Nurnberg (Nuremberg) Oct 13

Today we packed all our stuff since we're switching ships to due low water on the Danube.  We took a one hour bus ride from Bamburg to Nurnberg, yet another medieval walled city.   Lots of turrents along the old walls, supposedly to better defect cannonballs

We first visited the Palace of Justice, where the Nuremberg Trials were held from 1946-1949, including the trials of such high-profile defendants as Herman Goering (#2 in the Nazi party) and Albert Speer (Hitler's architect).  Nuremberg was chosen for the trials for several reasons:  even though the city was 95% destroyed by Allied bombing (it was an armament center), the courthouse and the attached prison were not destroyed;  the US wanted it on US-controlled soil even though the Russians wanted it in Berlin;  there was also a prison already attached. Here is the courtroom

 and the door where the defendants entered

 Here is the outside, it is still a working center of justice and prison complex

We then bused over to the "Zeppelin Field", where Hitler had built a gigantic parade ground to hold about 150,000 people while he stood on the pictured podium and gave inspiring speeches.  They only gave us about 10 minutes here, needed more!  All the limestone was brought in from concentration camps.

There was an giant swastika on top of the Greek alter-inspired main building shown, and it was famously blown up in newsreels you may have seen.  The field was surrounded by towers from which huge Nazi flags were flown, here are the bases of the towers still intact

The field is now used for sports events and race car driver training.

We then took the buses over to the "Documentation Center", which told the story of the rise of the Nazis in general and the role of Nurnberg.   Nurnberg was the site of annual rallies, with Hitler and hundreds of thousands coming into town.  Many huge structures were planned, but the stadium above was the only one actually completed since the war started in 1939 and the grand structures planned by Albert Speer were put on hold.  We saw the Congress building that was partially finished...it was planned to seat 50,000 people to hear Hitler deliver a once-a-year speech...it is now used as a city storage facility, since it would be too expensive to tear it down. They gave us one hour here...I could have spent 4-5 hours.

We then were turned loose in Old Town Nurnberg, which had the typical old cathedrals and town square catering to tourists...lots of shopping opportunities!

We then had a 3 hour bus ride to meet our new ship, the MS Treasures, which is virtually a carbon copy of our old ship, the MS Esprit.  This got us past the lowest part of the river.  They are going thru the worst drought in over 70 years, and it hasn't rained in this part of Germany since last April.  (Sounds like Colorado!)

Tonight we had a nice a capella performance in the ship's lounge by a quartet of former members of the Regensburg (where we are visiting tomorrow) Cathedral Boy's Choir, who sang in both German and English, from classical to barbershop, quite good.  Previous late-night musical entertainment included at 3-person string group and the guitar-violinist duo.