Nurnberg

Our primary focus in Nurnberg was the Nazi Documentation Center and rally party grounds.  The Documentation Center is housed in a section of the unfinished remains of Hitler’s congress hall.   Currently, the building stands 39m tall but was planned to be 70m tall and intended to hold 50,000 seats.  The permanent exhibition there, "Fascination and Terror", studies the causes and consequences of National Socialism and Hitler’s rise to power.  It was fascinating and horrific (as the title might imply).   It’s staggering to see photos of the rows and rows of Nazis and Hitler youth lined up on the rally grounds and realizing that that happened right here.  Coming to Nurnberg for a party rally was an honor and thrill. 

They only briefly touched on the prison camps that were used to quarry the stones used in that very building, and then finished with the Nurnberg trials. 

In down town Nurnberg, we wandered the streets and markets, admired intricate churches and massive bike ramps being set up all over the squares for an upcoming competition.  (Wish we could have seen that.  It looked pretty hard core.)  We found the Schöner Brunnen fountain (one of the few artifacts to survive the WWII bombings in Nurnberg) and located its two seamless rings locked around the iron lattice.  The gold ring is for good luck.  The black ring (much more difficult to find) is for fertility.   One legend says that you turn the ring once for every child you want to have.  So Chris and I got up and turned the ring…

We wandered up to the local castle (every town has one) and walked around and then found a nice place to eat.  After spending some time in Switzerland, everything in Germany feels so cheap.