swandav2000

Ya, those belts are a mystery. I've rately seen one that works.

They are supposed to work by sensing your movement. As you lug or swing your bag onto the belt, it's supposed to sense it and start moving. Unfortunately, most of the time you don't discover that it's not working until you lug your bag onto it. One time, I was removing my bag, and that's when it decided to start moving. So, sometimes you just have to play around with it.

The red button/lever is an emergency stop -- in case a child gets her hair or hand stuck in the belt.

Have fun!

swandav2000

Rarely, not rately. Typing on my phone at the train station, waiting for the daughter of an old Army buddy to arrive.

sla019

>We land in Munch and are headed straight to Rothenberg. I haven't researched the trains yet, but would love any advice etc for that.

This should depend on your actual connection. Since Rothenburg is in the boondocks of western Franconia, you will have to use regional trains for half of the trip anyway. ICE's are running between Munich Hbf. and Nürnberg only, from Nürnberg there are regional trains to Ansbach, where you transfer to another regional train to Steinach (final destination of those trains is usually Würzburg), where you transfer to the Rothenburg shuttle waitng at track 5 (don't worry - the Ansbach station is small, Steinach is tiny).

The full price for a ICE connection is 71E, a Bayern Ticket (regional trains only and after 9am only) ist 25E (plus 5 E for each additional traveller). So you may want to check at www.bahn.com what's on offer starting approx. 70 min. after landing: first do a simple search, which will bring up connections involving long distance trains between Munich and Nürnberg only, secondly double check by selecting »only local transport« and deselecting busses [unlike the S-Bahn, Lufthansa airport busses are not covered by the Bayern ticket]. Travel times with ICE vary from 3:25 to 4h, with regional trains (RE, RB, S) they start at 3:58. I can see connections with regional trains leaving the airport at 9:44, 9:51, 11:33, 11:44, 11:51 with a total travel time between 3:58 and 4:14.

sla019

>So my experience seems to be the opposite of what Sla says.

I cannot comment on customs and traditions of other countries. What I have written above is what I had to learn in my youth both in high school and at home (being the son of a lutheran priest). What you quote from the "About Catholizism" site supports that indirectly: for catholics "Advent is a penitential season", for some protestant denominations it is a time of joyful looking forward to the arrival of Jesus christ. So, liturgical colours vary accordingly.

But, as said, those traditions are vanishing rapidly, partly out of lack of interest, partly even out of the spirit of oecumenism. I'm based in Augsburg, southern Bavaria, a city that has been biconfessional since the religious peace of 1555. Here you can find a couple of protestant and catholic churces side by side. Some of them, as a sign of respect for each other, switch colours - protestant candles turn violet, catholic ones red, some blur the difference and agree on a common colour, and some stick with the tradition (as does my wife, who loves her colorful catholic idiosyncrasies).

BTW,
>The pink one was for the third Sunday of Advent
when if first saw a wreath like that in my youth, sillily I thought that they had run out of violet candles ...

marvelousmouse

Hmm. It could be a penitential season traditionally but in my childhood home parish it was a joyful season. Not much of difference between the Lutherans and us at Christmas time, except the Lutherans tended to have more concerts. But as you say, lines blur. (And our priest was a very gentle, intelligent man from Germany- he made Christmas all about the children with a live nativity scene in Christmas Mass. His successor was less than enthusiastic about that.)

marvelousmouse

And that's what I was thinking about the belts. They only seemed to start working when I wasn't looking! Good thing I did not touch the lever...

marvelousmouse

Will return later to post about the Market and the city in general. This is about my visit to the Document Center. Posting it separately because it's a bit long, and if you aren't at all interested in Nazi history, feel free to skip. (The report, not the museum! You should go to the museum).

I got plenty of sleep last night but for whatever reason, I was dragging this morning. Part of t is that is that my hostel put me in two different rooms, which mean I had to pack again this morning. I hate that. Anyway, I had my doubts about going to the document center. Was it going to leave a bad taste in my mouth? I also wandered around a bit confused as to where the bus stop was, and by the time I had given in and asked a police officer, I was committed. But I wasn't expecting it to be a long visit...

