What's in a name?

This is the Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) one of the most famous sights in Nuremberg's Hauptmarkt (market square). It really is beautiful, albeit in a very, very ornate sort of way - apparently they weren't super into minimalism in the 14th century. It was encased in concrete during the Second World War, which is why it's still standing today even though 85% of Nuremberg's old town was leveled by Allied bombing raids.

There's a local legend that turning the brass ring set into the decorative iron fence will bring good luck, but this is clearly a trap because there are actually two rings. There's always a crowd of tourists standing in front of/having their picture taken with each ring and no one's ever been able to tell me for sure which one's the "right" one. And since the "wrong" one is said to make you pregnant, I figure it's better to just stay away from the rings altogether.

In the winter, it's a centrepiece of the world-renowned (WORLD-RENOWNED, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN) Nuremberg Christmas Market and looks particularly pretty all lit up.

Fernsehturm

Quite a few cities in Germany, including Nuremberg, have old TV towers which haven't served much purpose since satellites came along. You have to admit that they're picturesque, though.

The Berlin TV tower is particularly iconic (you can take an elevator to the top, buy a t-shirt, elongate a penny, etc.), but I like the Nuremberg one a lot. Apparently it used to be open for tours, but it's kind of in the middle of nowhere and I expect it didn't get many visitors.

The German word is Fernsehturm (pronunciation: exactly what it looks like), which literally means "far-see-tower". This comes from the German word for TV, Fernsehen - "far-see". Duh.

This picture was taken on a beautiful March day, just a few minutes after my first ice cream of 2012. Oh, the memories...

So this is where I'm at

In case you've forgotten (or never knew) where exactly I've been for the last three years: GERMANY! Specifically, a grrrreat city in Franconia/Bavaria (more on that later) called Nuremberg. Back in the day, Nuremberg was famous as the home of the Nazi Party Rallies. The Nuremberg Laws were enacted about 300 m from my apartment (not cool, guys) and after the war, war criminals were tried in the Nuremberg Trials. These days, Nuremberg is famous for lebkuchen (kind of like gingerbread) and drei im Weckla (three sausages in a bun). How times change.