Two posts from Nuremberg

April 19 (couldn't post because of poor wi-fi)

We drove to the Nuremberg trials museum today and had a great audio tour of the courtroom and the museum. After a few hours, we walked down the street from the Palace of Justice and had tacos (yes, tacos). We later drove to the Documentation Center (Dokumentationszentrum) and did yet another audio tour... arm was starting to get tired at that point! We finished in the museum quickly then went outside to walk around the Rally grounds. We also walked on the Great Street (they were setting up parking for Volksfest at the time). then went to check out the Nuremberg Tribune and climbed up to Hitler's platform and took pictures. Yes, that is hockey being played in front of the ultimate Nazi architectural remains. We then walked the rest of the way around the lake, and it was a very long walk (10km). Temperature was 23C and very sunny. Overall, Wendy found it more difficult to take than Dachau. She said it felt more evil. 

Dokumentation Center

The Tribune where Hitler riled up his party members

Eric on Hitler's platform

Happy Easter!

April 20

Got up early and then went up to the Nuremberg Royal Castle. Did a quick tour, went to gift shop, then walked down to the Hauptmarkt square. The Easter market was in full swing. Saw lots of socks, kitchenware, etc., but only bought food for later today and tomorrow. Sure was hard to find coffee - found it in a lebkuchen (gingerbread) store! Bought lebkuchen (why not?) then checked out and drove to the town of Rothenburg ob du Tauber. Took forever to find parking, but found a grocery store about a 15 min walk away. Walked to town, bought wine and plum schnapps (made by the store owner), then back to car for the drive to Garmisch. We arrived just before dinner, so we mostly rested after the uber fast Autobahn drive - reached 155 at one point (in a Ford!). 

Waiting for the castle to open

A royal crown

Albrecht Durer House 

In Rothenburg ob du Tauber

Famous corner n Rothenburg ob du Tauber

The view from our balcony

Happy birthday to Adam!

Tacos for Easter!

With the warmer weather, there has been more opportunity to go out hiking. This weekend we did do a once-around-the-loop at the train station trails (which are much drier than in previous hikes), but we also went around our block a few times for extra exercise. I guess it has been a hard winter, even for the fire hydrants. This one has many layers of paint that are all peeling off at once. I thought it was almost Easter coloured and decided to take a few pictures with my phone. This hydrant is right next to a busy road, so maybe all the salt over the winter caused the paint to peel - the one in our front yard isn't peeling at all.

Peeling hydrant closeup

Peeling hydrant

Adam turned 18 this Easter Sunday. This year we found a cool make your own 3-D Easter bunny and Adam put it together in 5 seconds. 

Adam and his 3-D Easter bunny

Parker chose a solid milk chocolate bunny, mostly because it was heavier. He was having a bit of difficulty trying to understand what Easter was all about. His first bit of confusion came when he told us in the car that there was no school on Lucky Friday. We thought he meant that it was a lucky day since there was no school - but some further questioning clarified that he thought it was called Lucky Friday. He didn't seem to believe us that it was called Good Friday, and had more difficulty understanding how it could be good when it was the day Jesus died. His concern was mostly that it didn't make sense - why would the son of God die (he shouldn't be able to die with God powers), and why waste time rising from the dead when he shouldn't have died in the first place? Quite the conversation in the car...

Although it was Easter, Adam got to decide on what was for dinner on his birthday (a family tradition). He chose tacos. Easy to make and everyone seems to like them.

Showing off his videos from gliding last weekend

Adam had gone gliding with the cadets last weekend and had a few gigabytes of pictures and videos. Above he is showing everyone some of the videos on his laptop since his phone was too small to see. Adam also chose the birthday cake (ice cream cake from Metro - much better than more expensive DQ cakes!). We ate the whole thing in one sitting. Strangely, I made my own birthday cake a few weeks ago (a poppy seed cake), but nobody ate it except me. Took me a few days, but I finally ate the whole thing.

Yes, we found 18 candles for the ice cream cake

We now don't have too many more birthdays for a few months, and I expect that the weather will continue to improve so we can get out hiking at least once or twice each week. This weekend we will have to do it Saturday (rain or shine), as Sunday is booked solid with the Air Cadet League Debating competition at Mohawk College. Wendy and I are judges, and this year Adam is one of the contestants.