Nuremberg October 16, 2010




 





Exit, I think

  




a rainy, dreary day in Nuremberg

   Today was a sobering day as we toured the Documentation Center located on the former Nazi Party Rally grounds.  We didn't realize that even today one can be arrested for raising their right hand at a 45 degree angle!  It is difficult to imagine how one man could gain so much power and get so many people to follow.   I need to read the book, The Wave," once again.  Our guide said Hitler was the first example of a leader using the press to accomplish his goals.  Frightening!  Our guide was excellent.  Our tour ended in a room where he showed us slides of the Nuremberg trial, who was arrested, who was tried and who was executed by hanging. And then the executed men's ashes were strewn so that their grave would never become a shrine or a tourist sight.   Nuremberg is a laborer's city so there is not the grandeur of other German cities. And, of course, everything is relatively new as Nuremberg was destroyed by bombs at the end of World War II.

 It is really chilly today with a light rain falling.  We decided to remain on board ship for the remainder of the day.  We are sailing on the Main-Danube Canal today.  They call the canal an engineering marvel, a dream of Charlemagne in 793 and completed in 1992.  It is 106 miles long with 16 locks and enables continuous river travel from the North Sea to the Black Sea.

Tomorrow is our last stop in a German port and Monday we will be in Austria.  Hopefully the sun will be shining tomorrow!  Blessings to all--