Nürnberg = Nuremberg

So now that we have our cars, we decided to make our way to the city of Nuremberg. We drove there with no difficulties and after a few minutes of maneuvering around the outskirts of town we finally found a parking garage. We held our breath as we slowly inched our way into the underground garage in the 4Runner. The sign said there was 2 meters clearance...but we have no idea what our clearance is!! We were fine and once we had parked, we headed back above ground to find the main square and the most famous Christmas Market in Germany!! We hit crowds of people long before we hit the main square. People come from all over the world to see this and it was PACKED! You can see from the pictures how many people there were.

We weren't sure where to start (and Andrea had accidently left the guide book in the car!!!) so we worked our way to the information booth in the Hauptmarkt (center square). Our timing was great because an English-speaking tour was leaving within an hour. We signed up to go on a guided, 3 hour tour of the city. Our tour guide was a native of the city, a major in its history, and had studied English in England. It ended up being the best 20 Euros we'd spend all day!! (Well...we also bought Feuerzangen bowles - glühweine with rum and sugar, bratworsts, lebkuchen, candied nuts...and that was also money well spent!!)

The pictures we took were along the guided tour. We learned some interesting history from our guide, Tom. He told us that the Jewish community was kept separate from the Christian community, even dating back to the Middle Ages. Apparantly this was common in Europe. The Jews were given the less appealing, less useful part of town, while the Christians inhabited the important part. The main square is located in what was at one time the Jewish part of the city. However, over time and with the advancement of society, the land occupied by the Jews became valuable. The emperor at the time ordered that the Jewish part be burnt down. 600 Jews died and in the very place where the Jewish Synagog once stood, the Emperor had a Catholic church (Church of Our Lady) built.

Kaiserburg is the Imperial Castle we visited on the tour. Construction began in the 12th century and continued for 400 years.

The church we visited on the tour is St. Sebalduskirche. It is the oldest church in the city, built in the 13th century. Amazingly enough, even after more than 40 allied bombings during WWII, the original windows are still used in the church. In fact, important pieces of art and artifacts from the city were kept in the Historischer Kunstbunker (a climate-controlled bomb shelter) during WWII. The tunnel was built into the sandstone in the 12th century to house a brewery and a beer cellar. Other buildings that were destroyed by bombings were eventually rebuilt true to their original architecture and with the original stones! Our tour guide said that this has caused a problem now because once the stones have been exposed to heat, they lose some of their strength.

Nuremberg also has the biggest pedestrian shopping area in Europe!!! Wow, we might need a day or two just to make our way around to all the stores!!

We decided that one day was clearly not enough to see all of the historic sights within the city. Afterall, Nuremberg was the sight of the Nuremberg War-Crimes Trial and we weren't going to have enough time to go visit the courthouse it was held in. We also were not going to have time to visit the Reichsparteitagsgelände (Nazi Party Rally Grounds) or the Kongresshalle (Congress Hall) built upon the rally grounds. The Congress Hall was meant by Hitler to outdo Rome's Colosseum in both size and scale, and although WWII interrupted the completion of the building, it is absolutely huge and can be seen from the castle wall. Inside the Congress Hall is the Dokumentationszentrum (Documentation Center) which profiles the rise of Hitler, the party rallies, and the Nuremberg Trials. Clearly we were going to have to make another trip to Nuremberg in order to see everything!

We had a great day and can't wait to go back to see more. We're thinking that we'll wait until after the Christmas Market, so there won't be so people around. (Although then we won't be able to have Feuerzangen bowles and bratworsts.... ) We loved the city and our tour. It was the best thing we could have done to learn the most in our short stay. And since it's only about an hour away, we'll be back soon

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