Nuremberg, Germany

Our next stop, Nuremberg was home to the Nazi party and where they would hold their annual rallies.  We were lucky to meet up with Aaron's friend from high school,Chrissy Ann Hovan and her husband Jacob Roecker. They were gracious enough to take us on a tour of the old city it made it super enjoyable to learn about this unique area of Germany.  Above is one of the churches that was not destroyed during the battle of Nuremberg.  You can see the charred brick on the sides.  It was burned from fires and bombings, but the front of the church was able to stand, while the back of the church had to be rebuilt.

 Jacob is in the military, so he was able to give us the military tour of Nuremberg.  It has a ton of military history from World War II, and we had such a good time learning about it all.  These are a couple of pictures of the old part of Nuremberg.

Aaron with Chrissy.  The kids by a section of the Berlin wall in down town Nuremberg.

Jacob entertaining and educating at the same time.  We
were all enthralled with his stories of history and warfare.

We were able to get into a local restaurant to have some Nuremberg sausages.  They have their own small sausages that are small and tasty, and apparently the guild has set the requirements for what classifies as a "Nuremberg" sausage, not to be confused with all of the other types of sausages in Germany.  They were first made in a little spot not far from where we had lunch.

This is the site of the famous Nuremberg rally grounds.  Hitler and his propaganda crew staged and recorded many events here including the famous scenes of Hitler standing above a seemingly endless sea of troops high stepping row by row past him.  Most of the structures are gone now, and it is a beautiful and popular park.

Eli inside the museum.  I wondered what he was pondering as

he looked at the man who caused so much destruction and death.

When I asked him he said he was thinking about "how powerful the

Germans were and how Hitler was no good."

We visited the Documentation Center Musem which taught us a lot about the rise of the Third Reich and how through propaganda and other key strategic plays Hitler was able to gain, grow, and hold power.  It was easy to see how the German people were deceived as to his real motives, and how much of an influence propaganda has.  Hitler planned on building an empire and making it stand forever, with Nuremberg at the center.  He had grand architectural plans, some of which were never built and others that only made it part way through completion.  For example, a stadium, resembling the Colosseum, (above) was partially constructed but was never completed.  I learned a lot that I never knew about this incredible time in history.  Much thanks went out to Jacob and Chrissy for showing us around.  It made a super raining day fun and informative.  They even gave us a traditional Easter cake.  It was like a butter cake in the shape of a lamb and frosted with powdered sugar.  Delicious!  

The Roecker's were also kind enough to invite us over to their place for Easter.  We drove about 45 minutes so we could attend their ward which happened to be held in the only ward building that we know Elvis Presley sang in.  The building housed a bar during the war and Elvis was stationed nearby.  He was known to have sang there on more than one occasion.

Tessa, "Today we went to church on Easter, and they spoke English.  We woke up and had treats from the Easter bunny.  We went to our friends house and we played frisbee and jumped on their trampoline we also played in the forest and playground and in.  We drank soda and ate ham and mashed potatoes with cheese.  I loved it!"