Same procedure as last year.....

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Well, perhaps 'same procedure as every 4 years' would be more apt. There is a famous short film in Germany, entitled 'Dinner for One'. Although it's in english, adapted from a theatre sketch, it's little known outside Germany, where it's a staple of New Year's Eve TV. The plot loosely revolves around the catchphrase 'Same procedure as last year?' , receiving the response 'Same procedure as every year'. Somehow, this immediately came to mind, when, 4 years after our last visit , the scenes of jubilation we'd witnessed there when Turkey reached the World Cup semi finals were repeated, this time with Italian flags, following their dubious victory over the Socceroos. The road encircling the walled Altstadt of Nurnberg seems to be the perfect place for fans to congregate in their cars, flags flying and horns sounding. Entertaining for the first ten minutes, less so hours later.

Having been to Nurenberg several time before, from school trips onwards, we felt no need to busy ourselves with tourist sites, content to spend our time window shopping or wandering the old streets, chancing upon cafes and beergardens in which to watch the football. However, one site we'd not been to before was the Reichsgelande, the former Nazi parade grounds, which was worth a visit. The local council decided some years ago to let it simply fade away, rather than preserve the site, or cause an outcry in some sectors by flattening it. During the World Cup, it was also used as the site for the Fan Fest. The site, although evoking mixed feelings, is still impressive, the sheer size of it being brought home by the way it dwarfed the nearby football stadium. The immense Rekordzentrum flanking the lake is another good example of the grandiose architecture of that period.

However, we'd primarily travelled from Zurich to Nurenberg to visit an old friend who kindly let us stay in his huge photography studio. Based in an old brewery, the creaking iron gates as we returned to the place late at night gave a certain scary movie feel to the experience, although in reality the only thing which woke us was the noise of the postmen arriving for their early shift in the renovated sorting office below. After several days of BBQs and hanging out with our friends and their huge dog, it was time to move on. The beauty of the WM rail pass being they we could just turn up and decide on the day where to go next.

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