As you enter the exhibit, the first part is of two teens skate boarding on the grounds. They're going tricks and filming each other when they see a big door. They open the door and they're overlooking the rally grounds- Hitler flickers into sight as the past overlays the present. I was hooked. Various scenes play out- the rallies, the bombing, etc. all fading out occasionally to reveal modern Germans sun bathing, walking dogs, and of course skate boarding.

Notes and musings roughly in order of the museum. It's arranged mostly as a timeline:

Difficult to grasp the full extent of German life after World War 1. The people blamed he New Democratic government for the Versailles treaty of shame, and just when the economy finally started to improve, the stock market crashes.


Der hitler putsch 1923. Hitler is a bad boy.
Goes on trial for acts of violence against the state: instead of Leipzig which had jurisdiction, he is tried in Munich under a sympathetic judge. Goes to prison, released after 6 months.

Hitler was a criminal. Hitler was an extremist. But he was a master of propaganda. Misinformation, certainly. But consider who gets heard the most- it's the loudmouth nutters, the celebrities, the people on your Facebook feed who share 20 posts a day (I had to unfriend a few of those during the election). It's not the vast majority who don't have a bone to pick or the moderates or the people who work too many hours to post to Facebook more than, say, once a week. After his imprisonment, Hitler repackaged his beliefs into something more palatable- the conservation of the aryan race and to acquire more living space. He established the civil organizations like Hitler's youth and then when he took over, he outlawed all others. Now, that sounds fairly innocuous. But consider how 4-H, FFA, and the Scouts impacted your upbringing. If I wasn't at school, I was doing something for 4-H and it's probably a big part of who I am today. I mean, I'm no longer involved in 4-H unless someone manages to rope me into volunteering around the fair time. But in terms of public speaking and skills that I acquired and the adults who influenced me- that is something that constantly is present. Hitler was essentially molding youth into becoming his perfect supporters. Say a German child joined a youth group in 1933- that child is probably an adult in 1943, and that have been hard conditioning to shake. In the discussion of WW2 and the Holocaust, I think we tend to overlook the ordinary citizen. But the generation coming to age after WW1 had a hard row to hoe, and their children- coming to age during and after World War Two- I cannot imagine how the world looked to them. In the US, the men coming back from the war were the greatest generation. The US cities had not been bombed. They did not have remnants of Hitler's reign to trip over on their way to school and work and the doctor. Not the case for Germany.

Anyway, Hitler and his party was a relatively small part of the cabinet. The Conservative party (the majority) were generally working to their own ends to limit the extent of democracy. We tend to think of Hitler as someone who came in and just changed the whole system. In reality, he looked at the system and figured out what he could exploit for his own gain. The groundwork was laid for him by people who were not his supporters, not extremists necessarily, but people who had a much larger political base.

And then when he takes over and the persecution of Jews starts in earnest, part of the problem is that Hitler's detractors are taken aback and either don't want to lose all influence or are waiting to see how it pans out. Concentration camps were originally to make up for prisons that had reached Capacity- the first thing Hitler did was get rid of many of his political opponents through emergency decree (permanent state of emergency) .

I also learned that I was pronouncing Dachau , which was wasn't surprising. That German throat thing, I've just been terrible at picking up.

1933...bucherverbrennug...I knew of the book burning of course, but not its extent. Imagine if some student association took all the books they considered dangerous out of the Harvard library and burned them all on the lawn. This happened on the campuses of most German universities. It's a horrifying thought to a book lover like me! After this, smart writers fled the country and others soon discovered they would not be published.

De personalizing not just Jews but everyone else. The political organizations and civil organizations are all gone at this point. Essentially replaced by huge festivals. Emotion, and mob mentality are essentially encouraged.

I knew about the Jew star, of course and the pink triangle for homosexuals, but I didn't realize the extent to which the NS government labeled everyone. And I discovered that google translate also doesn't like strange font. Finicky creature.

Back to the common citizen...It was not only bad to be a dissenter. It was also bad to be silent. If you didn't embrace Hitler's party line, Hitler cut you off entirely from social benefits. You weren't just denied "perks" of being a citizen- you were not allowed to benefit at all from state gains. Imagine being desperate and being told that if you don't do your civic duty, your health insurance, food stamps, bus pass, or Medicare will be pulled. This may go a long way to explaining why Hitler had visible support. It would cost you little to cheer at rallies. It would cost you everything to not show up. Of course, Hitler would soon solve his problem of people dependent on the state- the first people to be either sterilized or euthanized were folks in nursing homes or with perceived or real genetic diseases.

