The Nuremberg Date

Freedom!!!!! We were free from kids!!!! For one day. One precious day.

Don't get me wrong, I love my little ratbags to pieces, but constant travel with them all day all night was enough to make anyone go mad.

We took the precious gift of babysitting for the day from our lovely Aussie friends in Donaworth, kissed our kiddies on the head, and took off running...

We chose the city of Nuremberg as the place to explore kid free. We did have the option of going to the concentration camp in Dachau, but I was simply feeling too overwhelmed and sleep-deprived in life right then to deal with the emotional onslaught that I knew such a visit would bring. But we did want to continue in building our learning of WWII during our travels. We'd so far visited 'The Eagles Nest' - Hitler's hideout in Germany (a complete disaster but nonetheless educational), the House of Anne Frank and the Corrie Ten Boom House in The Netherlands. We'd been reading books and watching films as a family about this all important topic, and so with this in mind, we decided to start our day with a visit to the Nazi Rally Grounds in Nuremberg.

Nuremberg, the ancient seat of the Medieval Emperors and as such, the site chosen by Hitler to legitimise his Regime. In the 1930's the Nazi's planned and began construction on an enormous centre in which to hold rallies and generally show off their prowess while whipping themselves into a fascist frenzy. The site is huge, including a parade ground the size of 12 football fields, a two mile long 'Great Way' paved with granite blocks, and a congress hall the size of London’s Royal Albert Hall!!

The Documentation Centre was a good choice for a kid free experience, there was a lot of serious material to read and absorb. The museum is very well set out, it details the growth and sucess of the Nazi Party in Germany, showing the strategies employed in their rise to power. It was a chilling experience. By the end, while watching old footage of the holocaust and the famous Nuremberg Trials, I was almost suffocating by emotion. I had to leave the museum ahead of Ross and get a bit of fresh air. I discovered a monument built to honour the Jews that were killed, every tile represents a person who's life was cruelly taken.

Throughout our travels in Germany, I was continuously impressed at how the country is acknowledging it's past and making all crimes visible for learning and as a reminder that such terrible events must never happen again. The Nuremberg Rally Grounds was a perfect example of this, nothing was held back, it was all laid out in perfect, agonizing, humiliating, terrible detail for all to behold.

After this harrowing educational experience, we headed into town to lighten the mood of the day.

Next stop - lunch! Nothing like hand-made pasta at Vapiano's to warm you from the inside!

With our tummies full, we wandered in the direction of the Nuremberg Castle. On the way, we passed the Frauenkirche - a 14th Century Church which provides the backdrop to the famous Nuremberg Christmas markets, and to my delight, a Steadtler shop!! A shop full of German stationary, yes please!