Friday night we got a late start. It's about a four hour drive from our house to Nuremberg, and of course the one Friday we have plans is the Friday Josh had to stay at work later than normal. We got to our hotel around 10:30 pm, and luckily the reception desk was open 24/7. We lucked out and found a very nice hotel in a great area. We got parked (which was an adventure. I am not at all confident in my parking skills... and Josh had to move the car forwards/backwards about 12 times before he could attempt to back into "our" parking spot - which was a spot you had to back into) and just settled into our room for the night.
The next morning we were up bright and early to get going. In my research prior to our trip I had discovered the Nuremberg Card - which with one fee will get you into most of the city museums, the zoo, and use of public transportation. I priced things out, and with what we wanted to see the card would pay for itself. We got our cards and headed off to the Documentation Center. The Documentation Center is a building which was designed to be Nazi headquarters. One portion of it was going to be a type of congress hall, and the other portion was built to look like the Roman Colosseum. The building was never finished, and now it serves as a type of museum. There is a lot of photos/information about what role Nuremberg played in the rise of the Nazis. Lots of history. After walking through the museum portion of it we walked around the exterior. It is kind of creepy now a days as great portions of it are really in ruin. And... scary to think what it could have become...
After the Documentation center we walked across to the old zeppelin field - which is also the old Nazi rally/parade grounds. I promise you have seen pictures of this or video footage of it as this area was used a lot. The area has changed a lot because a lot of things had to be removed for safety hazards (when Nuremberg was liberated by the Allies the decorative Nazi symbol on the top of the structure was blown up which did structural damage). In some ways you have to use your imagination as portions of the old grounds are missing, and what is left is in ruins. Part of the zeppelin field is soccer fields... yet you can still see what it was.
We then moved on to some more Nuremberg history and went to the Palace of Justice where the Nuremberg trials took place. The courtroom where the trials were is still in use today, but you are able to go sit inside of it. Upstairs from the courtroom is an exhibit with a wealth of photos/information about the trials. I never get tired of the overwhelming emotions I feel to actually be in a spot where I know history was made....
After focusing for the morning on Nazi history, we went back to enjoy the medieval center of town. Nuremberg (like so many German medieval towns) has an old wall with many towers surrounding it. I was reminded of Rothenburg. What is interesting is within the old city walls you will see a beautiful cathedral, a half-timbered house... right next to a Starbucks and a clothing store. Kind of funny, yet still beautiful and interesting to see. We went to the castle, which perches towards the top of the old town. We climbed up the castle tower, which gave us beautiful views of the city.
We ended our day with a fabulous meal of some traditional German food.
We had seen most of what we wanted to with historical sites and museums, so we decided to (drum roll please) go to the zoo. Shocking, I know. However, the zoo was covered under our Nuremberg Card. It also had a few things we have not yet seen in a European museum including manatees and dolphins. It was a fun morning. My favorite part of the morning was when we discovered the "kids area" which had a petting zoo with goats. Yes, goats. Luckily these goats were smaller and friendlier than the goats I encountered last weekend and they seemed to have no desire to try and ram us. However, one of the little goats got out of the pen and was running freely. For a few minutes we watched a little girl and her father try to coax the goat back into the pen with no success. After watching Josh decided to help them out and simply walked over, picked the goat up, and put it back in the pen. The Germans looked a bit surprised and amused by this. Josh shook his head and muttered "city slickers." Which is even funnier because back home we are the "city slickers."
As we were leaving the zoo we decided to buy cheese pretzels (a German specialty - they are amazing). When we ordered them we didn't realize the size they would be... they literally were almost as big as the steering wheel of my car. I wish I had gotten a picture of them just to prove my point. Needless to say, we were set for lunch AND dinner...
So, one of my "must-sees" is off the list and it was well worth it!
No comments:
Post a Comment