Blogs from Nuremberg (aka Nürnberg), Bavaria, Germany, Europe - page 6

Today I was supposed to be in the Hague, however, little did I know, German trains was starting their longest strike in history that week, which was a problem since I was travelling everywhere at night by train. Thankfully, it was mainly the night trains that were cancelled, and there were still many day trains still working so I was at least able to travel from Vienna to Nuremberg this morning. Nuremberg was really fascinating, it is large city that has both a new quarter and old quarter, which is surrounded by ancient walls. I spent the morning in the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds, which is probably one of the most interesting museums I have ever been too. It is built right into the ruins of an old Nazi theatre, so their architecture and ... read more

This would be one of our few days with a time constraint. Because we were flying home the following Sunday when Loginout would be closed and because Mr. Pennypincher had no interest in forking out a couple extra Euro to pay the penalty for the privilege of having someone do the paperwork on their day off, I arranged to do the processing on the one weekday we would be passing anywhere near Munich Strauss airport. Thanks to a number of helpful Bimmerfesters who advised me that this could be done I set up a 12 noon appointment to have all the Loginout papers filled-out and to give them my spare key. The appointment time seemed a reasonable time long before I ran into that Saturday afternoon Stau on the Munich-Salzburg Autobahn.... read more

We boarded our River Boat Saturday afternoon around 2:30. Our room is incredible! It's like being in a luxury hotel. We enjoyed cocktails in the bar before dinner then enjoyed a fantastic 5 course first night meal, I'll post a pic of the menu. We all pretty much fell into bed exhausted after such a fabulous meal. Day 2 Nurnberg We got up and made it to our choice of sightseeing this morning. We choose to explore old Nürnberg, which included a bus tour "along its centuries-old ramparts and defensive walls, past the opera house and St. John's Cemetery to the old city and marketplace," and a walking tour of the castle. "In the Middle Ages, Holy Roman Emperors stayed here when they were in town. This huge complex has 45 buildings" and was built upon ... read more

Geo: 49.4505, 11.0805We have now left the Danube and are sailing along on the Danube-Main Canal, a huge man made canal connecting the two rivers. There are many huge locks on the canal and on two occasions we were actually sailing over a road on an aqueduct. The scenery is not as pretty as on the Danube as factories have sprung up because of the access to transport. However there are still long stretches of woodland and agriculture.Our stop today was in Nuremburg more famous for its modern history than it's medieval. We saw where Hitler made his speeches and had his huge parades. There is one huge structure which looks like the Coliseum in Rome but is larger and could only be the work of a megalomaniac. It was meant to be completely clad in ... read more

Geo: 49.4505, 11.0805Saw the locations of the famous Nuremberg rallies. These were eight-day events, the last one before the war attended by over a million people.Our young guide was very frank about the atrocities and extermination camps. Without trying to make excuses, he described Germany in the 30's. Hyperinflation, un-employment, low self esteem. Then Hitler came and brought in a program of public works, industrialisation and gave the people someone to blame for their trails (Jews and minorities). The youth of the 30s grew up into the soldiers of the war, and they believed the propaganda. Germany now leaves Nazi infrastructure intact, as a grim reminder. To demolish it would be to invite future denials about what happened.... read more