Nuremburg - day 2

On Saturday November 28th we woke up to snow on the ground!!!  We were all really excited!

So what do you do when there is snow?!?  You have a snow ball fight of course!!!

Dad and Mom of course had to get into the fight as well!!!

We decided to head to the Nuremberg Trials Courtroom.  In here 21 Nazi war criminals stood trial before an international tribunal of judges.  After a year of trials and deliberation, 12 Nazis were sentenced to death by hanging, 3 were acquitted, and the rest were sent to prison.

This is the main entrance for the ones who stood trial.  It has a medusa head in the middle.  It has Eve handing Adam a fruit from trees of knowledge which symbolizes fall from grace.  On the left is the sword which symbolizes Germanic law.

While the trials were going on, the prisoners stayed here.  You can see they didn't want the prisoners to talk to each other or have any sort of interaction so they couldn't conspire.

This is the man who started the Red Cross.

The boys listening to all the information on the Nuremburg trials.  I am glad they are at least a little bit interested in the history.

This is how they brought all of the evidence to the trials.

Here is a picture of the courthouse from 1945.  You can see the glass in the back of the room - that is where the interpreters worked.

These are two of the original benches from the trials.

Here you can see the prisoners coming into the courtroom with the military in their white helmets guarding them.

These are the three top guys that they weren't able to bring to trial.

Here you can see the doors of where the prisoners were behind.

This is one of the prison cells.  It is 9.5 meters squared and the bathroom was positioned so they could always see the prisoner's feet.

The boys playing with the old electrical system for the courtroom.

Here you can see a bird's eye view of the courtroom.  Where the boys were playing with electrical  stuff, there were benches for the VIPs  and others to sit.  This courtroom is still in use to this day.

After all that history the boys needed to blow off a little energy, so they found the little bits of snow that was left and had another snowball fight!

Next we decided to take David to the Nazi Documentation Center.  We had been there before, but thought it was so great that he needed to see it.  Look at that smile on Michael's face, so excited!!!

Michael checking out the different types of money under the floor.

AJ looking at a set up of a battle.

At this point the boys were still interested in some of the information even though they had heard it before.

This is the fire that ultimately put Hitler into power.

It truly is amazing to me how many people LOVED Hitler, they flocked to him.

David standing next to Hitler, kind of creepy, not David but Hitler right there.

This is Zeppelin Field - the picture doesn't do justice at the magnitude of how many soldiers are there.

This was to be one of Hitler's grand buildings.  The plans were never finished because the money dried up when the war started turning.

David and the boys outside in the center of the building.

This track was built in 2010 for the 175th anniversary of trains.  Because they used trains to transport Jews and prisoners, they wanted to build this as a memorial.  It is a 40 meter railway that has 60,000 cards and bears names of person, origin, date of birth and date of death and each name stands for 100 more.  It would need to be 4 km long for all the people exterminated, over 6 million murdered.

We decided to head over to Zeppelin field and the boys wanted to stop and write their names in the snow and do a little drawing.  Who am I to say no.

This is looking back on the documentation  center.

These are some of the entrances into the field.

As you can see it was starting to get dark.  It took us a little longer to get there and it gets dark so early this time of year.  But you can still see the road that the US used as a runway right after WWII.

You can barely see Michal and David up where Hitler used to stand to make his speeches.  Behind that was the big swastika that was bombed off by the US.

My boys on the steps - how I LOVE these boys!!!!  After that we headed back to the apartment for dinner and some more games.

The next morning we packed up and decided to go back to the market for one last look.  Here the boys are with an accordion playing Santa.

The boys running off some energy before we have to get back into the car.  Michael has some hops!!

AJ has some hops as well!  We had a great time and loved being just the four of us as a family.  David was excited to see both towns and one bonus in Nuremburg there was a "box." David was able to check out the crossfit gym and get a t-shirt in the process, a win-win for us all!!!

Rothenburg and Nuremberg

In the morning we had a lovely breakfast and then checked out of our hotel.  The Christmas market was just starting up so we decided to check it out before we left.  But we had a little time before it opened so we thought we would take David up on the walls and look around the city a little more.

