From Wittenberg to Nuremberg Posted on January 14th, 2015 by Morgan Hubers

To start off our morning in Wittenberg, we decided to lace up our tennis shoes and use them for something other than just walking tours. After waking up a minute before we were to leave the hotel the first morning, and not sleeping at all the second night, going for a run seemed to be a perfect start to the morning after having our first good nights sleep. We ran the straight, cobblestone streets, which were completely deserted that early. The uneven terrain made it clear that we weren’t in the States anymore. When we returned, we indulged in a gourmet German breakfast at the hotel. There was plenty of scrambled and hardboiled eggs, fresh fruit, cheeses and bread, as well as a yogurt parfait. You could say it was an awesome morning. Next we packed up our luggage, and left the hotel by 8:15am. By then the rain had started, and the air had chilled. Five hours of travel laid in between us and our next destination; The famous city of Nuremberg. However, you could not hear any of us complaining, as we all put our heads back and took advantage of another couple hours of sleep. To break up the bus ride, we had an hour long break at a European rest stop. We took an elevator up to a restaurant above the highway. Once up there, there was seating and numerous options for food, including pasta, German sausage, soups and salads, and panini’s. While there, we were reminded once again of the luxury we have back at home of free restroom services. It was 70 cents in Euros if you wanted to use the bathrooms. However, the toilets cleaned themselves after every use, so it was worth the extra change. Once the hour ended, we got back on the bus for two more class presentations. The first was on the Rally Grounds in Nuremberg, and the second was on French Culture Awakening, in which we got to practice tasting chocolate. Our talented bus driver wove us through small and narrow roads in our gigantic Mercedes bus to finally reach Nuremberg. The first stop was the Nuremberg Castle. Built in the sixteenth century, it was one of the only buildings among the city to have survived through World War II. We got the opportunity to take photos and walk around the castle. The views it offered from the outside, as well as inside, we’re breathtaking. One point allowed us to look over the whole city. We feel very fortunate to have gotten that chance, because it wasn’t originally scheduled. Next, we had a walking tour of Nuremberg. We split into two groups in order to hear the guides better. The city was not what we had expected, however, it was so much more. The streets were steep and the buildings and people were plentiful. We learned more about which buildings had been around the longest, the German sausage, the annual Christmas festival that was held, and the artist Albrecht Durer, who had grown up there. Our guide was a short, sweet German woman, who was very passionate about this historic city and wonderful people who inhabit it. Although we stayed within around a half a mile of the starting point, the windy roads and buildings made it seem as if we had been walking for miles. When the tour ended, our guide sent us back onto our bus, and to the Nazi Rally Grounds. Audio tours awaited us upon arrival. We had one hour until the museum closed, but there was enough information there to last us the whole day. As we started our tours, the rain began to fall. This seemed very fitting given the circumstances of our location and all those effected by Hitler. This was another opportunity for a view today, however, this one left an eerie and unsettling feeling with us, as we looked out onto the Rally Grounds that the Nazi’s once stood in. It was a hard concept to take in knowing the impact this place had on the United States and it’s soldiers. When the hour ended, we walked back to the bus in the cold, ready to unload at the hotel and looking forward to another local dinner. It is important to keep in mind, that while Nuremberg is home to this history, we shouldn’t be so quick to judge the German people, for they were victims of Hitler too. All of the people we have met thus far, have been warm and welcoming towards us, even patient when we were unable to understand the German language. When we arrived at the restaurant for dinner, German pretzels lined each table for starters. Next came the potato salad, followed by six small pieces of sausage with sauerkraut. The sausage was juicy and amazing, while only about half of the group enjoyed the German loved sauerkraut. Finally, the desert arrived. It was a chocolate mousse, with whipped cream to top it off. We ate all of this food in under thirty minutes. I guess you could say we were all pretty hungry by eight o’clock. Now, we are enjoying our last evening in Germany, sad to leave, yet ready to take on France and the adventures it holds.

Morgan Hubers & Aryn Eckstrom