Day 7 - Little Berlin and Nuremburg

Friday we boarded our bus 15 mins earlier than normal, payback for that leisurely start we had on Wednesday. 

Our first stop was Modlareuth which was referred to as 'Little Berlin' during the cold war since the GDR wall ran smack through the middle of town. It was a chilly morning but we continued to have the gods in our favor, no rain. It is a bit hard to believe they would divide a town and families, but for historical purposes part of the wall is left as a museum to remind us of what humans are capable of. 

Immediately after WWII the brook which ran through the middle of town was the border but in the early 50s the GDR built a wall similar to the Berlin wall with watch towers, a death strip, etc. to create a wall that could not be crossed. They even demolished a mill that spanned the border. As the trucks were approaching to relocate the owners family, they fled into West Germany and were free. 

They also have a small museum with vehicles from that era, the eastern block built some pretty bad vehicles. 

Shortly after we boarded the bus for Nuremberg the skies opened up, we dodged another storm. 

We arrived in downtown Nuremberg (Nurnberg to the locals) around 1PM and were basically turned loose to find lunch, there are many cafes and restaurants. 

The sights are just beautiful. This is the 14th century fountain Schoner Brunnen and the catholic church Frauenkirche in the background. 

After lunch we met our local specialist, Thorsen, and  headed to Nuremberg Rally Grounds. This is where Hitler and the Nazi party gathered in mass mostly to impress the German public and the outside world. We drove our tour bus right inside the unfinished Congress Hall, which the Nazi party took over from the city of Nuremburg in the early 1930s and had plans to make it grand but due to the war never finished the building. 

From here we moved to the parade grounds. The scale in itself is impressive. I think we all can remember the black and white photos of masses of German solders all in uniform while Hitler stood on a podium giving speeches, this is the place.  The rally grounds covered 11 square kilometers or about 4.25 square miles. 

Zeppelin field is so large it is difficult to get it in a picture. Today it is used for concerts and occasionally as a race track, the center of the field is now paved. When the Nazi party had its rallies here, over 150K soldiers were on the field and roughly 50K spectators. It is interesting to note that tickets to the rallies were expensive and sold out each year, it was propaganda on a grand scale. 

The officials had a private entrance to the stadium via a back door through a room that is still impressive today, the Golden Hall. 

The Swastika was even embedded in the ceiling pattern. 

When the Americans occupied Nuremberg after the fall of the Nazi party some engraved their names on the walls of the buildings. These are now preserved as part of history.  The picture is an example, many are hard to read, but I saw names from Georgia, Ohio and Canada. 

Vanessa told a story on the bus about a conversation with her grandmother (I think). When the war was near the end the Russians were coming from the east and the Americans from the west. There were many reports about how the Germans were treated by the Russians, it was not good. There was much anxiety about the Americans coming from the west. The Germans were expected to provide a room for American soldiers in their home. When an American soldier entered her grandmother's home he saw a picture of the grandmother's husband in a German uniform.  The solider simply pulled out a picture of his family and showed it her grandmother.  The Americans treated the locals well and the Germans were relieved. 

After our tour of the Rally Grounds we took a quick break at the hotel and then were bussed up to Imperial Castle of Nuremberg where we started our walking tour of Nuremberg with, Fiona, our local specialist. The views from the castle are impressive. 

We walked the town and took a lot of pictures, too many to put in a blog. 

We walked by 'Hangman's Bridge', the bridge that connected the executioner's house to town, since the executioner was not allowed to have contact with the public. In the picture it is the small wooden bridge on the right. Fiona told an interesting story about one Nuremburg Executioner, he took the job at an early age and retired after 40 years. He then became a surgeon and was deemed a good citizen by the government. What is interesting is that this executioner could write and kept a diary of all of his work....some very interesting reading from the 1600s. You can buy the modern version of his diary called 'A Hangman's Diary'. 

The city of Nuremburg is very picturesque and we enjoyed our time there. 

We walked from the city center back to the hotel, it was pretty late by the time we turned in and we set off toward Munich at 8AM tomorrow.