Life as I know it.: If we become broke, I blame it on the Pastries

Well, that was a gluttonous weekend. I'll explain soon.

We arrived back from our weekend trip to Nürnberg last evening, after a quick stop in quaint Dinkelsbühl. It was a good weekend- we saw many historical monuments and areas, toured the market squares and biked around a three lake trail.

Saturday morning we hit the rode by 8am and arrived at our destination around 10:30am, the Documentation Centre Rally Grounds. It was an interesting, eye-opening and well-spent two hours as we walked through the centre with hand held audio guides that explained each portion of Hitler's uprising in English. The center was more of a documentation of the rise and fall of the Nazi party and all other socialist groups involved than a Holocaust memorial. Many things I didn't know before or take time to realize were the propaganda that went into the up rise and success of the Nazis and how much Hitler was idealized by his people. It fascinated me. I know we really only brushed the surface of the Hitler era, but this was a good place to start. The Documentation centre was actually housed in the half-built Congress Hall that Hitler had started building but never completed. It was an eerie feeling to look over the ruins of a criminal dynasty. After the Documentation Center, we rented bikes and road around the rest of the "rally grounds." We rode to the stadium where 400,000 people could gather in the propaganda rallies held by Hitler. Today, this area is home to street hockey players, skate boarders and football players.

After the leaving the Rally Grounds, it was time to explore the Old City of Nürnberg. We started out by checking into our Pension - Pension Florida. I booked this place due to its location (it was a ten minute walk to the old city) and its price - at 54EUR with breakfast, it was the cheapest around. We decided that next time, however, we may book closer to the action - inside the walls so that we feel like more of the "community." But this place was OK.

We walked through the Handwerkerhof - the "Craftmen's Courtyard" that was filled with many glassblowing, leather and other handmade items for sale. Nürnberg is known for its Lebkuchen (Gingerbread) so of course we tried an over-priced handmade truffel filled with Lebkuchen. It was alright. We then walked through the city to the Hauptmarkt (the main square). It was filled with fruit stands, flowers, fresh veges, Lubkuchen, and ice cream to name a few. Then we walked up a large hill to the castle. It was a nice castle, but we weren't overly impressed. We headed to the Bratwursthäusle to try the "Nürnberg special" of little sausages. To wrap up the day, we had dessert at the bakery. All in all for the day, we managed to try two pastries, an ice cream, two pretzels, dough balls, six mini sausages, roasted almonds, two beers and four coffees. Derek says I ate 2/5 and he ate 3/5.

After a semi-restful night in the Pension, we ate breakfast then rented bikes for an 8am bike ride through the city's parks. It was beautiful. A small river that runs through the Old Town turns into three large lakes with wonderful bike paths all the way around. It was such a peaceful, lovely way to see the city. After our 2.5 hour tour, we headed to the Germanic National Museum. It was the largest and most overwhelming museum I've ever been in. There were buildings attached together to chain together the largest display of Germanic history. Rooms full of music instruments, armor, tombstones, statues, paintings, and rural living setups occupied us for about two hours but I'm sure many people could spend ten hours browsing. I think Nürnberg satisfied my museum craving for about the next six months.

We then headed home after a quick stop at the medieval walled city of Dinkelsbühl. Simba was excited to see us and wanted to play the entire night. He needs a friend.

Here's some photos: