Nuremburg

 After a night of music and dancing we were relatively late starting the day at 8:30 AM. We seemed to be docked and no signs of movement. This was unusual as we were supposed to be sailing for half of the day. As it turns out, we had been docked for 6 hours as the lock masters were on strike and we could not proceed until the morning. This has changed our program slightly for the day, but hopefully not too much. Six hours on the river equates to about 48 kms which  doesn't sound like much, but as we are in a canal now and rely on the lock movements, any delay can increase total travel time exponentially.

We all gathered in the lounge for a briefing where we were told of the changes to our schedule. We were now being picked up by buses and taken  to Nuremburg and the ship would continue while we were doing the tour. We all boarded the bus as soon as we docked and the next 45 minutes was cruising along the autobahn to Old Nuremburg. On the way we passed the former SS barracks which, ironically after the war became the US army barracks. We stopped outside a huge arena that looked like the colosseum. This was one of many structured Hitler had built and formed part of a bigger area that he had designated as the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. This structure was never completed but another arena was and is starting to show signs of wear. This was known as the Zeppelin field because of it being used as a landing field previously.

Many will consider this part of history morbid and others may wonder why I am even writing about this. The truth of the matter is history is there for us to learn from. Yes, the atrocities that people suffered at the hands of the Nazi party and SS where abhorrent, but brushing them under the carpet is not a way moving forward. We look and learn so this can never happen again.

After spending a little time at the grounds, we headed into the old Nuremburg. During the war 90% of Nuremburg was levelled during allied bombing raids. Surprisingly most of the historical areas such as the old castle and city fortifications were painstakingly rebuilt using the original stone. There  were some buildings that miraculously survived but they were few and far between. Buildings were still being rebuilt in the 1970's so it took a fair amount of time to get there. The old city is a beautiful area and well worth any visit to Germany. The view from the hill top where the old castle is is nothing short of spectacular. The house painstakingly reproduced in the old style and new buildings built alongside that blend in harmoniously.

We walked down the hill from the castle to the town square where a Christmas market was being held. We had an hour free time to explore but everything in Europe is unbelievably expensive. Somehow we managed to get some gifts for those at home. After our short interlude we were back on the bus again and motoring to meet up with the Vega further along the canal. When we arrived, the crew were busily resupplying the ship for the next week. It wasn't long before we were underway again and heading to our next port Bamburg. 

The evening was pretty uneventful for us. We have both contracted a bit of a cold that is spreading across the ship. We have our suspicions on how it got here and are doing everything we can to get over it quickly. Hopefully we are over the worst of it now.

Day 11 Bamburg