2024 Blog & Images - Germany
Germany
This time around my journey into Germany will include a revisit in Nuremberg, a couple of new places in Erfurt & Weimar and a night stop over in Frankfurt to accomodate my flight back to Japan.
Day 13 - Vienna to Nuremberg (transit day)
My luck with European trains over the past couple of trips has not been great. I suppose I need to qualify this by first stating that I have avoided a major hassle relating to the 3-day German rail strike. My train to Nuremberg was not cancelled as others had been so I didn’t have to find alternative travel arrangements. So, in that respect, all is good. The hour delay due to a track emergency was a bit of a pain but at the end of the day, I made it. Booking into the Ibis was without incident and even though the lodgings were a little bit spartan (I have grown very attached to a kettle in my room), it’s comfortable and with plenty of room. I was last here with Tracy in 2015 so once I got settled in, I went back out to retrace a few steps and see what I could remember. On my previous visit, the Christmas Markets were in full swing, so the space left by their absence was noticeable. Apart from that, it’s a beautiful old town that really hasn’t lost any of its charm. After a quick stroll and a cup of coffee, it was back to the motel for a relatively early night.
Bring on tomorrow and let the adventure continue.
The train trip and evening stroll in Nuremberg
Day 14 - Nuremberg
It’s like trading one page of history for another. While Nuremberg’s more recent history is tainted by its association with the Nazi Party, it makes the city no less fascinating and by no means, any less beautiful. After a few hectic days in Vienna, I tried to take things a little easier today. I basically went out wandering, retracing a few steps from when I was here last with Tracy in 2015. Sometimes the best way to see a place is to just explore and take a left turn rather than sticking to a straight path. It was also interesting to see a few of the structures in the light of day, compared to what I saw last night. The one thing I will say about Nuremberg is how beautiful it is at night. They really have worked out how to light this place. Not to say that the city loses its charm in the cold light of day, it’s just what you see is enhanced when the sun goes down.
One of my first stops was the Lutheran Church, St.Sebaldus which is just up the hill from the old town square. It is one of the oldest churches in Nuremberg having been completed between 1273-1275. What you see today is largely due to alterations made throughout the centuries plus major restorations because of the damage from bombing raids during WWII. The site is named after the patron saint of the city and has been Lutheran since the Reformation. Features such as the St.Sebaldus Shrine, stain glass windows and Veit Stoss (famous German sculptor) creations survived the war and are still on display. While the church may not equal the size and grandeur of some of the sites I have witnessed in other major European cities, it certainly has its own unique story and character.
By the time I had finished and took a few turns left and right, I found myself up at the top end of Nuremberg. Looked to my left and I was in this funky little cobble stoned street featuring medieval houses known as the Weißgerbergasse area. The colours of the houses and relative unevenness of the designs added to the charm of the street, add in a statue of a priest and you have a very visit worthy part of town. From there it was a short walk to the Pegnitz River which I traced all the way back into the centre of town. The bridges and structures reinforced the historical nature of the city, especially the structure which used to house the Nuremberg’s executioner and his family (the museum was closed till March I think).
Time to warm up as the cold weather had continued today and then back out for an evening stroll to get myself some dinner and take in the ambience. The town was a little bit more busy as it was a Friday so maybe tomorrow will add a few more people. I can totally understand why anyone would want to spend time here, this is my 2nd time around. Anyway 15,000 steps done, the feet are up and resting in anticipation for the next couple of days.
My first full look at the town
Wander along the Pegnitz River
St Sebald's Church
A stroll in the evening
Day 15 - Nuremberg
Today was about doing something a little bit different with a specific purpose in mind … well two if the truth be known. Along with another teacher, I have been asked to help create a museum at St Mary’s College and have it up running my May. The opportunity to visit museums while I’m on holidays and try and get some ideas is too good to pass up. While I know we don’t have the same budget as some of the facilities I have & will visit, maybe an exhibit could trigger an idea that would suit our needs.
