Day 5: Nurenberg
As promised,we were excited to find the ship moving when we awoke. We went through one of around 13 locks that we will travel through. Shortly after, we moored at Regensburg, with a bus tour to Nurenberg planned for the afternoon. It was a very mixed day as shortly after breakfast I was the first of several people on the ship to become ill with a nasty tummy bug. We were not due to leave for Nurenberg until after lunch, so, feeling a little better by then, I ventured out. Big mistake!! Fortunately I had taken the bucket insert from our cabin bin and once it was ascertained that there was a toilet on the bus, I spent the rest of the 2 hour journey in there.
Once in Nurenberg, I went back to my seat- no to the front seat as 2 young men kindly gave that up so that I could be at the front. The bus drove us around the key areas in Nurenberg that we had been so keen to see – the immense stadium that Hitler had built using architecture similar to the Colloseum. It remains a huge ugly brick relic, but he had plans to have it roofed over and covered inside and out with granite.
Next was the Nazi rally ground, another immense complex which seated 180,000. We saw the stage from where he addressed the people and the guide showed us photographs of a rally at the time – spine shivering stuff!
Nurenberg is interesting in that it still has its city wall completely intact – I think the only European city to have so. Even the moat around the wall is still there – apparently used now as parkland etc.
The last of the war-related things to see was the International Court House where the Nurenberg trials were held. We had hoped to see inside the famous Room 600 but were not able to do so.
The bus then drove us to the Kriskindle Market – the largest in Europe. I had hoped to stay on the bus and sleep but was not allowed to do so. However, our kind guide, Lillian, arranged for me to stay in a restaurant where it was warm.
With about half an hour before the bus left, and feeling relatively OK, I walked through the market. This one is particularly good as everything has to be made in Germany, no plastic decorations are allowed to be sold and no piped music is allowed. There is a huge version of a beautiful Christmas carousel which Robyn bought us in Germany when she was here in 1996. In the centre of the square, is a beautiful golden monument but I was not up to hearing details about it.
I did manage to do some shopping though, finding what I had hoped to buy over here – a beautiful nativity set and some little Christmas trinkets for the children.
The bus trip home, through very bad weather conditions, was another miserable time, as we were only 1km into it before the vomiting started again. Very relieved to be back at the ship 2 hours later, I was ushered into a waiting ambulance!! I was very glad to be checked out, but had hoped to be met by a doctor with an injection. When the ambulance officer was getting me to fill in address details etc., I hesitantly asked if they would send the bill, which I anticipated to be several hundred dollars. To my delight, she said that there would be no charge!
I headed straight to bed, while Roger went to dinner. While he was away, a doctor came to see me – and several others who had also succumbed by then. He gave me the much yearned for injection and ordered a hot water bottle from the reception staff. With that, I slept all night for 12 hours straight.
What bad luck to be so ill! Hope you are feeling much better now and fit to continue your amazing journey. Find myself checking all the time to see if you have posted- thoroughly enjoying accompanying you on your trip!
ReplyDeleteLove Ruth, and Bob too!