Hitler was essentially his own publicist. It's interesting how he becomes more and more unreal. He wins over the public by essentially investing a lot of time in money to portray himself as a superman. Inaccessible. But a genius, a good neighbor, and a tireless toiler for the common people all rolled into one.

Nuremberg and Hitler: Nuremberg was home to the rallies for practical reasons. He had a strong support base and and the support of the police on Franconia. But it's history appealed to him as well, and he tied himself to the old Prussian rulers. They were the noble past- he was the noble future.

Also, interesting is the room that explains NS architecture. You would not think of Hilter's regime as builders. But in fact that was a large part of propaganda; everything from scale to lighting was considered. (On a side note, recently there was an east coast artist who constructed a memorial to something absurd and put it on various docks- think it was something like "this ship was lost to a giant squid in 1893", 874 men, women and children lost". Absurd, right? But people would walk by that memorial and the idea would be planted that it really happened. Those people would go to further research at city hall, the archives, the library. The city workers and historians took a while to catch on to what the heck was going on- I mean, they had dozens of people coming in to ask about this monument that showed up on various docks and then. just vanished. I don't remember why the artist created it- but I thought it was hilarious and infuriating at the same time.) Anyway. Tangent aside. The architecture was impressive and a tangible statement of Hitler's power. It seems a little bit absurd, but then when you think of strolling around DC and what you feel in front of Lincoln and the Vietnam memorials. Not so ridiculous now is it? The Document center is the largest remainder of NS architecture remaining and it's interesting to visit it solely for that reason.

Plans for the rally grounds. Notes, architect's sketches. These are basically the next portion and that's something that I hadn't learned about, so it was especially interesting.

Generally in school I learned about how concentration camp prisoners were put to work for war supplies. But part of this exhibit also reveals that concentration camps were set up for hard labor even before that. The stone that built rallying grounds were from quarries worked by concentration camp workers.

"Day of community"- basically giant festivals for the people. Sports events, dancing, speeches. I am assuming, but I don't really know, that this essentially replaced city festivals and the like.

Anti- Jewish laws- definition under law depended on how many Jewish grandparents you had. Much cheaper like the laws considering US slaves- it was essentially a blood caste system.

By 1936, resistance is growing. There are number of groups that see through Hitler's propaganda and start working against him. This is accelerated by the invasion of Soviet Union (reorganization of Communist party) Hitler spent a lot of time vengefully pursuing them.

There is relative short section on the progression of murdering political enemies which ends with with the establishment of the extermination camps. I won't go into it here- nothing really new to me. But I think in school, when we learn about this, the way the material is presented leaves a few things out. When I took that seminar in college, 2 pieces of information were big surprises:

1. German Jews were largely assimilated and also a relatively small population. They would be seen by their neighbors as friends, colleagues, etc. the extermination camps partly came into being because of the invasion of Poland and Russia. A lot more Polish Jews, and they were distinctly different from their neighbors in terms of dress and culture. They were "the other". Chilling, especially in the light of the Muslim terrorism fears. How do you know someone is Muslim? If a lady is sitting on the bus next to you, does she look different to you if she's wearing a hajib? If the man sitting next to you on a plane is typing in Arabic, and you see the word "Allah", will you think he is an extremist or merely that he is expressing to his wife his thankfulness that the airport didn't lose his bags? (That happened. The man's neighbor saw the "funny writing" and reported him as a possible terrorist. I think the airline eventually apologized and refunded his fare but NOT before removing him from the flight on the mere basis of his Arabic illiterate seat mate's conjecture. Jeez.) I'm not trying to make any kind of political point- I'm simply pondering the extreme power of xenophobia.

