Saturday, August 2, 2014
Jim and I rented a car to drive to Rothenburg, I booked the car not realizing that meant I would have to be the one who drove. Ok, no big deal...my first car was a manual so I would just brush up on my old school driving skills. What I didn't realize was that I would get to drive on the Autobahn. Let me start by saying, yes, there is no speed limit (for the most part) but there are portions on the autobahn that go through residential areas so one minute there is no speed limit the next it drops to 60!
When we booked the car we booked a low end economy car since we just needed something to get us from Wiesbaden to Rothenburg. Well, that low end economy car tapped out at a speedy 200km so needless to say we were getting passed like crazy. It was a lot of fun and I got the car up to 160 but man is it stressfull! One minute there is no one behind you then out of NO WHERE there is a car behind you right on your behind. In Germany, they very much stick to the rule that the left lane is for passing or for driving like Mario Andretti in a Volkswagen. I can now officially check this one off my bucket list!
We got to Rothenburg about noon, checked into our hotel, dropped our bags and set off to explore. The awesome Rick Steves travel book that Christine my acupuncturist gave me before we left was a huge help! Thanks Christine! It mentioned there was a walking tour at 1:00 pm in English so even though we were starving we stopped in a bakery called Walter Friedel which is 132 years old! We just don't have things like that back home. Anyways, so we got a quick pastry and went off on the 2 hour walking tour. I was so glad that we did because there was a lot of stuff that we would have never have known had we not gone on the tour.
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The star that is hanging from this building symbolizes a brewery not a Star of David. It's called a Six Point Brewers Star. The tour guide mentioned that back hundreds of years ago this is how breweries were marked. The first triangle pointing up symbolizes fire and the second triangle pointing down symbolizes the earth two things needed to make beer. Germany also has the purity law which says you can only use beer, water, wheat and barley to make beer. Nothing else. The purity law is one of the first and oldest FDA type laws. |
After the tour, I was dying to get to the Christmas shop, plus it had started to rain so what better way to kill some time then to spend it in the Christmas museum and shop. :) Let me start by saying the place was amazing. I probably could have spent my entire credit card limit in this one store because anyone who knows me knows my love for two holidays: Fourth of July and Christmas. Unfortunately, you weren't allowed to take pictures in the store so the ones I have were taken very quickly and not always the best quality. Come on, rules were made to be broken!
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Lots and lots of Nutcrackers! |
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So amazing! |
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I was super excited about all my new Christmas goodies :) |
Next stop after the Christmas shop was the Medieval Crime and Punishment museum which was actually really interesting. It was kind of cool to see the public shaming masks and the neck violin for quarreling women!
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Shame Mask: For talkative women, with long ears and a long tongue. The bells would ring upon each turning of the head. Think it's safe to say I would end up with this on if I lived during Medieval times! haha |
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The Neck Violin for Quarreling women. Could you imagine getting put into one of these if you got into a fight with someone. Is it sad that I thought of Matthew and I getting put into a neck violin to fight out the cost of Family Weekend? haha sorry MP ;) |
We rounded out the night by going on the
Night Watchmen's Tour which was listed in the Rick Steves' book as one of the three must do things while in Rothenburg. Also, my parents went on this tour when they were in Germany when the World Cup was hosted here. The guy really takes on the character and you learn a lot about what life was like back when night watchmen were necessary and how these small villages protected themselves from intruders.
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The Night Watchman |
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The most beautiful view--trust me this doesn't do it justice. |
Sunday, August 3, 2014
The next day we didn't have too much time since we had planned to drive to Nuremberg to sightsee and to meet one of Jim's friends for dinner. We walked back inside the walls of Rothenburg and the most amazing smell led us to this little bakery called Brothaus or Bread House. We got there just in time because soon after the line was out the door with all the locals coming to get the most deliciously baked breads, pastries, and of course pretzels!
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Don't worry, this was breakfast and lunch! Chocolate Croissant and some kind of Apricot custard pastry, a vanilla doughnut and no clue what the other thing was that Jim had! |
After breakfast, we walked down to St. Michael's Church which we didn't get to go in the day before. When we got there, mass was going on so we were only allowed in the lobby and could look in through the glass doors inside. It was beautiful but unfortunately no pictures :(
On our way out, we took some really steep steps up to the top of the wall and walked around parts of the wall still standing. It was really interesting to see just how narrow and vertically challeneged it would have been back then if someone needed to run from one side to another. Needless to say, i'm guessing hte average height was a bit shorter and people weren't 5"12 around then. ;)
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NJ in the house! |
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The view from the wall you can see just part of how far it stretches. |
After walking the wall, we checked out of our hotel and headed to Nuremberg. After parking the car, and taking a walk to the Tourist Information center Jim spotted a Dunkin Doughnuts so of course he haddddd to stop. While he got his coffee I just drooled over the tons of different donuts they had there! Sunshine rainbow doughnut anyone??
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Someone was veryy happy :) |
We then took the trolley out to the Nazi Documentation Center and Museum. While we didn't have enough time to do the museum (they suggest it takes 4 hours) we walked around the rally grounds that were designed by Albert Speer who was Adolf Hitler's favorite architect. In the center of the grounds is Gross Dutzendteich Lake which actually, was strangely very peaceful.
Not all the plans actually came to fruition because the war started but you could walk around and see Congress Hall and Zeppelin Field where Hitler would address his followers. Now, Germany uses this area for a variety of more positive events. Park of Congress Hall is used by the Nurenberg symphony orchestra and a number of festivals, fairs, etc. are now hosted on the grounds. Additionally, in the back near Zeppelin Field a futbol stadium has been built for the home team. I can't even begin to explain the feeling you get standing where Hitler stood to address his followers. You get this immense feeling come over you and to think you are standing where so much history took place and what was the tipping point for so many things to come. It is a feeling I definitely won't soon forget.
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What Zepplin Field looked like in 1933 |
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....and in 2014 |
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Standing from the top of the podium and looking out to where Nazi enthusiasts would assemble. The police take very seriously anyone joking around or making any Nazi symbols or movements. Don't try it, you will get arrested. |
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Panoramic view from the top of Zeppelin Field |
After walking completely around the lake we decided to head back to downtown Nurenberg which was PACKED for a Sunday afternoon. Similar to Bergen county most things are closed on Sunday so people come and congregate in the square. There is no shortage of street performers and so there is plenty to entertain you. Before heading home we met Jim's friend Erin and her husband Brian and there little on Chiara for dinner at this really cool place called Bagger's. The cool part- your food is delivered to you by roller coaster. Yes, a roller coaster. Don't worry, I took a video! :) The food was great, and the company was even better! It was great to make some new friends and to meet the people who got married in Italy when Jim and I first met (i'll save that story for another day!).