On Friday, August 9, we got off to an early start (shocking, I know). We checked out of the Radisson Blu hotel in Berlin around 6:30AM and set off in our black volvo toward the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Short history lesson! The Castle Church in Wittenberg is where Martin Luther posted his 95 Thesis starting the Protestant Reformation in 1517. We found the church with relative ease after driving for about an hour and a half. We parked on the most adorable, picturesque German street, took a few pictures, and were on our way again. (The church itself was closed for restoration.)
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| Castle Church - Wittenberg, Germany |
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| "Door" where Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses |
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| Quaint Street in Wittenberg, Germany |
We then stopped at a market for gas, water, snacks, and toilets in a small town. What we discovered on our drive that day was that in Germany, there are either Autobahn highways or small country roads, nothing in between. In the United States, we have giant interstate highways or freeways, we have back country roads, but then we also have just normal 4 lane highways that are neither terrifying due to speed or terrifying due to their narrowness. I found it very interesting that one minute we were driving on a highway with no speed limit and the next minutes we were down to a narrow 2-lane road no faster than 25 mph.
After driving on country roads for about 2 hours (2 very frustrating, windy, long hours), we made it to our next stop. Our next destination after Wittenberg was the Meissen Pottery Factory just outside of Dresden. Not being able to go to Prague ended up being a blessing in disguise for my mother-in-law who is a pottery lover. Meissen pottery is very fancy, very beautiful and very expensive. I enjoyed our visit to the factory even if the gift shop was little out of my price range. We sat through a short demonstration on the making of Meissen pottery and my mother-in-law took home a little souvenir.
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| Meissen Pottery Factory - Dresden, Germany |
Next to the Meissen factory was a grocery store, so we picked up some sandwiches and meat and cheese and ate lunch in the car on our way to Nuremberg. After a boring 2.5 hour drive, we made it to the Documentation Center and Nazi Party Rally Grounds.
The reason we left Berlin so early was to try and get to this place before it closed, and as I mentioned, it took us 6 hours of total driving time to get there. The Documentation Center and Nazi Party Rally Grounds was a series of underground bunkers and tunnels and an unfinished stadium intended to be used by Hitler for large rallies. What I found remarkable about this place is that it's one of the only remaining examples of Nazi architecture. I know that might not seem like anything noteworthy, but I disagree. By using slave labor and by conducting abominable experiments on human lives, the Nazis were able to make significant technological and medicinal advances. But what do we know about Nazi architecture? Maybe there is nothing to know. As World War II ended, nearly all of Hitler's properties and headquarters were destroyed by the advancing allies (and rightfully so). They didn't touch this place in Nuremberg, however, because it was never finished. Now it stands as a testimony to what could have been, what Hitler had intended, and the museum in the tunnels below the rally grounds now act as a museum about life within Nazi Germany.
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| Unfinished Nazi Party Rally Grounds - Nuremberg, Germany |
I've read countless books on World War II, watched numerous documentaries, chatted with Holocaust survivors and read their memoirs, toured Holocaust museums, volunteered at the one in Washington DC, visited former Concentration Camps, and what I saw in this museum beneath the Nazi Party Rally Grounds proved to me how much I still had to learn about the whole World War II era. Instead of going into the sordid details about Hitler's plan for European Jewry, it took a closer look at prewar Germany and the people who lived there between 1933-1939. I still remember footage from one of the videos where two elderly ladies laughed and talked about being young girls and having a competition to see who could attend more of the "Fuhrer's" parades and see him in person. It was a new side of an exhausted story that I never heard before, and for that reason, I am very glad I went.
But you aren't reading a history blog (though perhaps I should start one), you're reading a travel blog. Surrounding the Documentation Center & Nazi Party Rally Grounds, we found lots of road closures and construction. We eventually made our way to the Hilton Nuremberg Hotel which is a lovely convention hotel outside of the city, but in a great location for us for driving the next morning. (You can read my trip advisor review of the hotel here.)
After checking in, we went back out for dinner at “Tang” a German-Chinese Restaurant. It was delicious but absolutely hilarious. They clearly knew we were tourists and either Americans or just assumed that any non-German tourists spoke English. They didn't greet us in German, they didn't offer us German menus, or even attempt to speak any German to us what so ever. The food, although we ordered individual plates, was served family style and over little hotplates with candles under them. Not that we needed them. After nothing but convenience store sandwiches and minimart snacks all day, we gobbled up our German-Chinese dinner, and then called it a day. Another early morning awaits us….
Wait a minute. We got back to the hotel and instead of pillow mints, they were....what is that?? Turn on the light. Huh? Gummy bears? They put gummy bears on our pillows? So weird, but kinda fun! Who doesn't love gummy bears?! :)
So, if you ever find yourself in western Germany, I hope you find this blog helpful. Next up is Vienna and other parts of Austria. Keep reading by clicking HERE.
Thanks for reading!
- Foxy the Traveler
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