Even the doggies go shopping.

I got up late again today. The cave is very quiet and dark and the light doesn't really penetrate until it is well after 9am.

I always kick myself when I lose daylight time. There seems to be so much to do and see and yet I find my mornings sliding gently away with little tasks and pleasant conversation.

Rushing may not be in my best interests really. I hope to come back to Nürnberg so it's not like I'm going to miss seeing any of these things again. :)

I walked all the way into the heart of town today. Left bat - still snoozing - at around 12:30pm German time, packed light and easy. I wore a few more layers today thinking it might be quite chilly. By the time I'd walked 1km though, I'd removed the raincoat! hahaha The scarf remained firmly around my neck for most of the day though.

It's surprises me how compact everything is here. It's probably only a couple of kms into the centre of town. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the sights as always.

I enjoyed another Nürnberger for lunch and a Brezeln with salami. I also tried a small cone of hot chips called "Kartöffeln" with a curry ketchup sauce on them. Absolutely delicious. With this kind of food, I am sure to gain weight! Interestingly, I see very few grossly overweight Germans here. Most are of average weight for their height. Despite the heavy high carbohydrate foodstuffs available so readily, the people seem to be fit and healthy...at least on the face of things.

I bought a few things but being on foot was conscious of weight so was careful to go small and light. The main shopping centre seemed to be rife with sales - my kids would be going mad with greedy delight in the shoes and clothes shopping that could have been done today! ;) I was so tempted to buy, buy, buy for the family back home but I was actually reasonably conservative for a change. The family gift buying spree will perhaps come later.

I had to smile at the dogs that were prevalent throughout the whole shopping precinct. People apparently like for their dogs to go on shopping trips with them. The doggies were on leashes of course and all were behaved and socialised. They were even allowed to enter stores with their owners! No tying up doggie to a pole outside like in my town! I never saw dogs inside food shops but I had the interesting experience of seeing one with its owner deep inside the confines of a busy clothing store, it enjoying being feted upon by the staff!

The street performers, clowns mostly, all seemed to have a dog a a side-kick. The dog seems to be a strong element of Nürnberg culture! Even bat talks a lot about getting a dog of his own.

We had visitors to the cave tonight. Dominic came to discuss a new "Ecliptic" plot with bat for their August 08 meeting. Ecliptic is the Live-Action-Role-Playing group that meet about three or four times a year. It's based on a Startrek theme and the group develop the story of the Starship Ecliptic, its crew, the adventures they undertake with all the fervour of Paramount Pictures!

We ate another common take-away food here called Döner Kebab. Just around the corner from the cave is this great Döner takeaway. We ordered the chicken ones. Dominic had something a bit different. A typical Döner is made of a roasted, marinated meat, shaved, served with mixed vegetable salads and a tasty mayonnaise. It's really messy but really yummy too! Later we ate our Eisbärdonuts, which were little bear face donuts, complete with a marshmallow nose and some gooey, chocolate fudgy stuff in the middle! I'm so getting fat! ungh! The food is just way too good!

The blokes are sitting over the way here deep in planning now. I am surrounded by the aural sounds of german conversation. My own german language training is getting a good deal of practise this past few days. I have even been congratulated for it by the lovely folks in stores, who learn of my foreigner status.

This place is really getting under my skin. I'm loving this city! I will miss the energy here. I feel very much at home in some ways but in others it's all strange and new. When I have better German it will be even easier to make my way around I think.