Germany Part 1

Deutschland

Day 11: April 4th, 2014

After we got our car we plugged Nuremburg into the GPS and headed out for the famed Autobahn. Now, it would be much better if the inaugural drive was in something more powerful than a 4 cylinder diesel sedan, but you take what you can get. Amber wasn't the biggest fan of the other speeding motorists, but Jeff thought it was kinda fun. The drivers here definitely  have driving down pat. If they are not actively passing somebody they are getting over to the farthest right lane. There is no moseying over either. They are deliberate and quick in their lane changes. They also follow much closer than in America and there is no such thing as a 2 or 4 second following distance. You get one if you are lucky. And tailgating must not be a worry because they will just sit on your tail when you are in the right lane. The interesting thing is that we can be cruising along with traffic at 150 km/hr (93 MPH) and any number of BMW, Mercedes, or Audi sedans, and not even the sports versions, will fly past at about 200 km/hr (125 MPH) or faster. It is pretty awesome. Not against popular belief, the Autobahn is just the freeway system here, not some special go super fast road. It just has portions where there is no speed limit, aka between cities and such. But remember, Germany is the size of New Mexico, so towns  aren't that far apart. America needs to adopt this philosophy, because I can think of a few areas that it would be nice to be able to go a little bit faster. Nevada, most of Idaho, Central Washington, and Central Utah are just a few, not to speak of, oh, the ENTIRE middle of the country where it is flat and straight roads with nothing but corn or wheat to run into. But that is just me.

After or blast down the Autobahn we arrived in Nuremburg, and after figuring out the parking and where everything was, we had a fun time exploring the area. It was once the city where the emperor would stay during the middle ages so it has a large fortress on the hill above the town. It also has the most quaint Bavarian houses with iconic red roofs. The main square has a cool church with an interesting Glockenspiel in the tower, and a beautiful gold gilded fountain in it. Usually the main square is where they have a large market going on, and that is what was happening when we were there. Amber loved the different clothes, especially the baby clothes, and wares that were being sold. So to make it official we had a Bratwurst, which was fantastic, and then we couldn't do without another strawberry and Nutella crepe when the opportunity arose.

 Interesting :) We were not up for trying it

 Amber wanted these baby genie pants so bad but they were too expensive! Sewing project when we get back home!

 Many of the houses had these alters added on so they could worship at home. They were beautiful! This is the oldest one in town. 

 Pretty architecture 

 Relaxing at the base of the castle. Taking a breather before hiking up for the view of the city.

Her first German Wienerschneitzel!!! Amber is in LOVE :)

 Easter in Europe is beautiful!! Everyone decorates eggs. We bought Amber's mom one :) 

A curious entry way. 

The history of the town is pretty obvious to anybody with a good sense of WWII. The significance of the former inhabitants is what made Hitler turn the city in to the Nazi Party Rally grounds, and where the Nuremburg laws originated which started the labeling, segregation, and eventually extermination of millions of people including the Jews, Romas, homosexuals, and disabled persons, to name a few groups. The Nazi rallies were massive with millions of people coming to the city every year to celebrate the Nazi Party. The iconic pictures of the soldiers in perfect formation and marching in front of Hitler on a grandstand were taken during the rallies that were held in Nurmeburg. It was one of the cities that Hitler planned many monumental building projects. Of the many that he planned he only completed the Zeplin filed where the parades and rallies took place, and the great road that was marched down. Construction began on a massive congress hall, but it was not finished before the war broke out. The Museum of the Nazi Rallies was built into part of the existing building. Here are some pictures that shows a bit of this.

 Now they have fair grounds on top of the marching grounds.

 Entrance to the museum

Nuremburg was bombed quite heavily during WWII for obvious reasons, but the amazing thing is that the town, including the heavily damaged churches have been rebuilt to the same specifications as the originals that were destroyed. There was one street of original half timber houses that was not destroyed and we have a picture of them.

The most interesting thing was how the Germans deal with their history. It seems that they have some social guilt because of their Nazi history, but it seems that because of that they are driven to almost be the protector and leader of Europe. It is an interesting mentality.

After that we went to our next Airbnb with Sebastian. He lived outside the city and was a very gracious host.

 

Day 12: April 5th 2014

The next morning we woke up and drove down to Regensburg which is another very interesting place to visit. It is at the northern end of the Danube, and has been a site of perpetual habitation since before the time of Christ. There have been many different settlements there, with various kings and emperors staying and visiting. It had its heyday back in the middle ages when the medieval bridge was built that connected the road to and from Venice to Europe by spanning the Danube. Since then  it has had many uses, but most recently during WWII it was used as an airplane factory and oil storage area. Because of that it was bombed quite heavily and most of the town was destroyed. Most of the churches were spared or restored, but a Romanesque church was completely destroyed so it was not rebuilt.

Here is a video of us, mostly successfully trying to drive and park in Regensburg. Let's just say this town was not made for cars, but that should be evident by the date in which it was founded. 

 Another big, beautiful, old church ;)

That night we stayed in the cutest apartment with a couple who is from France, but living in Germany. The apartment was right next to a bunch of fields and it was beautiful. When we got there earlier in the day we were invited to eat dinner with them and some friends. We were excited about this because then we would be able to meet some more people and get to know them and not just the sights. The one problem that we ran into was that when they invited us they told us to bring some sausages. We planned on picking them up after our aforementioned trip into Regensburg, but being city dwelling Americans, we expected that at 8 PM the stores would be open. We were wrong. Everything closes at 8 PM. We drove around trying to find an open anything, but we were only met with locked doors. We shamefully drove to the flat not knowing what to say, but they had plenty of food so it turned out not to be a problem at all, just a lesson learned. We had a great time talking with them and their friends who were from Germany. It was interesting because we had 2 people each from France, Germany and America, and we all talked in English. I wish that we would have been able to talk more in one of their native tongues, but we can't. We're just grateful everybody here knows English because it makes things so much easier.

 The pretty green view from the back of their apartment. 

Our next adventure is Austria! So until next time!