Anyway- #2 surprise: I also thought as a kid that this was a top secret, shadowy process. I knew about Holocaust deniers and I assumed it was partly because there wasn't sufficient proof. But in reality, these laws were public. They transported Jews on trains, and those train schedules, cargo, and destination all had a paper trail. With German efficiency comes German documentation. This museum is about a lot of things, but part of the reason it is so interesting to me is how it shows all of the tangible aspects of Hitler's regime. Sure, the Nazis destroyed as much as possible at the end of the war. But the government documented the whole regime partly because that's what civil servants do, and partly because Hitler was recording the building of his empire for reasons of posterity. Impossible to destroy it all. (We went through a variety of primary sources in lecture, and there is something absolutely horrifying about the mundanity of records like the train manifests. In addition, various officials on trial at the Nuremburg trials testified in explicit detail as to how young children and others incapable of working were gassed at the camps. So that's all on record in the trail transcripts- a trial which took 216 days. The trial was filmed as well. It is inconceivable as to how Holocaust denial even found root.

Last display- Nuremberg Trials, and the historical city Nuremberg is reborn again. It represents law, truth, and justice. The rebuilding begins- both literally and figuratively. I think one of my main takeaways from this museum is how Nuremberg the city comes into play. The thought of the city in ruins, rising out of the ashes as a Phoenix reborn, is so powerful.

The last room is the epilogue. It partially explains why the center exists (it had been too expensive to either demolish or convert. Then there's the last video. It is a series of eyewitness accounts. The people who were young during the the Nuremberg rallies tell stories as old people. It gives a valuable look into the sheer desperation of the German people after WW1 as well as the power of Hitler's propaganda and allure. The Nuremberg rallies are again referred to here. The rallies were a time to meet new people, a time to feel like one belonged. It was strangely equalizing for the population- there were no longer upper rich or poor, farmers or lawyers- only true Germans and the "others". Another eyewitness was a nephew of a Jew who was persecuted into immigrating to Holland in 1933. Really, this video as well as that entry video were my favorite parts. Something you can't get in textbooks is that shadow of history over the presence. You may not feel comfortable asking witnesses to explain their impressions of something so tied to shame. The designers of this museum understand those intangible aspects- and it really makes this museum special.


Final corridor is sort of a sky bridge. On the 175th anniversary of the train system, there was an Art installation commissioned by the center. It's a track in behind a glass wall- the " stones" are gray cards with name, place of origin and date of birth and death of Holocaust victims. Each name stands for 100 more victims. If they had done it for the whole 6 million, the track would extend 4 kilometers- all the way to the old city. (It's a long bus ride so that explanation is a vivid illustration.) On the wall are signs that look like train station signs. Only instead of towns, the names are of extermination camps.

So, obviously, I recommend it. I really think it should be a must see if you have teens especially. It is an entirely different look at the Nazi regime than the DC Holocaust museum, but certainly it's equal in quality.

Practical information: cash only. It's a time suck. I didn't tour the grounds and I think I was in the main exhibit at least 3-4 hours. If you speak German, it's probably a shorter visit (I'm a very fast reader and it would have been shorter if I had not been relying on the guide), but still use the audio guide. It's helpful to know that your audio guide not only has the number entry but also automatically syncs to the videos when you get close to it. That's how you hear dialogue, like the interviews on the final video. (I was three rooms in before I figured that out).

Related: because I was lazy, today, and didn't want to find a bank I bought a museum card. I'll let you know how that turns out, but I think so far that they make bank at tourists' expense. It's twenty five euros, for 2 days and it covers a lot of the museums and the transit. It's super convenient, but the Document Center killed pretty much my whole day...and the National museum looks like it might kill all day tomorrow. That means I MIGHT get 10-15 euros worth in services.

But because I did get it, I am more inclined to ride around on transit, so tonight I got the lay of the land so to speak of the system. I especially like the underground. If you take line one from the hbf and get off at St. Lorenz, you're very near the Christmas Market...which I wish the information desk at the hbf had told me when I arrived!

annhig

thank you very much MM for that wonderfully detailed information - again, I don't think I need to go as you have explained it all so well. It dovetails very well with the exhibition that we saw in the National Historical museum in Berlin which when we were there was showing how Jews had been treated in Europe through the ages when a succession of pogroms and other atrocities permitted various countries to punish them for their supposed crimes and "otherness" [and incidentally, just like the Nazis, give them an excuse to rob them blind].

One thing I would respectfully disagree with you about is this:

<<It is inconceivable as to how Holocaust denial even found root.>>

considering what has currency on the internet at the moment, sadly it seems all too believable.

Macross

St Lorenz Church has the most beautiful wall where you light a candle. Light several for us.

