Two local transit rides, three flights, four airports, and 18 hours after stepping out of our front door, we arrived at our hotel in Nuremberg, slightly the worse for wear. Actually, quite a bit the worse for wear, but whose counting. While Jan unpacked and had a bath, I went out to get pre-paid mobile plans for our trip. It gave me an excuse to check out the city.

By the time I got back, Jan found a lovely local restaurant for an early dinner. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast on the plane, so we though 6:00 pm was a reasonable time to eat. Good thing. The place was fully booked, but Jan talked them into giving us a table as long as we were finished by seven. With jet lag in our bones, we weren’t likely to linger, so it sounded like a deal.

In addition to delicious local dishes, they had Dunkles Hefeweizen, one of my absolutely favourite beers. Though to be fair, I have a lot of “favourite” beers.

Dinner gave us a bit of a second wind, so we went for a walk through the center of the city to get ideas for the weekend. There are a number of market areas that we will be sure to check out tomorrow, but none of them are quite as photogenic as the cathedral.

So that’s what people did with their spare time when they didn’t have Facebook and Twitter…

At dinner, I was telling the bartender how much I love Dunkles Hefeweizen, and how I always look for it whenever I visit Germany. I didn’t think too much of it – I often get enthusiastic about things that I like. But as we were leaving, he pulled me aside and gave me a bottle of this to enjoy later.

As you probably guessed, I’m working my way though it as I write. Something tells me this is going to be a very good trip.