Erlanger Frühling (Erlanger Spring)

“Erlanger Frühling” is a spring town festival which takes place in Erlangen for the last twelve years. More than 10.000 visitors come to this event every year. Along the main streets (Nürnberger Straße and Hauptstraße ) and the two squares (Hugenottenplatz and Schloß/Marktplatz) there will be all kinds of attractions as well as a big variety of food and drinks. At the Bohlenplatz you can find an interesting flea market. All shops in the centre will be open too. Come and see all the newest fashion trends and enjoy the atmosphere!
When: Sunday, March 22nd, between 1pm and 6pm.

The above was what the Newsletter from our Relocation People said. Sounded like a nice festival...however it turns out that the main draw is that all the shops in the shopping areas and the Arcaden (our local mall) were open! Normally shops are closed on Sunday, so this was a big deal. It was like Christmas shopping crowds in March in the Arcaden. There were also booths along Nürnberger Straße (a semi-pedestrian only street with many shops). Despite the rain, many people were out and about.

We stopped for some Kuchen (cake) at a booth which you notice they served on real plates. You could get paper plates if you wanted too.

One of the department stores had a horse-drawn wagon...my kids are too big for that! :-(

Adorable horses!

When we walked back, we decided to not walk in the crowds and went over a block where we found the Schlossgarten (Castle Garden). The croci are out!

The first French Huguenot refugees arrived in Erlangen in 1686. Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, built a "new town" (Neustadt) for them. This fountain depicts Christian Ernst at the top and his good deeds "flowing" down to the Huguenots on the bottom of the

fountain.

This is the Orangerie, built in 1705 for the over-wintering of tropical plants.

After that we went to the Arcaden for Eis (ice cream) as I was the only smart person who wanted warm coffee and cake on a cold day. The crowds were unbelievable!