Deutschland
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- July 29, 2016
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Street of Human Rights
Our journey to Germany was mostly uneventful apart from being stopped on the autobahn by the security police! After the recent acts of terrorism in Bavaria, the police explained that the authorities were being extra vigilant. I am hard pressed to see how a retired couple travelling in a camper van fits the profile of radical extremists but we were escorted to a disused car park and asked if we had anything to declare? Lack of short term memory led us to look at each other for help. They looked inside and outside of the van stepping over a crate of Czech as they entered the van. “ Is that what you mean?” I helpfully asked. They just smiled and said we could go.
Our first task in Germany was to get our broken, electric, German bikes fixed. We had found a shop close to Nuremburg willing to take a look so we headed for Erlangen dropped off the bikes which they seemed convinced they could fix. With typical German efficiency the bikes were repaired and ready to be collected within two days and we were soon on the road to Nuremberg.
Nuremberg Trials Courtroom
After Eastern Europe, Nuremberg seems brash and loud. We walked through a town centre that was filled with the noise of many street musicians (too many) competing with each other to be the loudest but not necessarily the most tuneful. Nuremberg had thrown off its eastern mantel far more comprehensively than Poland or the Czech Republic and is most definitely a child of the West. A visit to the impressive German National Museum restored calm. This beautiful building, a former monastery, houses many amazing artefacts including works by Albert Durer. The path leading to the main entrance of the museum is known as the Street of Human Rights. Along this path stands 27 columns with the United Nations Articles of Human Rights carved in German and numerous other languages onto the white columns. In 1995 the International Human Rights Award was bestowed on the City of Nuremberg for its perseverance in the struggle for human rights, almost exactly fifty years since the end of the Second World War.
As we left Nuremberg the alarming sound of buskers still pervaded the centre. Cycling back to our rather dodgy campsite (a carpark filled with travellers who seemed to have given up travelling) we past Courthouse 600 where the famous Nuremberg trials were held, an imposing building which we would return to the next day.