September 2014 - Overview

Holidays (Federal or Bavaria specific)       
None! 

School starts Tuesday, September 16
Events (by no means a complete list)

Herzo
Sept 20 - November 23 Herzo Cultural Days- a whole host of events, including American movie nights (November) 
September 27 - Flea Market (Herzo has 2 major flea markets, the last saturday in April, and the last Saturday in September). 

Erlangen
September 5 - 8 Dechsendorf Kirchweih
September 5 - 8 Eltersdorf Kirchweih
September 13-15 Hüttendorf Kirchweih 
September 18 - October 5 Fall Market! Hauptmarkt
September 20 - Children and Baby Bazaar  Heinrich-Lades-Halle, Rathaus Platz 3
September 26 - 29 Frauenaurach Kirchweih 

September 27 - 28 Entla´s Keller closes for the season. Enjoy a last beer and some music at their end of season celebration

Nürnberg 
August 29 - September 14 Fall Volksfest 
September 5-6 Red Bull District Ride - Watch free ride bikers, over 75,000 expected fans
September 11-14 Wine festival, Aufsessplatz 
September 12-14 Burggrabenfest - a middle ages festival, fun for families!
September 14 - Open Sunday! (Südstadt only)
September 15 - Floyd Reloaded (music of Pink Floyd) 
Sept 15 4-5:30 English book reading- Mortimer English Club €3- register by             September 11 mortimer@jf-languageservices.de (children from 2-10) 
September 12-13 Antique Market - Over 4000 retailers bring 200,000 visitors between the       Rathaus and Lorenz Church 
September 18 - 29 Altstadtfest
September 20- 21 Asian Art and Culture Days Villa Leon Entry: Free
September 21 Celebrate World Children´s Day Jakobsplatz, Weißer Turm and Ludwigsplatz    Free and low cost activities for children of all ages
September 26 - November 16 Little Shop of Horrors (theater) 
September 27  (also 10/11, 10/25 and 11/15) GPS Scavenger Hunt. €29,99
September 28  (also 10/12, 10/26, 11/15) Krimispiel They create a "crime" you and your        friends/family play detective and try to solve it! Tickets €45, children under 10 free. 
September 28 Open Sunday!! (all of Nürnberg EXCEPT Südstadt)



Other
August 28-September 7 Weinparade, Wine Festival, Würzburg
September 6 - Public city tour of historic Haßfurt 1.5 hours, €3 per person
September 6 - Holi Gaudy Fest - Heilbronn
September 6 7 - Circus Festival Mosbach - tickets from €9,99
September 6-7 Bardentreffen, Ansbach two days of local music! Saturday includes                  musicians all around the inner city. Entry: free
September 7 Stadtwaldfest, Fürth (city forest festival)
September 11-15 Kirchweih Buckenhofen, Forcheim
September 12- 14 Zwiebeltreterfest Bamberg Entry: free
September 19-20 Fürther Grafflmarkt -Fürth thousands of retail stalls to choose from. Music    and more. 
September 19-20 Stadtfest Würzburg
September 20-21 Basket Market Lichtenfels 


Other things to do? 

Fuego Latino (Nürnberg)  has many dance classes you can try Salsa, Merengue, Bachata- with daily passes from €3-€8

Nürnberg´s Experience Park is fun for the whole family! See- touch- feel- smell Open until September 19, 2014. 

It´s wine festival time! With so many wineries in the lower Franconian region there´s a festival every weekend. Check out the list (in English) here (in English). The area is about one hour from Nürnberg by train. 

Find a local Beer Keller here! 

Pick your own berries and currants, and even asparagus! click here or here for a few places in the Nürnberg area. Check the individual websites for more information. 

Kerwa (or Kirchweih) season is here! Click here for a list of local festivals. Wondering what a Kerwa is? See our previous post. 

Explore our area´s many bike paths! (For a Nürnberg map of bike paths, click here) For other cities, start with a google search of your city´s name and Fahrradweg). Maps are available in most book stores for under €5. 

Try Forchheim´s famous Kellerwald (click here for map and description in German). It´s little less than 30 minutes train ride from Nberg Hbf and then a bit of a walk. 

Head out to a local soccer game. The season reopened end of February. Tip: For those with children with short attention spans, some clubs offer free admission for the second half.

Visit a pool or sauna- Atlantis is in Herzo, Nürnberg has many to choose from (link in    German), Bamberg has Bambados Can´t decide?  Schwimmbadcheck is an online review site for public pools, link is in English.

Produce

Produce availability in Germany is VERY seasonal. Want fresh asparagus right now? Not likely.
Want to know when to expect what (of locally grown produce)? Click here  This also includes information about when to plant what in this area of Germany.



Things cropping up (pun intended) ;)
Pumpkin (Hokkaido)
Field lettuce
Not veggies, but it´s carp and duck season. Carp is only served here during months that contain "r"
local apples                               
it´s mushroom season! 