I thought this vine was really cool, climbing up the wall!!!!  

David, Michael, and AJ up on the wall!

The city didn't have the money to reconstruct the city after WWII bombing, so they sold parts of the wall to help raise money.  The boys were looking to see where they all came from.

David checking out the sights beyond the walls!

We went a little farther up than the last time I was there.  It is a so nice to walk around in the quiet and the fog was pretty awesome looking!

 

There are many places in Rothenburg where they build over the streets because the only had so much room!

They have all the Christmas trees out and decorated on the streets!  So festive!

 

As we were walking the streets we came upon an almost life size manager scene.  I don't think we were suppose to be in there, but I stepped in to take a quick picture.

David and Michael duking it out!!

I am so glad they still love each other!!!!

This is St Jakob's Church which was built between 1311-1484.  They wanted to make the church bigger, so they built it over the road with the arch for the main through fare.

AJ outside the church with one of the statues.

This is Altar of the Holy Blood.  It is 500-year-old, 35-foot-high by Tilman Riemenschneider, the Michelangelo of German woodcarvers.  It was carved from 1499 to 1504 to hold a precious rock-crystal capsule (set in a cross) that contains a scrap of tablecloth miraculously stained in the shape of a cross by a drop of communion wine.

This small altar is a century older than the main altar.  The unusual Trinity: the Father and Son are literally bridged by a dove, which represents the Holy Spirit.

This is the twelve apostles altar by Friedrich in 1466.  Below Christ are statues of six saints.  St James is the one with the shell.  He's the saint of pilgrims, and this church was a stop on the medieval pilgrimage rout to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

This is on the back side of the twelve apostles altar.   These paintings represent the oldest depiction of the city of Rothenburg and rare images of the Jakobs pilgrim legend.

Christ's face on the veil of Veronica follows you as you walk from side to side.

This organ was built by the famous Austrian organ building firm Rieger Orgelbau in Vorarlberg, consecrated in 1963, with 69 registers distributed over four manuals and pedal.  The organ has two consoles, six manuals, and about 5,500 pipes.

AJ was trying to figure out what this was.  It is a Christmas Boat, original Maconde wood carving from Tanzania.  The Christmas Message represented by the Manger of Bethlehem is here connected with a boat on its way to the shores of time.  The angel with the trumpet of the Judgment Day indicates the escort of heaven and the final aim.

When we went by the main square, there were lots of children decorating the main trees there!

A day time photo in front of one of the oldest entry ways into the city.

The Christmas market is now open for business!

My first glass of gluwhein for the season!!!  After that we headed back to the car and on to Nuremberg.

We made it and Michael needed to get some energy out so we played a little game of tag.  He was telling me I couldn't get him.  :-)

It was the first day of the Nuremberg Christmas market as well.  They were telling a story, it was in German so we didn't understand much, but later in the evening the Christmas angel was coming out.

This is the angel- the symbolic figure for the Nuremberg Christmas Market and ambassador.  A touching legend claims that the angel was first made by a Nuremberg doll maker during the Thirty Years' War.  As his daughter lay dying of fever, he heard the flutter of angel's wings and was inspired to create an angel in her memory. 

We walked around town and then into the St Lorenz church.  It is a medieval church dedicated to Saint Lawrence.  Here people are setting candles around a manger scene.

The church was completed around 1400.  The building and furnishing of the church was from the city council and wealthy citizens.  This was one of the first churches in Germany to be Lutheran (1525).

You know how much I love organs?!?  Check this one out!!!  It actually has three organs!!!

I have never heard an organ play in any of the churches that I have been in.  This time I did!!!!!!!!!1  I was soooo excited!!!!  He was only practicing for the church service, but I didn't care, it was AWESOME!!!!

This is the hall choir including the sacrament house - beautiful!

Night was falling and my boys were done with the Christmas market.  So we said our farewell and headed to the apartment were a crock pot was cooking!

After dinner, the boys decided it was wrestling time with their dad!!!  Always so much fun!!!  We played a few games, had some laughs and then headed for bed to rest before another busy day tomorrow.