Photo Pest: Like A Phoenix

I've got to hand it to the Germans: they don't seem to resent American culture imperialism, but rather embrace it, often in peculiar ways.

The Clooneys are big in Nuremberg. George's wife Amal, a barrister, made a cameo in the film at the Memoriam.

It was a little surprising to find an AIDS memorial given that Germany didn't legalize gay marriage until 2017 and Bavaria is nearly 50% Catholic. Nearby cobblestones are etched with the names of the deceased in a European-wide project that organizers compare to the AIDS quilt in the U.S. It actually reminds me more of Stolpersteine, begun four years earlier in 1992. To date, more than 100,000 brass-plated cobblestones mark the last spot Jews enjoyed freedom--usually their homes or workplaces--before Nazi victimization. The first stolpersteine did not appear in Nuremberg until 2004; now there are more than 150.

You can't miss the Ehekarussell Fountain which is hideous, but in a good way.

It depicts marriage from dating to death; none but the first of four stages made me want to exchange vows, just like real life!

A 16th-century poem by Hans Sachs, a local cobbler and "Meistersinger," inspired the fountain. If you're an opera fan, you may remember him from Wagner's longest work. The words to "Bitter-Sweet Married Life" appear on a sculpted heart nearby.

After a 7:30 a.m. breakfast call, I had a free parking space until 1 p.m. and two sights topped my list: the Albrecht Dürer House and the Toy Museum. Neither opened until 10 a.m. so I spent a couple of hours exploring a re-built Nazi city that literally had risen from the ashes after the Royal Air Force dropped thousands of bombs and a million incendiary devices on it in 1945.

St. Lorenz Church dates back to 1400. It became Lutheran during the Reformation but its wealthy congregation insisted on preserving the many artistic treasures it once housed.

Nassauer Haus was built during the Middle Ages too. Constructed of castle sandstone, it remains the sole residential tower still standing in Nuremberg. Only the turret on the left is original.

There's a whole lotta lactatin' goin' on at the Fountain of Virtues. Faith, love, hope, courage, moderation and patience have been spouting water since 1589.

You've got to wonder what artifacts a thorough dredging of the highly reflective Pegnitz might reveal. It seems more like a canal than a river.

But it's probably still wide enough to carry the "Ship of Fools." Nuremberg must have been on a grotesque sculpture binge in the 1980s when this, like the marriage fountain above, was commissioned.

Mobile vendors were just setting up in the Hauptmarkt. A synagogue once stood here, but after the Black Death killed tens of millions throughout Europe in the 14th century, the Holy Roman Emperor expelled all the Jews from Nuremberg and had it destroyed. Today, the square serves as the site for the annual Christmas market.

I'd never seen a coffee bike. It's gotta be cheaper than Starbucks. No overhead, despite the candy-striped awning.

If I had to pick the prettiest thing in the Old Town, it would be the Schöner Brunnen, or Beautiful Fountain. First erected more than six centuries ago, it represents the world view of the Holy Roman Empire with a panoply of 40 different figures, including Moses, philosophy, four church fathers, seven prince electors, and the nine worthies, all seated around a Gothic spire that rises 60 feet. BTW, those nine worthies embrace three Jews; maybe Emperor Charles IV and the Nazis didn't notice.

Too bad there's not a key somewhere to help identify the all-male cast.

A floral wrought-iron fence surrounds the fountain.

The burg did look more impressive in morning light under clear skies.

And it offered superb views of the city.

Fortunately, the pretty garden tucked behind it was open and blooming.

Florian told me I couldn't leave Nuremberg without buying some lebkuchen. I found a stall just outside the Frauenkirche, also on the Hauptmarkt, which can be glimpsed in Triumph of the Will. Leni knew her anti-Semitic history.