NUREMBERG

Uh-oh…..talk about being spoiled. Woke up this morning, opened the drapes and what do I see but junkyards, industrial sites, smoke stacks….guess we’re out of the Bavarian mountains….welcome to Nuremberg. We’ve passed through 7 locks during the night, slowly climbing from 1,109 feet up to the highest level on the canal (1,340 ft) and then started heading down. We’re at 1,025 at Nuremberg and will be down to 280 feet when we reach Mainz.

We saw the parade grounds where Hilter held all the notorious propaganda parades. Rather than repair and maintain the Nazi sites, the government has decided to leave them as is rather than ‘memorialize’ such a terrible time in their history.

We then headed to the court house where the Nuremberg trials were held--Room 600. I expected it to be bigger than it was but it was very thought-provoking and the guide who did the presentation was very informative. He pointed out a door in the paneled wall where the prisoners were brought in. They went from the prison, through a tunnel and into the courtroom, never going outside of the building.

We traveled into the ‘old town’, on the way passing the medieval wall that protected the city. It is the longest, most well preserved wall in Europe. When we got to Hauptmarkt square they were celebrating with an Easter market, vendors selling their ware, sausage, pretzels, candies, all German.

We were at the town square at noon and were able to see the Glockenspiel in action. At first we thought it was just the bell ringing, but then after a pause, the trumpet players and drummers did their thing, and then the parade of characters passed in front of the king who was sitting in the center. It took 10 minutes for the scene to finish.

I was a little disappointed with Nuremberg; not sure if it was because it was so big and the old town so small or just the fact it was Sunday and there weren’t too many locals out and about. It just seemed that there wasn’t that much ‘old world charm’ as in the other cities we been to.