let me know. The mystery is killing me). The train to Cheb was delayed and we were briefly afraid that we might miss our connection, but the train made up the time and we arrived in Cheb just after 11:27am as scheduled. From Cheb we boarded a train to Pegnitz (it was supposed to be direct to Nuremberg but was cancelled). The transfer was really easy, the train from Prague even listed all the outgoing trains from Cheb and what platforms to go to for the connections. 

The train from Cheb to Pegnitz took about an hour. From Pegnitz we jumped on a bus just outside the station to the right, that took us the remaining distance and another hour, arriving at Nuremberg station at 2:00pm. We would have arrived earlier had the train from Pegnitz to Nuremberg not been cancelled, but we were just happy to have arrived despite the scary email saying that train had been cancelled. 

From Nuremberg station we walked to our accommodation via a pretzel stand where we both bought a delicious stuffed pretzel! We arrived at our accommodation around 2:30pm after a lovely walk through the old town of Nuremberg. The accommodation was a self check in system so we got the key and let ourselves in. The room was a little loft with high ceilings and a bed above the kitchen. The room was cozy with a stacked kitchen, everything you could need or want!

We settled in the room quickly, leaving to explore Nuremberg not soon after. Nuremberg castle was barely 200 metres from our accommodation. It was a super steep walk up to the main gate, but from the top you were afforded incredible views over the city and the orange rooftops of Nuremberg. We wandered inside the castle gates where there was traditional German Tudor style architecture or Fachwerk, the type of style where the wooden framing is exposed on the exterior of the buildings in a sort of gingerbread looking way. The window boxes were full of red and pink geraniums.

We went inside a little cafe and ordered two Gluhwein (hot wine). The server asked if we wanted red or white or a kind called “Heidlbeer”, but that was one euro more. I asked her which was her favourite and she said the Heidelbeer, so I said “ok, that one!” She suggested we get one red and one Heidelbeer to compare and I agreed but said that the more delicious one would be for me, and we both laughed at Jives. She said to let her know which one was better after we finished. Our pipping hot drinks arrived at the table and mine was sooooo much better. The Heidelbeer tasted like it had more spices while the red wine was fruitier and a bit sweeter. Jives like the red wine one better, perfect! We drank our drinks (next to a cute bunny statue) and then went to leave. I told the lady that my drink was better!

We then walked around the castle grounds and gardens, all perched up over the city. Lots of lovely blooms were left despite the fall weather. We then found a lovely section of the castle wall that you could walk along, overlooking the cobblestone city below!

We then visited a beerhall style restaurant called “Bratwurst Roslein”. I ordered from their actually quite large vegetarian section, getting the “Maultaschen” which is a pasta dumpling usually filled with meat, but mine was full of winter vegetables and spinach and cheese. It also came with a delicious salad. Jives ordered six sausages with sauerkraut and traditional potato salad with a side pretzel that we drenched in mustard that was provided at each table. We each got a local red beer (also amazing). The food came so fast! The food was so good, despite looking like an establishment that might have been made just from tourists. The bill came to forty euro, but I also gave a 10% tip. 

We then went to the grocery store nearby and got a loaf of bread for .98 euro cents, cheese for 1.30 euro and two bottles of local beer, a tomato and a bottle of Heidelbeer like the kind I had at the castle, for 2.40 euro. The whole grocery bill came to 7.77 euro! Wow!!! We dropped our groceries off at the accommodation and then we climbed up to the castle once more to find a bench and watch the sunset with our bottle of local beer. The city lights slowly came on and the sun set, it was perfect.