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Published: December 18th 2006
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Nurnberg and Nazi History
After breakfast we headed out of Rothenberg on back roads in order to take a more scenic route to Nurnberg. Rothenberg is only an hour a way from Nurnberg so we didn’t get to see much on the trip. Mostly we saw some small towns and green fields. I’m sure later on we will see more countryside as we head towards the Alps.
The Hotel and Lunch We arrived at our hotel which is part of a chain of hotels owned by NH, a Spanish company. While the building lacks some of the small town character we like to see in hotels as we travel, the facilities more than make up for the lack of personality. We have a huge king size bed which is the first time we haven’t had two twin beds since Spain. Also, since we don’t have free breakfast in the morning we have no reason to wake up early so tomorrow may be a sleep in day. YAY!
After checking in we decided to go to see the Nazi Documentation museum which gives a thorough history of the Nazi Party rise and fall. After
spending about 20 minutes trying to figure out how to buy a ticket to get on the tram out to the museum we finally found the TI (tourist information office) and went there for help. We decided to buy a Nurnberg Pass which covers 2 days of all museum charges and transit.
After buying our pass we were off on the tram to the Documentation museum. By time we got there (about 15 minutes) we realized we were really hungry and their appeared to be nothing near the museum. We figured if we walked into the neighborhoods nearby we’d find something and it would probably be an adventure.
We ended up in a small pub about 10 minutes walk from the museum. The place was absolutely dead and had run out of a bunch of food because of a football game the night before. Finally we settled on some schnitzel (fried pork filet) sandwiches and a bowl of tomato soup for Kel.
Kel’s bowl of soup was huge and she really enjoyed it, but we were incredibly surprised by the sandwiches. I had tried schnitzel in Cologne but it wad been pretty dry and dense and not
incredibly enjoyable. This schnitzel was awesome! It came with onions, tomatoes and mustard and was juicy and fresh. After wolfing the sandwiches down we had a small conversation with the owner and owner’s wife. They spoke a little English so we could converse with them, even if it was stilted and not very deep. We told them how good their schnitzel was and how much we enjoyed it. They seemed to genuinely appreciate the comment.
Lunch =Done; Now Off to the Museum The Documentation Museum is located in an area of Nurnberg that Hitler and Adolf Spear had created the beginnings of a huge 11km complex which would be used to host large party rallies. Some of the buildings were finished such as the zeppelin field which was used for rallies in 1935. One of the most famous images of the post war take over of Germany involves the blowing up of the giant swastika on top of the zeppelin field stands. We didn’t actually make it to this particular part of the area because the sun went down while we were in the museum. A good portion of the famous propaganda film
Triumph of the Will was filmed by Leni Riefenstahl in these grounds as well.
The museum itself is located in the unfinished Congress Hall. This building was built to be a covered auditorium that would fit 50,000 but was never finished because the money was reallocated to the war effort in 1941.
There aren’t many picture worthy items within the museum but there is a ton of information. We spent 2 and a half hours in the museum using the supplied audio guide to get information from the very beginning of the Nazi rise through the end of the war. It was all incredibly informative and interesting. We learned all about Hitler’s rise through the NSDAP (German national Socialist Party) and his takeover of the government. There was also a special focus on the use of the Zepplin Field for the Party Rallies and why Nurnberg was picked for them. Nurnberg was centrally located in Germany, had a very old German feel and had a large number of socialists in the population making it perfect for gathering socialists and having huge rallies.
Kel: We were both really impressed with how genuinely the Germans have looked to understand their
history. There were no excuses made in the museum for how such evil took power, just a fair examination of what happened and the average person's part in it. They're really doing it right.
Christmas Markets: Every Type of Kuchen is Worth the Money After the museum we took an afternoon siesta and then went off to dinner at the Christmas Market. Nurnberg’s Christmas Market kicks Rothenberg’s butt. We had heard over and over again how great Rothenberg was, and while it was very “cute” (Kel’s word) the Christmas Market wasn’t all that great. Nurnberg’s market on the other hand is huge and everything everyone says it is. The old town itself is chock full of cool old buildings which make a great backdrop for the market. The number of stalls, many of which contain food (which is important to us), is much larger than any other market we’ve been to yet, and Nurnberg is the 7th Christmas market we’ve seen in our time in Germany and is the 10th if you count the markets in Spain. We've got experience at this now.
We got the usual for dinner: A sausage (in this case three
small Nurenbergers on a bun - kind of like little meat stogies), Reibakuchen (Potato Pancakes), a pork patty with onions and a sweet (in this case Lebkuchen which is a cookie that’s to die for). Of course we had to drink our fair share of gluhwein. We happened, at the end of our walk through the markets, upon a stand making gluhwein with rum in a unique manner. They had a metal container suspended above the vat of gluhwein and were pouring rum into it with it lit on fire. It looked really cool so we had some and it was strong with that rummy taste rum drinks have but without the really strong kick that can be nasty.
And the sheet will set you free After downing more than enough gluhwein, Kel started to feel a little drunk so we headed back to our room. Since Kel was feeling bold she called the front desk and asked for an extra sheet. This probably sounds strange to those of you at home but Germans seem to sleep without a top sheet. Usually our beds consist of 2 twin mattresses with bottom sheets and 2 feather
blankets which are extremely warm. Kel and I both like to have a sheet so that we have some covers on us if we kick the blanket off. In the last few hotels, if you kick the blanket off, that’s it…nada mas…no more covers. We’ve both been sleeping in our sleep sacks which we bought in case we’d need a sheet in a hostel (A great investment by the way and one I would highly recommend for anyone who does extensive traveling…they're like sleeping bags that are just the thickness of sheets. They come in handy when the sheets are low quality or feel the least bit skeevy). Since we both have the sleep sacks its been nice, but having a real sheet enables us to move freely about the bed and not get tangled up in a sheet that’s basically sewn around you. Consider that Mikey’s strange sleeping fact of the day…weird I know!
Well, y'all have a great evening and we’ll hopefully send you more blogs tomorrow. Only one week till Christmas!
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Don
non-member comment
Not the only schmuck...
Just the best schmuck you know. Merry Christmas! (on an old blog)