Albrecht Dürer, a little gift shop across from his house has the best small calendars with his prints. Great gifts.
My husband saw the rally grounds and museum. I had a broken foot first trip in winter but last trip explored more.

marvelousmouse

I know what you mean I can believe it, but I just don't understand how people can come up up with such baseless reasons to hate others and then even in the face of facts debunking those reasons, they either cling to the old beliefs or find new ones to justify their crimes. There are a lot of terrible things from the holocaust, but one of the worst is the way they used "science" to explain why the aryan race was superior. Mengeles always makes my stomach twist- his experiments were just so horrific. and then you hear on the street about how racial profiling is not a problem or how American society is race blind. Humans don't learn from history so well



Glad you enjoyed it- I wrote that all down in bits and pieces and then when I realized the length, almost didn't post it....it's more than 20 paragraphs about one museum lol.

bilboburgler

I guess when you see

"no Irish or dogs"
"no English need apply"
"white's only water fountain"
it is a shock

Just recently I was in Dresden and there is a part of the city walls where the posh people went to enjoy the river views. Jews were banned from this walking area, the concept seems incredible.

But then you hear the political nutters. Always testing us in the background.

Fodorite018

MM and sla019--Thank you I appreciate the help. Still need to sit down with the train websites and figure it all out a bit more, but good to hear that it is not difficult etc. From landing in Munich, roughly how long till you can be in Rothenburg?

Fodorite018

MM--Wow, that was great, thank you! It definitely helps to know what is a must see etc for when we go. Your report is making me antsy to get there!

sla019

> From landing in Munich, roughly how long till you can be in Rothenburg?

Lets sum up:

At the airport, if everything goes smooth (deboarding, immigration, luggage pick up; there is no customs control - just take the »green line«), usually I need approx. 1 hour from deboarding to the S-Bahn terminal (from terminal one 5 to 10 minutes longer). Now, you have to orientate yourself and probably to get a train ticket - so I'd allow 1:30. Then, as said above, the trains:

>Travel times with ICE vary from 3:25 to 4h, with regional trains (RE, RB, S) they start at 3:58.

That sums up to 5 to 6 hours from deboarding till arrival at Rothenburg.

You can save some time if you have the DB app installed on your cellphone (»DB navigator«) and book your ticket while waiting at the baggage conveyor belt (there is WLAN in the airport, but you have to register). If you have to buy your ticket on the spot, do this: follow the signs to the central area ("Z", = »Zentralbereich« in German), where you will find the DB ticket counter and ticket machines. The trick is to go to the machines to the left of the counter, which are hidden from arriving passengers and therefore much less frequented than the right side ones. The machines can be set to English and take credit and debit cards. You can search for a connection prior to booking and print out it. Read the connections displayed carefully - some go through Regensburg to Nuremberg. In that case you do NOT got to the S-Bahn but to the bus station to catch the Regensburg train at Freising.

Please note: 1. local trains from Nürnberg to Ansbach leave from track 18 to 22 at Nürnberg Hbf., so be prepared for a few minuts walking (its shorter for transfers from ICE to IC). Final destination of RE's is mostly Stuttgart or Crailsheim, for the S-Bahn it's Ansbach. 2. Final destination for trains from Ansbach is Würzburg (if a train runs beyond Würzburg it will still be displayed as intermediate station at the overhead indicators); travel time to Steinach is 20 min. 3. At Steinach, the Rothenburg shuttle (a small red railcar) leaves from track 5, just follow the herd. The station is tiny, so don't worry about the short transfer time.

If you tell us your arrival time at Munich, we can look up for the best connections.

marvelousmouse

Yep. I had the 3:25 time. Not all of it is on trains- probably 20-30 minutes was layover time. (can't say for sure- I was a walking zombie by then). I had left 2.5-3 hours between airport and train and I had almost two hours to wait around in the train station. But I had nothing to declare and I had gone through passport check when I landed in Iceland. That was so strange compared to Canada- the agent barely glanced at me, grunted, stamped and waved me through!