My first visit today was outside of Nuremberg to a neighbouring town called Fürth. The town itself is over a thousand years old and has its own rich and at times, tragic history. During the 30 Years War in the early to mid 1600’s, Fürth was almost completely destroyed by fire. It also had the first rail connection in Germany between it and Nuremberg in 1835 (more on that later). I first had a quick walk through the town and ended up at the Jewish Museum. Due to the expulsion of Jews in Vienna in the 17th century, a lot of the wealthier families moved to Fürth and as a result, the community grew to its peak of 3,300 by 1880. By 1930’s and the rise of Nazism, that number had fallen slightly to 1,990 but by 1944, that number had been reduced to 23. The Museum highlighted the growth of the community as well as the traditions. Just like the synagogue in Vienna, a Mikvah (ritual bath) was discovered in a house, and it is where the Museum is situated. The site has a very personal feel to it and the exhibits, highlight this community’s experience over the past 400 years. A little side note, I was intrigued to find out people such as Sandra Bullock, Henry Kissinger & former German chancellor Ludwig Erhard all came from this neck of the woods.
After a recharge, lunch, and a quick thaw out, it was off to the DB transport museum. Compared to this morning’s jaunt, this place was on another scale. When you study the place of Germany in the 19th & 20th century, you quickly realise the importance of rail not only in their growth as a military power, but also nationalism and a sense of being German rather than a collection of states. There must have been a similar sense of getting in from the cold as the place was as busy as any facility I have experienced during my stay in Europe. There were kids of all ages which is nice to see, and I myself, was able to get my Michael Portillo on. There is a certain fascination about trains that is shared by many, and all the accompanying memorabilia helped to accentuate this. I found the section on the trains used to deport people during the early 1940’s interesting as well as the actual trains that were presented. The earliest being the Adler from 1835 through to a front section of an ICE train of the modern day. The museum was very interactive which gave me a few ideas.
All in all, an interesting day but as the cobble stones were getting slipperier, I thought it was safer to retreat to the relative warmth of the hotel room. Tomorrow, it’s off to the Zeppelin Fields and my last full day here before moving on to Erfurt.
Furth & Jewish Museum
DB Rail Museum
Day 16 - Nuremberg
Today it was out to the Documentation Centre & Zeppelin Fields to revisit the site where the Nazi’s held their party rallies. The site, like others relating to this period of history is all about the education of people in the present day. One of the great things about the parkland is the positive manner in which it is used today. Last time I was here with Tracy, there was water in the lake. This time around, people were out on the ice figure skating, playing ice hockey or even walking as it had totally frozen over. The museum itself (which when fully opened is one of the best I have been to) is currently being renovated so only a small portion was open. There were still some interesting exhibits relating to the period leading up to, including and beyond the Nazi Party rallies. The site should be back and running in a year and when it does, I have no doubt it will be back to or even exceed its previous level of excellence.
After a short break, I thought it would be appropriate to spend my afternoon in Nuremberg hiking up to the highest point in the city. The Kaiserburg (aka The Imperial Castle) stands out for a lot of reasons. The most obvious is in a physical manner due to its location. Another reason was the symbolism of the castle and the link that the National Socialists were desperate to make between the city of Imperial Diets, and the city of party rallies. This in turn, would help to reinforce their validity to rule Germany. The views from the top are spectacular and allow you to take in the sheer breadth of Nuremberg, far beyond the walls of the old town. I finished the day with a visit to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum. The collection if viewed in its entirety would take much longer that I had time for so I skated through in just under 2 hours.
This is a special place and if you haven’t already been, try and get it into plans if you are headed this way. Onto Erfurt tomorrow and hopefully a non-runny nose
Morning at the former rally grounds & Documentation Centre
Afternoon in town and at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum
Day 17 - Nuremberg to Erfurt
My farewell to Nuremberg started in the same way my welcome did, snow. Snow is fun to walk in (apart from the icy bits) but definitely not to wheel bags around. I must say I am getting better at this lark, but it is something I won’t be missing too much. The train to Erfurt was due to leave at 1 pm so it was one last look at Nuremberg and a coffee at Back Werk before going back to the accomodation to kill an hour before the heading off. The trip itself was around 1hr 40mins and this time was incident free, arriving on time in Erfurt. This city is best known as the home of Martin Luther and I will get the chance to see more of it on Wednesday. I thought after yesterday’s effort of around 21,500 paces, it was a wise choice to just get settled and take it easy for the night. I visited a great little restaurant across the road from the Mercure called Haron Bistro where I had the most sensational Falafel plate ever.
Tomorrow it is off to Weimar and Buchenwald Concentration Camp so more on that later. Tonight was about the chick pea and all things Haron.
