Travel Log for Melvin: Day 9 - Main-Danube Canal & Nuremberg, Germany

Wednesday July 3, 2013

Today we arrived at Nuremberg, Germany.

Nuremberg is Bavaria's second largest city. The city brews beer as dark as some of its local history which dates back over 700 years. During World War II, the Nazis held party rallies and Nuremberg was chosen as the site of the Nuremberg Trials.

The Main-Danube Canal is a feat of modern engineering that has transformed travel and trade in Europe. Its stair-step locks allow ships to cross Europe's Continental Divide between the Main river which flows into the Rhine and the Danube river which flows toward the Black Sea. It runs from Bamberg via Nuremberg to Kelheim connecting the North Sea and Atlantic to the Black Sea. One hundred and six miles long the Main-Danube Canal took 32 years to construct and was completed in 1992.

The ship arrived early and I left the ship at 9:30 AM for a World War II tour and arrived back to the ship at 2 PM. At 5:30 PM the ship left Nuremberg for Regensburg.

Nuremberg, Germany

The Nazi party rally grounds covering about 11 square kilometres in the southeast of Nuremberg, Germany. Six Nazi party rallies were held there between 1933 and 1938.

Nuremberg, Germany - Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally Area

Nuremberg, Germany - Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally Grounds

The Congress Hall (Kongresshalle) is the biggest preserved national socialist monumental building and is landmarked. It was planned by the Nuremberg architects Ludwig and Franz Ruff. It was planned as a congress centre for the NSDAP with a self-supporting roof and should have provided 50,000 seats. It was located on the shore of and in the pond Dutzendteich and marked the entrance of the rally grounds. The building reached a height of 39 m (128 ft) (a height of 70 m was planned) and a diameter of 250 m (820 ft). The building is mostly built out of clinker with a facade of granite panels. The design (especially the outer facade, among other features) is inspired by the Colosseum in Rome. The foundation stone was laid in 1935, but the building remained unfinished and without a roof. The building with an outline of an "U" ends with two head-buildings. Since 2001, the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände (Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds), with the permanent exhibition Faszination und Gewalt (Fascination and Terror), has been located in the northern wing. In the southern building, theSerenadenhof, the Nürnberger Symphoniker have their domicile.