Fodorite018

sla019--OMG, that is so much help, thank you!!! We arrive at 8:25 am on a Sunday.

marvelousmouse

Nuremberg: the rest of the story

I arrived in Nuremberg early evening. I was staying at Jungendherberge hostel which is in the Imperial Castle's former stable. When I asked for directions at the information desk, they recommended walking; it's directly on the other side of old town, and tacos must go around. I did not know much about the U system, but I should have checked the map; I found out later that I could have ridden the u to Lorenz Kirche, at least, which is close to the market.

Anyway...I dragged my case through old town, by the market, and up the "small" hill to the castle. When I say small, I mean it was small by Seattle standards, but still a work out given the paving stones.

The hostel: overall up to HI standards but a few irritations.

Annoyance 1: nearly all signs in German. Staff mostly speaks English but given that it is a very large hostel, I would have expected more translated instructions. This really isn't that much of an issue but I dealt with one rather impatient desk clerk and signs (or pictures) would have solved the issue.

#2: I realize single travelers tend to get shafted when it comes to rooms, when I make a reservation 6 months ahead, you'd think they wouldn't split my stay. So I wasted time my first full day packing, storing, and checking back in.

#3: it's very modern and lovely. However. They managed to give every bed a nightlight yet only put two sockets in a 4 bed room. I really don't know any backpackers that have nothing to charge.

#4: relatively minor, but I hadn't realized there was no laundry. Why would you go to the trouble of an expensive modern renovation, and not put on a basic amenity in this very large hostel? I was beginning to think laundries were uncommon and European hostels but my German roommate reassured me they were very common.

#5: the breakfast is largely decent but the juice machine juice is that awful stuff you occasionally see at budget chain hotels. Even frozen concentrate would be better.

#6: the hill. It was a bit slippery when wet and if had been icy or snowy I would have had a pretty hard time. Perhaps there's a back/round about way, but we didn't manage to figure it out. This probably mostly personal bias- I tend to be out and about all day, so when I return at night, I like very easy return. That walk was a bit much when I was really tired. Good way to control your alcohol intake, lol- there's only so much gluhwein I wanted to drink when I thought about the hill.

#7 (possibly for you, not for me) this is VERY child friendly. I saw toddlers and babies, adolescents, lots of teens, school groups. So can be a bit hectic. I prefer family friendly over party hostels, so I liked that, but many people may not.

It probably sounds like I disliked the hostel. But I do recommend it! The breakfast, especially on the weekend, is good. Fresh fruit helps with the lack of OJ. Coffee machines. Good beer at the bar at night. Fabulous atmosphere and views. Rooms are decent size. It's clean. Excellent bathrooms, lockers. Average bed (foam pad not mattress). Interestingly, the majority of the guests are German, but perhaps that's the time of year. I met a lovely lady from the Black Forest area and I learned lot about German society, even though she kept saying her English was terrible I don't remember where I saw it on the forum, but it is completely true that when you ask if someone speaks English, nearly every German will say "just a little".

First night: Christmas market. The Market. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE MARKET!! It's huge, hectic, and absolutely glorious. Really! Yes, it can be busy. But amazing food, shopping, music- absolutely beautiful setting. On the first night I ate:

Fried potato pancakes with Apple sauce.
Sautéed mushrooms and onions
Chocolate covered Fruit on a stick
Nuremberg sausage sandwich
Gingerbread man

(The gingerbread- don't buy one with a hole in the top, very hard and probably ornament. They look pretty much identical to the ones without the hole, and at the booth I first visited, sold side by side. Yes, I tried to bite into it. Yikes.)

First full day: document center. Was tired after that, ate at the crepe shop on the main square. Not good crepes but delicious gluhwein.

Afterwards, I wandered around. Ended up going into St Lorenz Kirche, and if you only make it to one church, make it that one. Stunning art, and my favorite nativity scene yet (not a full one, Mary and Joseph and Jesun in the center of a sand square- hearts dream in the sand around dozens of tea light candles). Only negative is I never did find an English pamphlet, so not much history gleaned, but beauty does not need translation. They have a massive binder in German with an inventory of each art piece.

The best memory I may have from this trip was another roommate, "M", who was from Michigan. I showed her where some food was that first night, we got talking, and then we ended up exploring the city together the next day. It's rare that I make friends at a hostel, as I'm just not there much. But it was glorious exploring and drinking all the different Gluhwein with someone, and then we found out that we overlap one day in Munich so perhaps there's a beer hall in my future!


