Nuremberg - traces of the past

Last Sunday we visited downtown Nuremberg and were surprised to realize how much destruction was brought to it. This sunday we visited the place where it began - the Nazi party rally grounds. Or, as Germans call it: Reichsparteitagsgelände.

We were surprised to see the traces of a german eagle and swastika on a building - even more surprised to see that it now houses a Burger King. Amazing how time goes by...

There is an excellent museum within the unfinished congress center - they do have english audio guides that explain everything. From the Nazi's rise to power, all the gory details of war, death and destruction up to the Nuremberg trials when the Nazi leaders were brough to justice.
(Visit their website for more details)

Near the congress center you can see the Zeppelin field where the big rallys were held. In the middle of the picture is the place where Hitler stood before hundreds of thousands...

You can read more about this place at Wikipedia.

That's it for now, folks - visit this place yourself and get a little spooked by history...
Matthias

Nürnberg, The City of Survival

On February 4th, Matthias and I drove out to Nürnberg. When I first got there, I wasn't sure how I felt about the city. The first thing I noticed was that the majority of the buildings had a pinkish red ting in the masonary. I wasn't impressed initially, so I nicked named it, "The Red City". We stopped at a local cafe called "Der Beck" and had some coffee and sweets, and read a little bit.

Later, we hiked up to the castle and went through the museum first. It was one of the nicest museums I've been through in a long time. It displayed some amazing artifacts that demonstrates the city's rich history.

After the museum, we bought tickets for a tour around the cathedral and palace. It was beautiful to look at, but boring and frustrating to listen to. Our tour guide had a great sense of humour but I wasn't able to enjoy it because I couldn't understand German. I know Matthias enjoyed it very much and he gave me the highlights of each room, but it wasn't the same. I really wanted to participate in the tour and enjoy the humour.

Well, after the tour we grabbed a bite to eat at a local restaurant and then we continued walking through town. The first church we stopped at was St Lorenz Kirche. This church gave me a new outlook on the city and WWII. For those who don't know, Nürnberg is known for the Nazi parties that used to gather in this city to listen to Adolf Hilter. Anyhow, here is a link for the church: http://germany.archiseek.com/bavaria/nuremberg/st_lorenz.html

As we walked around inside the church, we stopped to read posters that explained the story from the time the church was bombed in 1945 to the time it was rebuilt between 1952-1957. It's amazing how the church was restored to it's original condition (considering it is 700 years old). I admire all the surviving souls that had the courage to pick up the pieces and start a new life.

We walked through a few more churches that were similar to St. Lorenz Kirche. By the time we drove back to Regensburg, I had a new found respect for Nürnberg. At this point, I named it, "The City of Survival". I must say that it has become one of my favourite places to visit. I'm looking forward to the next time that Matthias and I go there to visit some of the other museums. For more information on Nuremberg, click on the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg

Cheers!
Rosa

Passau

On January 27th, we went to the city of Passau. That is, my MIL, my husband and me. We had a good time hiking up to the castle but when we got to the top, there wasn't much to see. Everything was closed for the winter and will reopen for the spring. Check out some of the photos we took:

From Passau

From Passau

Here is my wonderful MIL who came to visit us for the weekend:

From Passau

Here I am making a goofie face (as usual):

From Passau

And here is Matthias trying to be funny sitting in the snow:

From Passau

On the way back down we found these ducks admiring the view across the river. The shot was taken by Matthias. He does have a keen eye.

From Passau

We walked around the city and then stopped at a local restaurant for dinner.
We had a great time but by the end of the day we were all tired.

Cheers!
Rosa