Nürnberg
Posted by Martin Orr on Tuesday, 25 July 2006 at 19:29
I really liked Nürnberg. It is a couple of hundred years older than the other cities have been in and the old city is still surrounded by a sturdy sandstone wall. However it was very comprehensively bombed during World War II so few of the original buildings survive. Nevertheless, it has been rebuilt so that you wouldn't notice this until you look for the difference between the old and new stone. Fortunately the paintings and statues which decorated the churches were stored in an underground bunker.
The old town is on a pretty steep hill, at the top of which is a castle built by the emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Strangely, right beside the castle is another defensive tower, built by the citizens after an enemy had captured the castle to stop him capturing the rest of the city.
I took a trip out to the site where Nazi party rallies were held. There are a couple of stadiums and the Kongressbau, an unfinished building specially built by Hitler for rallies. It was intended to look like the Colosseum but twice as big, but since it is just a horseshoe of red brick it looks a bit odd. I also went to the German railway museum, much smaller than the one at Cultra.
Now in: Munich
-- Martin