Our guide, David, was from Scotland. As an art student he came to Nuremburg on an exchange program. He said his father was actually captured by the German army in WWII, but he was captured by a fräulein -- now his wife -- and he's been here for 26 years.
Our tour took us past the Nazi parade grounds where up to a million people would descend on Nuremberg for rallies. We also saw the remains of a coliseum-like structure, built with elements to resemble a cathedral -- including a "pulpit". For the so-called messiah, Hitler. There were plans to build "cathedrals" to the National Socialist party. It was eerie seeing the grounds where we've all seen grainy black-and-white footage of goose-stepping troops filing past Hitler on his grandstand.
We also saw the scene of the international tribunal where, for the first time in history, individuals were held accountable and charged for crimes against humanity.
But in addition to its troubled history of Nazism and war crimes, Nuremberg is a medieval city with beautiful ancient streets and neighborhoods.
(Give June Jennings a map and she can navigate anything!)
(When I picture Germany, I picture storybook streets like these)
The temperatures topped 100, so a lot of our free time in Nuremberg was spent ducking into shady spots and cafes.
It's a German shepherd! In Germany!
These chucks have logged some miles this week!
We got back to the Freya to this greeting by our fun crew...
And as always they were ready with cold washcloths, a little snack and a cold drink! We had just a few minutes to freshen up a bit for our farewell dinner. We snapped a few pictures with some of our favorite crew members...
Cruz, our maître d, took the photo above, then selfied himself in to the photo below!
Peter - the waiter we wanted to adopt and bring home! (He called this his James Bond selfie)
And his lovely fiancé Ildi...
Y'all. This food. Tonight's five-course meal included:
A little amuse bouche of shrimp and gazpacho. (I forgot to photograph the first appetizer - a crisp tandoori chicken and Parmesan foam with tomato salad!)
The best soup of the cruise (and maybe my life!)! Roasted forest mushroom velouté with crisp bacon, mushroom chips and truffle sabayon. Yum.
(Peter: "I went today into ze forest and I picked zeez mushroom for ze soup. Only I don't know which is poison. Good luck!" What a goofball!)
Pumpkin mousse ravioli with lamb loin and sweet chili sauce.
Main course: deconstructed beef Wellington with sautéed vegetables, pommes duchess and cognac sauce...
Marscarpone and sour cherry cake (brownie streusel with marinated berries)
Oh - and we can't leave out the cheese plate!
Or the delicious chocolate candies...
Okay. Stick a fork in us because
we. are. done.
So we are now at the Nuremberg airport, waiting to board the first of three flights to get home. It's been a wonderful trip, filled with good memories, and we are so thankful to have experienced it together!
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