What in the world is that?

Mirabella plums. They are normally turned into marmalade or jam, but can be eaten raw. 
They have a unique taste that starts out sweet, but have a bit of a sour aftertaste. 
Their season ends this month. 

What I love about living in.................Herzogenaurach!

Name: Jennie Le Feuvre 

Hometown: Oxford, England

Age:34

Family Status: Married, 3 children (aged 7, 5 and 1)

Occupation: Stay at home Mum  (midwife and nurse prior to moving)

What brought you to Germany? Husband's job (Siemens delegation)

How long have you been here?  3 1/2 years

How did you settle on Herzogenaurach?
We really liked the house and as there weren't many properties on the market at the time we acted quickly when we found it. We wanted 4 or 5 bedrooms and plenty of space, a park nearby and shops that we could get to without using the car preferably. We didn't want to be a a village and Erlangen (although the obvious choice as my husband works there) was too expensive for the type of property we were looking for. This house and Herzogenaurach ticked all of the boxes!

How easy is it to meet people? Other expats?
Really easy! There are loads of expats in this area, it's very popular because of Adidas and Puma's head offices being here. I met English speaking people in parks, cafe's and supermarkets really quickly (often running after them when I heard them speak!) People here are friendly and the local people are very used to foreigner's so helpful and usually speak some English, especially the younger ones.

Favorite things about living in Herzogenaurach?
Being able to walk to friend's houses, shops and kindergarten. The little shops in the town are small but lovely, the Ice cream cafe's are great and the children love the little street's and cobbles! The outdoor pool (Freibad) is 5 minutes from our house and we go all the time when the weather is good. The large indoor pool (Atlantis) is walking distance too which is great and convenient for swimming lessons in the week. I love that we can get a babysitter and nip out for a quiet dinner or glass of wine in the evening too.

Kid friendly?
Definitely! It's quiet, safe and friendly and there's good toy shops, playgrounds and swimming pools.

School information?
There's loads of kindergartens and 1 large primary school and 1 smaller one. There are high schools too, all within walking distance of the centre.

What do you do on the weekend?
We socialise with friends locally, go swimming, or head out further afield to Nuremberg (about 25 minutes away) or Erlangen (about 15 minutes). In the summer we go to beer garden's or the bigger attractions like Playmobil or the Zoo for example. Because we have lots of room for guests to visit and the UK is pretty close... we have A LOT of visitor's so we do a lot of sight seeing with them!

Surprises about the area?
We love the atmosphere of Herzogenaurach's festivals. There always seems to be something going on in the Summer at the weekend, the Medieval Festival, the Old Town Festival, the Beer Festival. It's small and friendly and safe for the kids to run around so we can relax and enjoy the Bavarian Sausage and Beer!!

Any negatives about the area?
The 'City' is a Town in my opinion! It's nice but it is small and I need to go to Erlangen and Nuremberg to get certain food items that aren't available easily here. Although we like to go out here for dinner, there really are only a couple of good restaurant's and after a while it can be a little repetitive!

Transportation? Do I need a car?
Yes I think so! Although you can technically manage without one (shops, dr's all in walking distance) the bus routes to other places aren't great and I would find it hard not to be able to socialise with people who live outside for Herzogenaurach and it's good to be able to get out when you're trying to make new friend's.

Crime?
Pretty non existent in my experience. The children leave their bikes/scooter's out and unlocked and we feel very secure. My husband travels a lot and I feel fine at home alone with the children.

Doctors? There are plenty to choose from, GP's paediatrician's, Obs/Gynae, Dentists, minor injuries all in Herzogenaurach and an out of hours service too. If you need a hospital though... Erlangen is the closest.

Hairdresser? I go into Erlangen for a hair cut! I happily get the children's hair cut in the Market place in town (Bella Capelli) but a bigger city feels a little less risky for a good hair cut!

Favorite spot for a beer? Bayerischer Hof, more of a restaurant and the food is great- good beer, nice Cocktails and outside seating.

Café for a coffee? We have breakfast most Saturday morning's at Cafe und Brot (the best chocolate Muffins we've found).

Favorite restaurants?Kleine Welt is a nice Gastro Pub and serves the best steak I've had in Germany. Cardelli's is our local Italian and we take the children for dinner their often. Or walk up to the little Airport for a pizza in their restaurant and watch the planes and helicopters take off- keeps the children entertained!

Place to watch a game? Kreis'l usual show's big games....

Clothing? Herzogenaurach isn't famous for high end fashion! You can get a few essentials for the children and there are the Puma and Adidas outlets but I venture to Erlangen on preferably Nuremberg if I want to shop.

Taste of home?  You can get most things 'from home' in Herzogenaurach in the various supermarkets, it's the more unusual food items and things for Asian cooking that I struggle most with. For those items I tend to go to the Asian supermarket in Erlangen.

