Day 21 + Day 22 - Chiemsee and Nuremberg

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Day 21 - Chiemsee

My God did it rain today. It rained so much I gave in and actually wore my rain poncho. I immensely regret not bringing my rain coat this year... I always bring it when I'm travelling in the UK, not quite sure why I didn't think to bring it this time. Oh well.

I went to to the very lovely Lake Chiemsee today - took the train to Prien am Chiemsee then hopped on a little baby train to get to the lake. It was full pouring already, but it's supposed to rain tomorrow too and it's my birthday day so I want to see pretty things - rain be damned. I walked around the main island, down to the castle/palace and back. The rain very much did not let up the entire time and I was a drenched rat by the time I came back to Munich haha, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

On the baby train I got forcibly adopted into a tour of old German people. Like 80 year olds. They got in the car with me and surrounded me haha. Their leader was giving tickets out and accidentally gave me one (I already bought mine) and then he realized I was quite a few decades younger lol. They all started speaking to me at once and I'm like ah... English? None of them spoke it but we figured each other out enough that they wanted to know where I'm from. Canada. "Ah, gut, gut (good)". Danke. Lol

Back in Munich I had to go back to the hostel to change my pants since they were soaked and I was freezing (uhm, high of 14?? What is this??) and then I debated what I wanted to do for my birthday. So, I went shopping haha. I have pretty much zero room in my backpack but I bought 2 shirts and 2 dresses, my gift to myself. I had planned to go to Haufbrauhaus but I honestly took one step in and did the biggest NOPE and turned and left. It was too much - too much noise, too many people, just sensory overload. Instead I went and got myself a currywurst which I could happily eat all day every day and a beer. Does the trick 😊 And I picked up this giant pastry/eclair thing to bring back to the hostel for dessert... holy shit, it was huge. I didn't realize how big it was until I tried to eat it and didn't quite know how to attack it..? lol it was like strawberry mousse (to die for), fresh strawberries, some custard stuff, on an eclair like pastry drizzled with chocolate. Better than cake.

And to top it off, Passenger (guy who sings "Let Her Go") did a live concert on FB tonight, so I got to enjoy that for free. Couldn't ask for a better way to end the day.

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Day 22 - Nuremberg

Off to Nuremberg today - time to get more of my history fix - always a must in Germany.

First things first - not feeling Nuremberg as a city. Sorry. People didn't seem that friendly, the U1 subway sucks (ie doesn't come often), and I just wasn't feeling the vibe like in and around Munich or Berlin. But that's fine, I didn't come to the city for those things.

I went to the Nuremberg Trial Museum - literally in the building they held the trials. It was really interesting - we'll, as interesting at it can be when you have to audio guide everything. As a rule, I really don't have the patience for audio guides lol. But all the actual exhibits are in German so... audio guide it is. Despite that it was well put together. I really didn't know much about the process or the trials themselves, so that was fun to soak up for 90 min or so. I had good timing - normally during the week you don't get to go into the actual court room they used because it's still in use today - but I guess it was a slow day on the docket. The room isn't flashy, it isn't "special" in any way really which kind of adds to its charm. I love that when they created the benches for the defendants during the trial they made the basic of all basic benches to basically tell the "VIPs" that they are nothing special and their days of being treated like they were are over. There are no words for how much I love that. So yeah, all in all I really enjoyed the visit. If you're at all interested in history it's well worth the 5 euro.

From there I went to the "Documentation Center" all about the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. Ok, holy shit that was fascinating. Despite all the different WWII museums/exhibits I've seen, I haven't really seen that much about the rallies other than the obligatory picture or two showing the crowds. The "Docu-Center" is amazing because it's actually is one of the unfinished buildings (Congress Hall) from the Nazi Rally Grounds. The Nazi rallies were held in Nuremberg and there had been plans to build these massive grounds including the Congress Hall, field, stadium, "the Great Road" etc. One of the sections in the museum is all about the detailed plans themselves and it's insane how grandiose the plans were... and how everything was basically designed with the idea of Hitler being front and center of it all. I super love that the allies bombed the shit out of the giant swastika atop the grandstand after the war was done.

Again, I was subject to audio guide overload... but since most of the clips are very short (minute or two) it's very manageable. They basically walk you through a timeline of the rise of Hitler, how NSDAP and Hitler came to power (hello the "Fuhrer myth", the importance of "us vs them" and a whole bunch of other scary stuff that is oddly still relevant today...), the role and importance of their monstrously extravagant and huge rallies and then ultimately their fall and the trials.

I've never seen so many clips from the rallies... it's truly frightening. I mean, yes, hindsight is 20/20 and had it been thousands and thousands of people giving some random person a thumbs up rather than the Nazi salute it might not cast such a dark image, but I don't know, it's the vibe... it's the mob mentality. It's just unsettling.

Anyway, that was my day. I hurried back to catch my bus back to Munich. No need to apparently, since Flixbus is crap lol. The bus was supposed to leave at 4:20... it ARRIVED at 5:35. Total garbage. I was getting pretty hungry, but I knew if I went to get food the bus would come. Sure enough as my pizza was in the oven the bus came. All the middle fingers to the universe, thanks. At least they wrapped it up so i threw it in my purse to eat after.

The pizza guy was super funny though. He's from Turkey and he was all excited to practice his English (aw). When he asked where I'm from he's like "oooooh Ottawa is the capital of Canada." YES! (Thank you random man for knowing this.) I told him that's awesome because most people have never even heard of Ottawa. Turns out his English teacher is currently on vacation in Ottawa of all places haha. Small world. I love those little moments.

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Comments

[Joan O'Connell]

Happy Birthday
Hi Julie, Happy belated birthday. Your birthday treat looked deeelicious. I'm assuming 28? Justin wil be 28 on October 5. We'll see him in a couple of weeks when we go to the Big Smoke for a Jays game.

[jewel89]

Thanks Joan! Yep, 28. Enjoy the Jays game! Hopefully they don't lay an egg when you guys go.