Nürnberg and conclusion

On Friday morning, Vroni and I left Rothenburg to visit Nürnberg. Catching the train proved to be less stressful than the trip from Munich to Rothenburg. Everything went smoothly and we arrived in Nürnberg shortly after noon.

We checked our bags into a storage locker and set about exploring the city. Fortunately, the city’s Altstadt (historical part of the city, literally “old city”) was within easy walking distance. We were greeting with the remnants of the medieval city wall and then the Lorenzkirche shortly after that. After a brief stop in a bookstore, we continued on over the Karlsbrücke and into the Altstadt. Vroni took a little lunch while I downed a beer (one of the first things I did upon arriving was buy some Nürnberger sausages). After the brief stop we walked to the old castle and wandered around its grounds aimlessly for a bit. After leaving the castle, we made a quick stop by the Albrecht Dürer house and set off to see the zeppelin field where the Nazis had their giant rallies (the 1934 gathering was made infamous by Leni Riefenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will” propaganda piece).

The first part of this tour was a stop at the Congress Hall which was planned as a Colosseum-like arena but never finished. Now it is a museum which documents the rise and fall of the National Socialists in Germany. After taking the guided tour, we walked over to the zeppelin field and the scenery was amazing. There’s a little lake where people practiced sailing, trees that form a sort of covered walkway – very tranquil. And then you see the grandstand of the zeppelin field. Although it has fallen into disrepair and is mainly used for, well… nothing now – it is still quite the experience to climb up to the top and stand near the podium where Hitler stood as he address half a million people. Adding to the surreal aura were the German teens who skateboarded on said podium and the other kids who practiced their bike stunts or roller hockey moves just below. The occasion was not without a small dose of humor though. There were some adult German men playing a tamer version of suicide/wall ball/butts up against the grandstand. They were throwing with all the proficiency of a 4-year old girl with palsy. Good times.

We left the zeppelin field and hard a bit of a hard time finding the s-bahn to get back to the main train station. When we finally did, I realized we had enough time to visit the site of the Nuremberg trials. We made that our final stop before heading back to the train station for a bite to eat. We settled on McDonalds and got scolded by the cashier for photographing the “Royale mit Käse” sign for my non-believer friends back at home. We ate boarded our train and Vroni fell fast asleep while I was driven to distraction by the idiot kids in the train car adjacent to ours. At one point they were joined by an American dude who spoke a tiny bit of German and my irritation morphed into amusement as listened to him attempting to communicate with the teenage German gang-STAS. By the time we arrived back in Munich, we were both too tired to move so we washed up and hit the hay.

The next day was to be a very relaxing day. I would be flying out the next morning so Saturday was a day to tie up loose ends. We went out to Karlsplatz where we ate, went book shopping again and I made a quick visit to the sport shop. I picked up some World Cup souvenir posters and made it back to the apartment with my loot. The rest of the day was spent watching soccer and packing. That night we watched Germany lose to Turkey which was an interesting result (Turks are a relatively sizable minority in Germany, much like Mexicans in the southwestern U.S.). We ate a delicious meal of Rindsroulade and Spätzle which Vroni prepared. I sacked out early and resigned myself to the fact that my vacation was drawing to its end. Vroni drove me to the airport the next morning and hung out with me as long as it made sense to do so. I boarded my flight and spent 10.5 hours flying over the Atlantic, with a 6.5 hour layover in Atlanta. I debated heading out in to the city but figured by the time I cleared immigration and customs, headed downtown and tried to get back to the airport with enough time to pass through security it might be best if I just stayed put. I was wrong. My plane to Tucson was delayed by two hours and by the time I found out I was pretty much stuck at the airport. I ate, caught up on some football (I watched the Falcons almost beat the Patriots and heard the Braves lose to the Astros in the epic 479 inning game) and read for the rest of my time. I finally boarded my flight and was actually able to get a bit of shuteye on the flight home.