Other helpful hints for newcomers? Get out and meet people! A place soon feels like home when you make friends and there are lots of friendly faces willing to help, people who have experienced feeling new too.

English Tours To Do With Visitors (or just to see your city as a tourist)

It´s vacation time, and since so many people have visitors, I thought I´d collect a bunch of tours in English for the area! 

Note: All information is accurate as of post date. For the most accurate information, please click on the links. :) 

Erlangen: 
- These tours through Erlangen Marketing are available for groups, but must be booked in advance in English. 

- Erlangen Marketing also has a guide to see the most important sights in about 45 minutes on your own. (free) 

- Again, through Erlangen Marketing, a list of all sights of importance, with a short description. 

- The Erlangen Nightwatchman tour may be booked in English. 

- Tomis has free! audio guides for self guided tours. 3 to choose from: fast tour, extended tour, and beer tour. Also, a great interactive map on their website, depicting highlights/stops. 

- The Botanical Garden and Aroma Garden are free! and highly rated on tripadvisor. 

Nürnberg: 
- Daily walking tour from Hauptmarkt, €10 Euro pp (kids under 14 free) One hour.
- Bus tour (in German, but with a 12 page booklet in English provided, for deposit) @ 2      hours
   Adults 14 € / Children 14 years and under 7 € /

   Families 28 € (Parents, Children 14 years and under) / Students 12 €

- Bus tour in English and German 2.5 hours, pick up by Lorenzkirche. Daily 10am. Adults €17, children under 15 €8,50

- Old town tour with the City Mini Train. (again, in German, with English leaflet provided) several times daily April - October, Sat/Sun only November- March. 30-40 minutes adults €7, kids €3, family tickets available. 

- The Lady Nightwatchman - in English with prior arrangement/booking. Note: this in particular was listed as good for children as well. 

- Tour of Nürnberg´s Rock Cut Cellars (English audio guide provided) Daily from 11-5, Adults €5, kids €4, family tickets available. 

- Nürnberg´s Historical Mile (self guided) 

- Nazi Party Rally Grounds (self guided) 

- Red Beer in Deep Cellars (English audio guide) Fridays and Saturdays €8 includes beer tasting. 

- Nürnberg´s Treasures - learn about Nürnberg´s secrets and treasures. Self guided. €22,95 includes MP3 Player. Order online, or pick it up at the Tourist Bureau.

- Subterranean Nürnberg - check out bomb shelters, medieval beer cellers, water supplies, dungeons and more under the streets of Nürnberg. Daily 3:15, meet at Hausbrauerei Altstadthof Adults €6, children under 3 free.

- Geschichte für Alle tour of the permanent exhibition of the Nürnberg Trials and Room 600. Price €3 One hour, Saturdays. 
See post about Geschichte für Alle here. Their other tours can be scheduled in German for €105 for up to 20 people. 

- Guided tour of Albrecht Dürer´s home (by "Agnes Dürer", his wife). In English Saturdays 2pm. €2,50 Adults, €1 children

- Guided tour of Tucher Museum by the "Mistress of the House", in English Sundays 2pm. €2,50 per person in addition to museum fee. 

- English website for the Nürnberg municipal museums. Did you know that each has an admission of €5, but for an extra €2,50 you can turn it into a museum day pass and visit all? (restrictions apply, see link for full information). 

- The Toy Museum has 2 different audio tours, both are just €1. One for adults is 120 minutes, for children, just 70. 

- Guided tours of the Documentation Center - Nazi Party Rally Grounds can be booked in English in advance for about €110 for 2 hours. 

Bamberg: 
- Bamberger Bahn- a tourist bus that takes you over 6 of the 7 hills of Bamberg, including up to Altenburg (with a 15 minute stop to get out). Daily, every hour. Departs from the Dom on the hour. You can get off and back on as you wish. Adults €8,50, Children €3, family tickets available. Duration 1 hour (unless you get off of course!) Depending on how many English speakers they have, the tour may be in both languages. English brochure available free. 
- Self guided audio tour - available at the Tourist office. No lin
- Segway tour in English, about €49 per person approx 2 hours. 
- BierSchmecker tour - available at the tourist office. Self guided. €22 includes 5 tasting beers, backpack, beer stein, and more. 
- Link to other Bamberg tours that may be booked in advance in English (from €85) 


Looking to explore your area on your own? 

- Pick up a local map and take different streets every day (even if you are going to the same place). Price? About €3

- Check out your city on mapmyrun (registration required, but free, Nürnberg for example has over 600 routes) or walkjogrun (link to Nberg, reg not required). If someone is saving a run/walk chances are it´s because it´s pretty. I´ve taken the most lovely runs and walks by "stealing" someone else´s! 

- See what Tripadvisor has to say about your city. 

- Here´s what the NY Times suggested doing (in 2013) in Nürnberg. 

- What the Independent suggested (article also from 2013) in Nürnberg.