The next day I decided I needed a real meal for a change, and we found a place called Five Diner (mostly American, although Euro style breakfast.) Amazing coffee and amusingly the best mojito I've had in a long time. I had the "Italian Stallion"- cold cuts, cheese, tomato. M had the hangover- eggs on toast and ham. She said it was good but had a mystery sauce- fairly sure it was some kind of aioli. Then we set out to visit the national museum.

The National Museum is huge. Only saw the baroque wing and the toy portion in detail. Partly because it was kind of a confusing layout, but be sure to go in the old portion- amazing statuary, tombstones. Must not miss: the oldest surviving globe and the various clocks and compasses. Also enjoyed an amazing painting of Salome. She was one of Harod's courtesans/dancers and he was infatuated with her. He said she could have anything; she requested John the Baptist's head. This is all background; now comes the funny part. The original panel had a beautiful young lady holding a bowl with John's head in it. Someone thought it was too repulsive, and sawed the painting in half, so you only see the girl. During the romantic period, a writer wrote about the picture of the girl as the ideal of youthful beauty, and thus the panel received a new name. Would have loved to see the panel in its original form, lol. (Practical information: must provide your ID as deposit for the audio guide. But the signs are almost entirely half English and the audio guide is merely more detail.)

Then we left to spend the rest of the evening at the market. Bought: Angel straw mobile, chocolate, Nuremberg ornament, small wax angel. We agreed that the best thing we ate that night was the Egyptian vegan food we ate at booth near Lorenz. We ate a LOT of food. Raclette was new to both of us and it was so good. M had a waffle drizzled in Baileys and that was a highlight for her (I was a bit too full by then). Roasted chestnuts and fruitcake sound better in theory than in reality. (I actually did not mind the chestnuts but it's not something I'd actively seek out).

Went to a brief organ performance in Lorenz- memorable less for the music and more do the acoustics. Then we paid a few euros to climb to the balcony of the frauenkirche, for an overview of the market. Worth it certainly for the view alone, but upstairs you can also see the angel's costume and read about the people who have been chosen as market Angels.

We tried several kinds of Gluhwein; my favorite was the cherry and M's favorite was the classic.

Finally we dragged ourselves towards home but not before ordering more potato pancakes we set out on a largely unsuccessful hunt for a beer, but either places were closing or stuffed to the gills. When we saw a sign for Albrecht Durer's house, we went hunting for it as it was something M had wanted to see. I learned from her that it had miraculously survived the bombing; it's very beautiful.

Still no beer, but luckily the bar at the hostel was open. And we both felt a lot better after that!

The next morning, she walked me to the train station, so she could store her luggage while site seeing. We passed the craftsman market square across from it and I decided that I really wanted to see. So, we shopped for a bit, and I bought some beautiful glass ornaments from a man whose shop was closing soon. I had only planned on one; because of the discount he offered, I bought 3, this ticking off another wish list item.

We parted ways, and I learned another fun fact about trains. IC and ICE are different; if you have a refundable ticket for IC, you can pay extra to ride an ICE. (Fine with that). But the only way to pay the difference, at least as far as I know, is to go to a real person. The ticket office at hbf is like the dmv; you take a number and wait....and wait...and wait. I called my hostel to confirm reception is open 24 HR, and I decided to wait for the next IC as I was going to cut it too close with ICE anyway. On the plus side, I did find a new fabulous hard side carryon (I mean, "ornament case"). And when I finally made my way to the platform, there was M on the other side. We waved and boarded our respective trains.

And I was off to Erfurt enroute to Dresden!

Nuremberg is so far one of my favorite cities ever. There is so much that I did not get to do, and it's certainly on my return list. Just amazing- I adored every minute while I was there!

Practical information: cash, people. Cash! Coins especially. The museum card is most likely not worth it if you want to visit any big museum- you just cannot get your money's worth, and I certainly tried! But if you like the convenience of pass and transit all in one, it may be worth considering.

Some lockers are refundable (museum is) some are not (trains station), and if you see the bathrooms at the hbf with the turnstiles out front, they're worth the .50 euro fee. It's actually 1 euro, but you get a 50 cent voucher in return. Weird. But clean, shower access, and hilarious self rotating/sanitizing toilet seats!