Day 18 - Buchenwald & Weimar
The visit to Buchenwald Concentration Camp was a tough one. I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy, as no visit to something of this nature is. My visits to Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen in 2015, the Wannsee Conference House and even the peace parks in Hiroshima & Nagasaki bring along with them a history that is far from comfortable and definitely challenges you on an emotional level. Having said that, I personally think they are an incredibly valuable educational tool for future generations. Just like at Auschwitz, I was encouraged by the groups of school children who were being guided around the grounds and the respect that they displayed.
The first thing that hits you about this place is the vast size of the camp and the varied groups that were held here. Opening in 1937, the SS deported political opponents, Sinti & Roma, Jews, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses as well as others who were deemed to have no place in the “people’s community”. After the outbreak of war, people from nearly every country in Europe were sent to Buchenwald. By 1945, nearly 280,000 people from over 50 nationalities had been held as prisoners at the camp. Over 130 subcamps were created after 1942 in various locations, hiring the inmates out to private industry for armament production. In total, over 56,000 died either at the main camp or in these subcamps. The camp was liberated in April of 1945 by the US Army who later withdrew from the region and handed it over to the Soviets.
Little things hit you when you walk through these places. The ramp at the train depot where thousands of feet were forcibly moved, the gate with the motto “Jedem das Seine” (to each his own), the “little camp” where so much misery was experienced just to name a few. The one thing that I did find uplifting was the memorial outside of the camp called “Revolt of the Prisoners”. Erected in 1958 by the East German Government, the defiant nature of the monument and realistic interpretation of the inmates was more fitting than the one I saw in Sachsenhausen with Tracy. Like after my visit to Auschwitz, I am at a little lost for words and I know that I can never adequately put down in writing what I viewed. What I do know is that it further reinforces what is important in life.
Having the opportunity to walk around Weimar after the visit gave me a chance to reconnect and see a few things. Time was against me, and museum closures didn’t work in my favour. I would have liked to visit the Bauhaus Museum, but it was closed on Tuesdays. I suppose you can’t help bad luck but when you travel in the off-season, you have to expect that kind of thing to occur. One thing that I did notice on my walk were the images of Buchenwald survivors that were scattered around town. It was nice to see that the city, so well known as the birthplace of Weimar Classicism, a humanistic cultural movement can extend that humanity in this fashion. The ability of the human will to triumph over adversity never ceases to amaze me. After a brief lunch at the station, it was back to Erfurt and the warmth of my digs.
I do apologise for any discomfort that this entry causes to anyone reading it but this was the first time I have visited a camp by myself. In a way this is my debrief and I appreciate you allowing me to do this.
Buchenwald
Weimar
Day 19 - Erfurt
My first discovery of the day was the Krämerbrücke or merchant’s bridge. Initially built in wood but rebuilt in stone in 1325, this is the longest series of inhabited buildings on any bridge in Europe. Looking from the outside, you get a real feel for the age of the structure. Walking along the bridge or street, you start to imagine the feet that have travelled over the cobble stones that I am walking over. This is the beauty of history, that it deals with humans rather than just a study of objects. From here it was onto to the Old Town square. The architecture of the buildings gave the area a distinctive character. The newest building, the Rathaus was built in the 1870’s to supposedly fill a space.
The Cathedral of St Mary was my last major stop for the morning. St Boniface established a church here as far back at 742 CE, with the Cathedral emerging in its present form in the 14th & 15th centuries. An interesting fact about the building is that Martin Luther was ordained here in 1507 When you compare it to other established Cathedrals through Europe, this one is a bit brighter and a little more sparsely populated than say a Cologne or St Paul’s in Krakow. However, the features within the structure reinforce the medieval foundations from which the church was established. The Petersberg Citadel sat imposingly over the city and provided me with a great view of the surrounding area. It is the only extensively preserved town baroque fortress in central Europe, was built on the site of a former Benedictine monastery. I didn’t get much of a chance to see a lot of the structure as like other days, the cold was getting the better of me.
After a quick break and phone recharge, I went out for my second lap to find that a pretty heavy snowstorm had kicked in. The snow had put a totally different complexion on this city. It really was a lovely way to finish off this part of the trip (the fact that I didn’t have to lug suitcases made it even better). I didn’t get too far but it was nice to retrace my steps a little to see the difference a few hours could make. The images that I have included will attest to the change and to finish the night, it was back over the road to the best falafel meal this side of Punchbowl.
Wandering Erfurt in the morning
Cathedral of St Mary
An afternoon in the snow
"Germany has become a country that many people from abroad associate with hope.”
Angela Merkel