Written on Monday, July 7 and transferred from Facebook.

To my dismay, I realized yesterday that my blog was blocked at the internet cafe I am currently sitting in, and so I coudnt make my usual post!! Grrr. So this will have to do until I can log back in...
I am currently in Nürnberg, Germany. Home of the famous Nürnberg Laws and Nürnberg Trials, and where Hitler made many a speech. Sadly, to visit the courthouse, which is a ways away from the town center where we are staying, you have to take a train, a bus, and pay for a tour. Ugh, we have no money for any of that. But there is plenty else to see and do!

Dani is lucky enough to have an aunt who keeps an extra apartment that she lives in part time right in the heart of the city. The aunt- who is surprisingly even shorter than Dani and wears glasses that remind me of Professor Trelawney (she is so cute!), left for Croatia, and so we have the entire apartment to ourselves! We have really made ourselves at home- we bought groceries, unpacked as much as possible, know what time the best shows come on MTV in the evenings (because they are in English), and basically just pretend that its ours. Its a tiny, old, one bedroom. But the best part is the view from the balcony, from which you can see the church steeples, an old tower, part of the castle wall, the red shingle roof-tops of all the stores and houses, and a bunch of other old historic buildings. The first night I just kept walking out there and looking because it was so unbeleivably breathtaking.

From here we are going to Paris. We walked into the train station, were baffled by all the crowds and German (we dont speak any), and choose a line that looked promising. Lucky for us, the lady spoke english and was able to direct us to the right line to buy our Paris tickets!! While we were nervously waiting we talked to the sweetest old lady who was telling us enthusiastically about all the old building and all the ways in which Nürnberg is so important to German history. Talking to someone so eager and kind helped ease our nerves about the daunting station, and we were able to easily buy our tickets and locate our platform.

Nürnberg is a beautiful city. Our apartment is literally around the corner from the old downtown area, with all the best shopping, cafes, and churches. The steets are all lined with uneven cobblestone- everytime we walk on it I cant help of thinking how hard it would be to walk on it in heels! And yet I see people do it all the time- and they dont trip over cracks! Up a hill is the old castle- its quite a hike up there, but completely worth it. The views from the top are amazing. You can see the entire city, and the ambiance from walking around the old stone towers and walls of the castle are unreal. I feel like Ive stepped into a scene from a Shakespeare tradgedy. The old stables have been turned into a hostel, and they give out torches to the people staying their to explore the castle at night.

Interesting tidbit: I found Lush, its kitty-corner to one of the old churches. I could smell it from the corner and followed the scent almost subconsciously. Did I buy something? Of course! I cant go into that store and not come away with something!! Everything smells so amazing (and now so do I) and it makes me feel so pretty! I think its funny that I was so excited about doing something that I do on pretty much a regular basis back in Edmonton. But this time it was in Germany, which made it that much more exciting!! How many people have been to Lush in Germany?!?!

Magical moment of Nürnberg: the first day we got here it poured for a few hours. When it stopped we decided to go out for a walk. The streets were almost deserted, the stores closed, except for a few cafes. Walking down the across the bridge we could hear the laughter and clinking of glasses and silverware on plates of the people inside. We bought some ice cream (which we have had every day since we got here, its just that good) and meandered slowly back toward our apartment. On the way back we came across someone playing his violin on the street, he was actually really good. You could tell by the way that he played that he really felt the music inside of him. We sat down on a bench and looked up at the cathedral. I admired its architecture while listening to Dani talk, trying to place the time it was built. (roughly 1200-1300, late gothic) The combination of the atmosphere of the place, the smell of the rain, and the taste of the ice cream, and the awe of the cathedral made for a magical moment. I felt happy and thought that if I could do this kind of thing everyday, life would be good.

But perhaps its because I dont get to do that everyday that makes it so special.

I regret to inform you that I will not be able to post any pictures until I am somewhere where I dont have to pay to use the internet. Which will probably be in Croatia, in August, Ill post a few on facebook.