NUREMBERG.
In the morning Mr. Winter said, "I will give one day to you for
sight-seeing, and then I must attend to business. You will have to spend
the rest of your time going around with a guide or by yourselves."
Alice was delighted with the old moat which was opposite her window, and
wanted to look in it at once.
Nellie felt the castle was of more importance, and could hardly wait
to get there. The moat surrounds the old city, and now is rented to
gardeners, who live in the old towers and cultivate the land in the
moat.
Our party started out to walk until they were tired, and kept on the
sidewalk side of the moat, and thought it did look so pretty with
everything so fresh and green. The cherry-trees were all white with
their lovely blossoms, which grew even with the sidewalk.
[Illustration: NUREMBERG WALLS.]
Finally they went through an old gateway, which was said to be the one
where a rope was kept in the olden time, to use on the bakers. If they
did not give full weight, the bakers were tied to the end of a pole and
dipped into the water several times. If poison was found in the bread,
they were immediately drowned.
As the ladies were getting tired, Mr. Winter called a carriage to drive
them to the castle. As he could speak German, the driver told him many
interesting things, and pointed out various objects of interest. He
showed them one house that had been occupied by the same family for four
hundred and fifty years.
The churches of St. Sebald and St. Lawrence they admired very much on
the outside, leaving the beauties of the interiors for another day. They
passed one fountain called the Goose Man, and another, the Beautiful
Fountain, built in 1385. Also, a fine statue of Hans Sachs, erected in
1874, who was known through Germany as the cobbler-poet. It was from his
life Wagner wrote the opera of the "Meistersinger."
Soon the driver drew up his horses at a corner where a small house
stood under a hill, called the Sausage Shop, for its wonderfully cooked
sausages. It has been made famous by such men as Albert Dürer, the great
artist, Hans Sachs, and the old burgomasters meeting there for their
nightly mugs of beer and a sausage.
[Illustration: ALBRECHT DÜRER'S HOUSE.--_Page 74._]
The statue of Albert Dürer, erected in 1840, is between the Sausage Shop
and his old home. All the houses, with their deep, slanting roofs, were
objects of interest, but most of all was that of Albert Dürer, which is
the only house in Nuremberg that has not undergone some alteration.
The house is now filled with many curiosities, some of them having
belonged to Albert Dürer, and is open every day to visitors. The girls
wanted to stop and go in at once, but Mr. Winter said, "No, we cannot
stop now; we must get to the castle, and leave the house until we have
more time."
The castle stands very high, and they were obliged to drive up through
very narrow and steep streets; but the horses were used to it, and Mrs.
Winter finally overcame her nervousness.
When the top of the hill was reached, there was a plateau where a
beautiful view of the city was to be seen. They left the carriage here,
and after looking at the scenery they walked on up to the castle.
[Illustration: NUREMBERG CASTLE.]
On the way they saw a small shed, and, on looking in, found it held the
famous well. A young girl was there, who, in a parrot sort of way, told
them that the well was built in the eleventh century, under Conrad II.,
by convicts, and that it took thirty years to finish it. She told Mrs.
Winter to hold a mirror in her hand while she lowered a candle, to show
by the reflection in the mirror the depth of the well. It took just six
seconds for water which she poured out of a glass to reach the water
in the well. She told them it was four hundred and fifty feet deep, and
they all believed her.
In the courtyard of the castle they saw an old linden tree growing,
which is said to have been planted by Empress Kunigunde eight hundred
years ago.
The castle they found quite interesting without being very elegant. A
lady in charge of it told them many things of interest about the castle
and the city.
She told them that the first records of Nuremberg date from 1050. In
1105 the town was besieged, conquered, and destroyed by Henry V., again
besieged in 1127 by Emperor Lothar, from which time imperial officials
appeared who took the title of Burggrafer.
Frederick I. (Barbarossa), under whom the burg was enlarged, frequently
lived here from 1156 to 1188. Rudolph von Hapsburg held his first diet
here in 1274, and often visited the town.
Under Emperor Karl IV. the first stone bridge was built, and the streets
were paved.
The first fundamental law of the empire was formed by him, and is known
as the "Golden Bull." It was framed in Nuremberg in 1356, and is still
kept in Frankfort.
According to this law, every German emperor was obliged to spend his
first day of government in Nuremberg.
His government was very favorable to Nuremberg in every way.
The four large towers were built 1555 to 1568, after a plan designed by
Albert Dürer. The town reached its highest artistic development in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, under such men as Albert Dürer,
A. Krafft, Herman Fischer, and many others.
Goblets and many such objects of art were made here at that time. In
1649 Nuremberg displayed its last splendor. Commerce had been ruined by
different wars. In 1806 it was made a matter of rejoicing when it came
under the crown of Bavaria. King Ludwig first revived art, and trade
made a start.
In 1835 the first railroad was opened to Fürth. In 1855 King Max II.
with his family lived here, and the Imperial Burg was offered to him as
a present by the town.
The lady also told them that the five-cornered tower, which is the
oldest building in Nuremberg and connected with the castle, contained a
collection of instruments of torture. Among them is the iron virgin, a
figure of a woman, which opens and is full of spikes. The poor victim
would be shut up in its clutches.
None of our party felt like visiting that horrible place, so they
thanked the woman, and took some last looks at the beautiful views to
be seen from the windows. To their surprise they found it was noon-time,
and as everything in Nuremberg is closed for an hour and a half
at mid-day, they were driven back to the Wurtemberger Hof, their
comfortable hotel, where everything possible was done for their
pleasure.
After a good dinner and a rest, Mr. Winter said he thought, as his time
was so limited, he would like to visit the Town Hall and St. John's
Cemetery. A guide was found, and they started out with more enthusiasm
than ever.
The guide told them that the Town Hall was built in the years from 1616
to 1619, in Italian style. He pointed out to them a fine picture by
Paul Ritter, painted in 1882, to represent the act of the arrival of
the German Emperor's Insignia in Nuremberg. The guide also showed them
several pictures of Dürer's representing the triumphal procession of
Emperor Maximilian. His pictures are, many of them, very indistinct.
They were taken into a room where the wedding couples go to sign their
marriage contracts.
Mr. Winter was more interested than the girls, and Mrs. Winter was so
tired they were glad enough to get in the carriage and be driven to the
famous old cemetery.
For some blocks before reaching the entrance are paintings of Christ,
representing the last days of his life.
At the gateway are the three statues of Christ and the two thieves
nailed to the cross.
The guide showed them the graves of Dürer and Sachs, and one of a man
who had been killed, while asleep, by his wife hammering a nail in
his head. There was a bronze skull, with the nail in it just where she
killed him.
Another interesting bronze was the figure of a woman with a lizard on a
perch, which, when touched, turns towards the woman's figure and shows
where she was bitten in the neck by the lizard that killed her.
The girls thought that very quaint and more interesting than any they
saw, though there were many very beautifully carved, and, being of
bronze, were of great value.
While our party was wandering through the cemetery a funeral was taking
place, and as the entire service was intoned, it was very impressive.
Mr. Winter said as they entered the carriage, "You have had enough
sight-seeing for to-day, and we will drive home and talk over all the
wonderful and interesting things we have seen and heard to-day."
[Illustration: NUREMBERG.]