We disembarked the ship this morning at 9:00am and left all our luggage in the lobby. It’s being transported to the ship while we tour the city. Then we boarded buses to for a 30-minute drive into and around the city. When you first see the city, it looks newer and it was because so much had to be rebuilt after the war. The older part of the city was built in 1050.

At first we drove to the Nazi party rally grounds, the Zeppelin Field, where Hitler spoke and rallied 250,000 young men 6 times between 1933 and 1938.  We only drove by it, but there was an optional tour that stopped there and walked around. It was erie, picturing all the young men listening to him, believing him, and ready to do what he asked. The events in Nuremberg were really only propaganda events, but but a turning point for the Nazis. They had tried similar events in Munich, but they didn’t work. There used to be a swastica on the top of the building, but it was blown up after the war in 1945. Some people in Germany want the building destroyed, but others want it to remain so, “we never forget.” The grand stands have weeds growing all over.

Then we drove past the courthouse and place where the Nuremberg trials were held. You may recall that Hitler and some of his top men, wives and children committed suicide, so never went to trial.  For the extra excursions they were able to go inside. It’s still a functioning courthouse and you can only tour it on Sunday’s, so the timing was just right.

While driving, we saw a few other things such as a Jewish cemetery. There was another cemetery near by that was part of St Johns church, and was identified as one of the most beautiful cemeteries. All of the graves were above ground and exactly the same size.

We then went into the imperial castle through the fortification walls. There was a huge moat, around the castle, but it was a dry moat and never held water. The castle was beautiful, and the views of the city were as well. We left the castle to head into the old city. On Sundays usually everything was closed, and most things were. We didn’t get to try the local pastry, lebkuchen, but later we had a soft pretzel that was just as soft as the ones at home. We passed an unusual bronze rabbit that looked more like a mutant. The rabbit was breaking out of a fence to protect its young.  The artist Albrecht Durer, from Nuremburg, also made the praying hands that most people have seen before.

One of the churches we passed was quite lovely, and I enjoyed looking for unusual gargoyles. There was one statice that was half black and half white, we couldn’t tell if that was done on purpose or turned that color from something else.

In the main square, The Church of our Lady (Die Frauenkirche), can be seen. At 12:00 the church’s “Männleinlaufen” (mechanical clock and glockenspiel) recalls the proclamation of the Golden Bull of 1356: seven Electors pay homage to Emperor sitting on his throne. It was fun to watch, just a little anti-clamatic. We had some free time to putz around the city for over an hour before lunch. We walked over one of the bridges, and had a lovely view of a home that had two sections where water went under the house.

We met for lunch at the Hospital if the Holy Spirit.For lunch we had a soup that had thin slices pancake in it,  a traditional Nuremburg sausage, sauerkraut , German potatoe salad and ice cream. And a lovely talk with Don Bell from Ottawa. We enjoyed listening about the two month trip he and his wife took to New Zealand and Australia. We will be contacting them if we choose to go there. We saw our other companions larger and learned that John accidently left his backpack in a Starbucks with his passport in it. Bowman ran to their and fortunately someone had turned it in. Phew or we would have had to leave John in Budapest.

On our walk back to the buses through the square, there was a woman dressed like. Bronze Cary statue. She was standing very still, but you could see her eyes blink. John went up give her a tip, and she thanked him by moving and dusting him with fairy dust. Then we hit the road for Passau, a three hour bus ride. the countryside was just beautiful. We saw small villages, farmers, and wind turbines, and a beautiful sunset.