And on the IC trains, if you don't have an assigned seat, you can take any seat that doesn't have the digital name of a place glowing above it.

sla019

1. The fastest - and most expensive - connection is Airport - Munich Hauptbahnhof - Nürnberg - Ansbach - Steinach - Rothenburg, using an ICE between Munich and Nuremberg (the figures after dep / arr time indicate track # and train #):

München Flughafen Terminal dep 10:24 2 S8
München Hbf (underground) arr 11:05 2

transfer time 12 min.

München Hbf dep 11:17 18 ICE 1508
Nürnberg Hbf arr 12:27 6

transfer time 9 min.

Nürnberg Hbf dep 12:36 18 RE 19912 (destination Stuttgart)
Ansbach arr 13:06 2

transfer time 5 min.

Ansbach dep 13:11 3 RB 58116 (destination Würzburg)
Steinach(b Rothenburg ob der Tauber) arr 13:31 2

transfer time: 4 Min.

Steinach(b Rothenburg ob der Tauber) dep 13:35 5 RB 58897
Rothenburg ob der Tauber arr 13:49

total travel time: 3:25


The same connection is avaibale every hour (11:24, 12:24 etc.)

The flex price for this connection is hefty E 71; you might get a saver fare even shortly befor departure, but certainly not the cheapest one (booked in advance, the ticket would be 29E, but you will loose most of that money if your plane is late).

Note: If you travel on a saver fare, you are bound to a specific long distance (ICE / IC) train; you are NOT bound to a specific local train before or after your IC(E) ride. If you arrive early, you can still catch any S-Bahn to go to the center of Munich and spend your waiting time there. Having some layover will be useful on sundays anyway, since all the shops will be closed with the exception of airports and train station. There is a food store in Terminal 2 at the airport (Edeka) and one at the train station (REWE; the Munich Nuremberg ICE carries a restaurant car, but when you pay your bill you won't think to have made the deal of the week).

2. Local trains:


München Flughafen Terminal dep 10:44 2 S 8
München-Pasing arr 11:35 7

transfer time 7 Min.

München-Pasing dep 11:42 10 RE 57308 (Destination: Treuchtlingen)
Treuchtlingen arr 13:20 6

transfer time 5 Min.

Treuchtlingen dep 13:25 7 RB 58118 (Destination Würzburg Hbf)
Steinach(b Rothenburg ob der Tauber) arr 14:31

transfer time 4 Min.

Steinach(b Rothenburg ob der Tauber) dep 14:35 5 RB 58899
Rothenburg ob der Tauber arr 14:49

total travel time 4:05


The same connection is avaibale every other hour (12:44, 14:44 etc.)

There are connections in between, but with on more transfer and mostly longer travel times. On this trains you would travel with an BAYERN TICKET (25E for one, 31 E. for two). You can use any local or regional trains (RE, RB, trains of other carriers); the BT is not valid for the Lufthansa Airport bus, which operates independently of the train system.

I'd like to encourage you to familarize yourself with the DB web site (www.bahn.com) to get the most out of it. As departure station type in »Munich Airport T« (T = Terminal); please be careful to type in Rothenburg as destination (not Rothenberg as you did above - in that case you will end up somewhere near Kassel). Now, unclick the »prefer fast connections« box to bring up and overview of everything available, both long distance and local trains.

3. Arrival at Rothenburg: The train station is approx. 700m from the center (town hall), and dragging one's suitcase over cobblestone might not give much pleasure to a sleepy traveller. A taxi is inexpensive (or arrange with your hotel for somebody to pick up you).

@marvelousmouse: sorry for hijacking your thread!

marvelousmouse

No, that's fine, good to know about the Saver fare actually. I'm still trying to figure out all the ins and outs of the train system.

Since you are here...How do you tell if the lockers are refundable or not? We thought the train station ones were but obviously mistranslated! Would have used anyway but would be nice to know!

sla019

@marvelousmouse: glad that you liked my native city. It's a pity that nobody told you that taking tram No.4 to Tiergärtnertor (back side of the castle) would hae spared you dragging your suitcase uphill. It's even more a shame, that you didn't find the Bieramt ("Beer Office") across of the Dürer house, which as a great selection of local beers. Anyway - thanks for the interesting report and enjoy your trip!