Nuremburg - right now the fun is about to begin

Disclaimer: blog post contains no fun.
As the banner predicted, the fun was about to being for the Nürnberg ultras who were witness to a bit of a goal fest.  But PropUptheBar is grumpy and doesn't do 'fun', even with ample statues, historic sights and brew pubs in Bavaria's second city. 

Early on a Friday morning a speedy and comfortable intercity train on its way to Berlin took me two stops from Munich to Nuremberg in an hour-and-twenty minutes.  
Let's start the city explorations with a statue, of which there are a fair few to marvel, although it was Jürgen Weber's "Marriage-Merry-Go Round" by the White Tower that had me wide-eyed.

This section of the huge statue which I've photographed doesn't look like the most fun bit of married life, does it?
The whole fountain actually disguises a subway ventilation shaft and came at a hefty cost which had local residents grumbling.

Here's the football sticker of the day...

Nuremburg's tourist hotspots begin in earnest as you cross the Pegnitz river and climb the gentle hills of Altstadt St. Sebald towards the castle. 
Great views over the rooftops from the castle, although the first glimpse of blue sky of the day made for a much better picture of Tiergärtnertorplatz.

Aha, there's another oddball statue to frown at...

Handily just around the corner from this charming square and the Albrecht Dürer house is a brewpub.  Time for a beer, I think...

Hausbrauerei Altstadthof (Bergstraße 19, 90403 Nürnberg)
I couldn't remember this place at all from a previous visit to the Nuremberg, but can't imagine I didn't visit the original brewpub slap bang in the most touristic part of the city.  They've been brewing beers here since 1984.
The bräustüberl is remarkably small: just a few big tables and a handful of high stools to the side of the bar on the route to a very cramped WC (don't try and negotiate it with your backpack on).
House beers chalked-up on a blackboard were the city's signature red beer, kellerbier, schwarzbier, or a rot-weisse.  I seem to have been very unadventurous on this visit and just stuck with the pale kellerbier.  

For a bite to eat I decided to head to a bar called Kloster which promised rotating local ales and home-cooked vegetarian fodder.
They'd done their best to hide themselves from me, scaffolding obscuring the whole place...

Kloster (Ob. Wörthstraße 19, 90403 Nürnberg)
This is a fantastic quirky little bar, once you've worked out the establishment you're looking for is actually behind the building site and is actually open.  There were just a handful of tables plus stools at the bar, an eclectic obscure musical soundtrack, quirky decorations including a skeleton in the window and a coffin over the door.

Three draft beers gave you a choice of helles, dunkel, or weissbier from different local breweries, whilst the lesser-seen bres appeared to be those on the bottle list. 
I ordered the Brauerei Kanone dunkel and a GREAT chilli-sin-carne.

Suitably fed, I caught the U1 line to Bärenschanze.
This is where you'll find the Memorial of the Nuremberg Trials, an exhibition in the Palace of Justice.  In 1945 this was chosen to hold the trial of 24 of the most important political and military leaders of Nazi Germany.  Unlike most of Nuremberg, the court had remained largely undamaged during wartime bombing and the location was significant: the downfall of these men happening in the same city which held the enormous rallies as their party rose to power.

 

We've watched the movie 'Nuremberg' recently so are experts on this bit of history. 
This is the actual courtroom where Russell Crowe stood trial...

That bit of historic sightseeing from dark times complete, I was within walking distance of the Schanzenbräu brewery tap, which came highly recommended, the beer being a bit of a favourite with the locals.

Schanzenbräu Schankwirtschaft (Adam-Klein-Straße 27, 90429 Nürnberg)
This brewery - the beer being produced a couple of kilometres further west in the suburbs - was founded in 2004 although I'd never have guessed they're a 21st century outfit based on their retro tap room.

The first Schanzenbräu beers were concocted in the cellar of a workshop, with some innovation required to make up for the lack of proper kit: old barrels being sawn open to act as fermentation vats.  The current brewery in the Höfen suburb opened in 2016 with an annual output of 5000hl, their staple products being Rot Beer, Helles, Kehlengold and a Pils. 
I had the impression that only the helles was on tap in the bar, but may have been misunderstood when I tried to ask the question.  Chalkboards in every direction, but not a beer list to be seen.

Never mind - the Helles was excellent.
Quality frothy head.  On a super unfiltered, full-bodied, floral pale ale.
This is a fantastic little pub in which I could happily settle for longer if it weren't for time racing by awfully fast with a football match to get to in the evening. 

I walked back into the city centre, dropped by backpack at my hotel, then considered where I could grab one more beer prior to the evening's kick-off.
I'm really not sure how I ended up in the modern Bruderherz and am conscious there were lots of good places I missed.

Bruderherz (Luitpoldstraße 15, 90402 Nürnberg)
I think I may have been fooled by this one - it was once one of the city's brewpubs but appears to have closed in 2024.  Well, I can confirm it's open again, although it looks like the brewing kit you can see in the basement room may now just be for show.
At least I got to try the Schanzenbräu Rotbier which I'd missed out on at their pub. The red beer is something of a speciality in Nuremberg, an old style that has been revived in recent years - a kind of maltier, spicier Marzen - thoroughly enjoyable.

Six-thirty - time to start thinking about getting to the football ground for kick-off in an hours time.
If in doubt about directions, follow this chap...

Special S-Bahn trains are laid on to whisk you non-stop to the Nürnberg Frankenstadion station, a few kilometres south of the centre.

All the usual features of the walk between public transport and the ground were in place: stalls selling a vast array of football scarves, bratwurst and beer retailers, the scent of marijuana in the air, chaps with trolley bags collecting empty bottles, blokes in the bushes having a wee.

This was the weekend-opening Friday evening Bundesliga 2 game, Karlsruher SC the visitors at the Max Morloch stadium.
It's a big stadium with a lots of empty seats at one end of the ground where visiting supporters were located, the impressive second tier attendance of 29,378 not coming close to making it look full.
I was at the very edge of the 'posh' seats in the main stand, looking across the running track towards the most dedicated and noisy Nurnberg fans.

Twenty-five minutes in, Julian Justvan grabbed two goals in three minutes to dash Karlsruhe's spirit.  The home side were having fun and looking like scoring every time they surged forward, going into half-time 3-0 up.  Despite the two clubs sitting next to one another midway up the league table, Nürnberg continued to dominate, Mohamed Ali Zoma scoring his hat-trick in an eventual 5-1 win.  It's the first time in my German football travels that I've seen a set of fans give up with their drum beating and chants, the Karlsruher support looking utterly fed-up and ready to head back to Baden-Württemberg by the hour-mark.

I could have dived into Nuremberg's Friday night city centre action once I'd travelled back from the stadium.  But all I wanted was my comfy bed and a cup of tea.
Gotta save some energy for more Franconian beer the next day.