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August 29th
Our real long day yesterday was countered today by a very SHORT day, as it was only a 9.7 mile ride to get the rest of the way into Nürnburg. Tried to follow the river most of the way into the city, but finally got pushed into the city by construction which had closed down the bike paths. Once again, praise be to our Garmin GPS for getting us to the hotel we reserved, even if it *DIDN’T* have a bloody clue as to some of the bike trails today and yesterday. Oh well, nothing’s perfect, I guess. We arrived at the hotel in good order, washed some cloths, and then headed to what the locals call the “Dokumentatrionszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelande”. Commonly known as the Nazi Museum elsewhere, Nürnburgers can be a little sensitive about the issue. Nürnburg had 800 years of glorious history, spoiled by 12 years of insanity during Hitler’s rise to power. Many causes are claimed for this, including the impositions brought down on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles, but the fact remains that Hitler managed to create his Cult of the Führer and eventually drag Germany, and the rest of the world, into World War II. The museum gives a pretty overview via audiotour of the whole sequence of events, though some areas were skimmed pretty lightly. Still, well worth the time to attend. Not much to report on the dinner front tonight, as we had some bar fare from a local pub, then stopped by the organic supermarket just a couple of doors down from the hotel, and picked up breakfast and lunch food for tomorrow, and some more beer of course from the gas station across the street. Speaking of the hotel, we are literally the ONLY people here at the moment. Technically, the place doesn’t open for clientele until Sept. 1st. We’d arrived here about 11:00 or so, and the desk clerk had later left for some reason or other, so we are literally the only ones here at the moment! The good news is, that they’ve got free wireless, so it’s really easy to update the blog today.

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