Nuremberg

I took a little side trip to Nuremberg recently, which I was not expecting to be nearly as big as it was. It turns out a half million people live in the city, about 1 1/2 hours by train north of Munich, and another 700,000 live in the surrounding area.

Nuremberg, as seen from Nuremberg Castle

Fortunately, as is the case with most European cities, the center, older, more interesting area is much smaller and more manageable. Nuremberg city center is surrounded by a wall on three sides that springs out of a castle high on the hill in the fourth. The lower city boasts several gorgeous churches and a huge Rathaus, as well as several unique fountains and sculptures.

St. Lawrence Church

The Marriage Merry-go-Round fountain, one of the most interesting and graphic public sculptures I have ever laid eyes on. It has five parts representing five different stages of marriage, all of them likely to offend conservative eyes.

Part of the castle.

In historic times, dating back to its founding in the 11th century, the city was significant in the Old Roman Empire as part of trade routes from Italy to Northern Europe. It may have been the most important city in Germany at the time, as kings stayed at the castle and held their first Reichstags there.

The Beautiful Fountain (that's really what they call it). It has a gold ring you turn for good luck.

Rhine–Main–Danube Canal

Still in Bavaria (though I think this street is playing that up for the tourists)

More recently, it was the site of the Nazi Nuremberg rallies and, after WWII, the Nuremberg trials. Like with the Konigsplatz in Munich, the Roman significance made the site attractive to Hitler. I didn't make it out to the site of the rallies, which from pictures wasn't much more than a stadium and huge empty field, but did see where the trials took place, maybe a 20-minute walk west of the city center.

Courtroom 600 lies just within (it is still used for trials to this day)