Nuremberg

I was somewhat leery about our visit to Nuremberg because of its past, mostly because of my having read about the Nuremberg that the Nazis saw as the ideal setting for their activities. Our tour guide took us first to the great coliseum that Hitler had constructed, the site where Nazi Party rallies were held. This was a monstrous area, large like the Roman Coliseum, where Hitler staged fanatical party rallies.The building was never completed and sits literally untouched from 1945 with the exception of the creation of The Documentation Center, a site which contains thought provoking exhibits, as well as detailed material on the history of the rallies, showing the manipulative nature of the Nazi propaganda. Our guide put that entire era into an understandable perspective, moved from there past the site of the Courtroom of the Nuremberg Trials, then proceeded to show us Bavaria's second largest city, with its medieval old town and grand castle. He explained that over 80% of the city had been flattened in January 1945 by Allied bombers and how lead by women survivors of the war had with painstaking care rebuilt the city, including the castle and the old churches. The city is surrounded by massive walls. The Aldstadt or old town was a challenging walk, following our climb to the top of the city to see the grand castle; the view from there gave an appreciation of the effort required to complete the reconstruction. It is a vibrant, tourist-laden area. Our good fortune was to experience a wonderful Bavarian market...and to enjoy a pint of local beer...rather a half litre of local beer. The other treat was to experience sizzling finger-sized bratwurst, locally known as, 'three-on-a-bun'. A feature that we learned about but didn't take time to try was the gingerbread cookie, traditionally eaten at Christmas, available all year.
Nuremberg is an overwhelming city, one which tourists could spend days exploring. A return visit would allow us time to explore museums and galleries to understand more of the German culture, art and history. This is a must return to part of Germany!