bitchy_merlin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bitchy_merlin) wrote2011-12-04 10:37 pm
bitchy_merlin) wrote2011-12-04 10:37 pm
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Nürnberg (3)
Sunday, Nov. 27th, was an interesting day. And really awesome, in the original sense of the word.
Hanna and I woke up* and showered - oh my God, it was the best shower of my life, I swear - and Frühstück'd** as quickly as we were able. Our plan was to go to ALL THE MUSEUMS and SEE ALL THE THINGS, since it was the last day of our Nürnberg cards. Seriously, we were intending to get through three museums before lunch, and then hit up the Imperial Castle in the afternoon.
Didn't happen.
Everything was successful at first. We took the tram from the Hauptbahnhof to the Doku-zentrum: our first stop was the Reichsparteitagsgelände, the Nazi Party rally grounds of World War II.
In a word: incredible.
Maybe it's enough to say that we spent three and a half hours in one exhibit from the whole grounds. We toured the permanent exhibit, Faszination und Gewalt (Fascination and Terror), set up in the northern wing of the Kongresshalle - the largest standing national socialist monumental building. I have photos of the exhibit - mostly informational placards with audio backup, talking about the history of the rally grounds - but I really have no words for how it felt to stand there in that building and to know that it was the same place Hitler stood during the war. My mind was - and continues to be - blown by that fact because for all I've learned about this history in school, and for all I've heard about the war - Hitler never set foot in Canada. The Nazis didn't go there. But they had rallies in Nürnberg, in the buildings in which I stood; and the stone used in the buildings, the very granite under my feet - that was from the concentration camps, hewn by the prisoners there. God.
C'était incroyable. Simplement incroyable.
The Documentation Centre was a breathtaking experience, physically, mentally and emotionally. We sat in silence on the tram ride back to town, trying to process everything we had seen. When we got back to the flat (feeling more human by then), Mark and Christian provided us with some more typical Bavarian food: giant pretzels and bratwurst. After the meal, Mark gallantly offered to escort Hanna and I to the Imperial Castle - it was closed (as it was after six o'clock), but we toured around the outside anyway, and I really enjoyed seeing the older parts of Nürnberg (because the 1950s-era architecture of the outskirts of town, where we were staying, really weirded me out). We spent the rest of the evening scoping out the Christkindlesmarkt again and plotting where we were going to buy our respective Christmas presents.
Thus ended our second day in Nürnberg.
PART 4
*A note about the sleeping arrangements: it was cold in Mark's flat. Hanna and I shared a fold-out couch in the living room. We had a duvet and one extra flannel blanket each, and I still ended up sleeping in two pairs of pants, three shirts, and a sweater - and I used my jacket as a pillow. This may be TMI, but for posterity's sake, I just want to note that I did not change my pants or my tank top/bra for four days. Underwear, yes, socks, yes, but I had only packed one pair of thermal tights, and I wore them religiously.
**Two words: GERMAN BREAD. During the first few months of my exchange, I was always curious as to why people from other European countries constantly criticized Dutch bread, which to my knowledge seemed pretty much like Canadian bread, and no real cause for such disparaging remarks. NOW I KNOW WHY. German bread is like edible magic. I don't even know why it's so good, just that it is. Hanna and I bought the cheapest bread we could find, from the cheapest German grocery store (Norma, in case anyone's wondering) and it was still so delicious that it was basically all we ate during our trip. (But Dutch cheese is still the best, though.)
Hanna and I woke up* and showered - oh my God, it was the best shower of my life, I swear - and Frühstück'd** as quickly as we were able. Our plan was to go to ALL THE MUSEUMS and SEE ALL THE THINGS, since it was the last day of our Nürnberg cards. Seriously, we were intending to get through three museums before lunch, and then hit up the Imperial Castle in the afternoon.
Didn't happen.
Everything was successful at first. We took the tram from the Hauptbahnhof to the Doku-zentrum: our first stop was the Reichsparteitagsgelände, the Nazi Party rally grounds of World War II.
In a word: incredible.
Maybe it's enough to say that we spent three and a half hours in one exhibit from the whole grounds. We toured the permanent exhibit, Faszination und Gewalt (Fascination and Terror), set up in the northern wing of the Kongresshalle - the largest standing national socialist monumental building. I have photos of the exhibit - mostly informational placards with audio backup, talking about the history of the rally grounds - but I really have no words for how it felt to stand there in that building and to know that it was the same place Hitler stood during the war. My mind was - and continues to be - blown by that fact because for all I've learned about this history in school, and for all I've heard about the war - Hitler never set foot in Canada. The Nazis didn't go there. But they had rallies in Nürnberg, in the buildings in which I stood; and the stone used in the buildings, the very granite under my feet - that was from the concentration camps, hewn by the prisoners there. God.
C'était incroyable. Simplement incroyable.
The Documentation Centre was a breathtaking experience, physically, mentally and emotionally. We sat in silence on the tram ride back to town, trying to process everything we had seen. When we got back to the flat (feeling more human by then), Mark and Christian provided us with some more typical Bavarian food: giant pretzels and bratwurst. After the meal, Mark gallantly offered to escort Hanna and I to the Imperial Castle - it was closed (as it was after six o'clock), but we toured around the outside anyway, and I really enjoyed seeing the older parts of Nürnberg (because the 1950s-era architecture of the outskirts of town, where we were staying, really weirded me out). We spent the rest of the evening scoping out the Christkindlesmarkt again and plotting where we were going to buy our respective Christmas presents.
Thus ended our second day in Nürnberg.
PART 4
*A note about the sleeping arrangements: it was cold in Mark's flat. Hanna and I shared a fold-out couch in the living room. We had a duvet and one extra flannel blanket each, and I still ended up sleeping in two pairs of pants, three shirts, and a sweater - and I used my jacket as a pillow. This may be TMI, but for posterity's sake, I just want to note that I did not change my pants or my tank top/bra for four days. Underwear, yes, socks, yes, but I had only packed one pair of thermal tights, and I wore them religiously.
**Two words: GERMAN BREAD. During the first few months of my exchange, I was always curious as to why people from other European countries constantly criticized Dutch bread, which to my knowledge seemed pretty much like Canadian bread, and no real cause for such disparaging remarks. NOW I KNOW WHY. German bread is like edible magic. I don't even know why it's so good, just that it is. Hanna and I bought the cheapest bread we could find, from the cheapest German grocery store (Norma, in case anyone's wondering) and it was still so delicious that it was basically all we ate during our trip. (But Dutch cheese is still the best, though.)