Hauptmarkt

Nuremberg's got a nice feel to it. It's a large town but it's got a small-town vibe. It was mostly destroyed at the end of WW2. It was, afterall, the home of the large Nazi rallies before the war and along with Munich, pretty much home to the Nazi party. It's mostly known to Americans as the home of the Nuremberg trials for Nazi war criminals. But there's much more to it than that. It was rebuilt in a blended style of old and new and some buildings used old stones but look modern. It is an ancient city and has a large, rebuilt medival city wall. The former moat is a walking and biking path now. There's an old castle on the hill and lots of museums. We spent our 1 1/2 days here mostly walking around and soaking up the sights. We've been taking a lot of Deutsche Bahn (DB) trains lately and the DB Train museum was surprisingly huge and interesting. The first train in Germany ran from here to a nearby suburb in 1835. The highlight might have been the fancy train car used by Ludwig II, who built Neuschwanstein Castle in Fuessen.

We did go to the Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds on the SE edge of town. While it's undergoing a renovation, the temporary exhibit at the KongressHall was informative and well-done. They pulled no punches and did a great job of showing how the Nazi party took power by, among other things, bullying the opposition and disrupting town hall meetings and then forming huge propaganda rallies and bringing in Nazis from around the country until Naziism spread. They took control of the media also. Sound familiar?

We walked around the huge area where the rallies were held. It was initially a site for a large exposition, a park, and a zoo. We walked around a small lake to the Zepellin field, where the largest rallies were held and where Leni Reifenstal filmed Triumph of the Will, a propaganda masterpiece. She used 16 cameras and 100 staff when using 3 or 4 cameras was unheard of. Many of the buildings at the complex were torn down, but several, like this arena based on the Greek Pergamon altar, are preserved. The sites are a mix of history and modern usage, including a modern football stadium and a cultural festival, and the Documentation center. We even stood on the podium where Hitler gave his speeches at the rallies. It was chilling.

Unfortunately, the site where the trials were held is closed to the public today. We were going to go to the opposite side of town to see it, but Deanne called in advance and found out they still use the courtroom for trials and it's closed for that.

We took an S Bahn, or suburban train back to the city and walked some more and saw Albrecht Durer's house. He's probably Germany's most famous painter. Across the street was an Augustiner tied house, or restauarant/bar that sells Munich's Augustiner beer. I can drink it and it's delicious, so we ate more Nuremberger sausages there. Those are the tiny specialty sausages. We ate them last night also at Bratwursthausle bei St. Sebald, the most famous brat house in town. With kraut, potato salad, and freshly shaved horseradish, there's nothing better on a warm Autumn day, as long as you're downing it with an Augustiner Helles.

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