Tin Drum, Tin Hitlers, Ten People, Ten Hours

I went on a major trip to Nurnberg today, which means I'll accidently leave large portions of it out. Reflecting on these things is always difficult to get started. I have to move through the day backwards, like an old VCR rewinding, then move through it again the right way. It's awkward, I wish I could just roll it all out for you as it happens. But then I'd be Hemingway, and you'd have no descriptions.
I pile my things all into my bag. I have 2 liters of water, Nutella and Peanut Butter to go on the bread we’ll buy for lunch, paper and pen, extra clothes, all my ID and student info, money, and the Tin Drum.
We meet up with the rest of the group (all 9 students) and pile on the crowded Nurnberg bus, Track 5. Dr. Griffin's there as well, on his own ticket but still heading to Nurnburg. Tiff and I spend the hour long with Matt and Natalie. Actually, Matt and Natalie end up across the aisle and behind the Brits that Tiff and I end up sitting directly with. The Brittish couple is old, and they both talk slow and quietly about absolutely nothing for the first stretch of the trip. The conversation dies down, I imagine they’ve both heard enough of each others’ voices while traveling, and the man pulls out a French paper. For several minutes he adjusts his coke-bottle glasses, wiggles his nose, squints at his French newspaper (I don't know why it's French, but it was), then adjusts his glasses again. Combined with his wild-gray hair, he looks very much like a wild grey hare. I smirk at the image and continue to watch the gradually hillier countryside out my very large window. After a while in silence, he goes into a brief tirade over how Tony Blair associates with that fascist President Bush, and how frighteningly easy it was for Bush to hood-wink all of America into falling into such fascism. He goes on for a while as his companion watches the countryside and, after about the fourth “mhm,” slips back into silence.
In Nurnberg we wander out of the bus station, nine again and slightly lost. We’d seen Dr. Griffin at the train station, but he’s got a much better handle on traveling than we do. So we follow signs, double back, and follow them some more. Eventually we end up at the tourist center, where we grab maps and split up. We’ll reconvene there later.
Tiff and I head for the Industry Museum. There a replica of the Terra Cotta Army of China is standing. We came to Eastern Europe and now we’ll see the Far East. Whatever.
The hike was long. About a half hour up the road at a brisk pace, we’re there.
The Terra Cotta figures were accompanied by bits of relics, but pretty much stole the show. Even the tiny display is impressive. Each warrior is his own person, stylized after local heroes and national ones. Every man is an individual, yet all of them together defend the emperor.
I took tons of pictures before wandering on.
We went through the school-house exhibit and the motorcycle exhibit in the museum also. The schoolhouse was fascinating, but not really overwhelming. Once again, period relics were neat to see, but I didn’t learn too much from it. The motorcycles didn’t interest either of us very much, but it was an impressive display. There we also saw Dr. Griffin briefly, but then moved on.
A long hike back brought us by a closed museum that was also on our pass and then down into the local flea market. There the entire city seemed for sale. Block after block was filled with everything imaginable. I bought a hideous mug that’s built like a brick and a couple of touristy bits for the people back home (no specifics there, you’ll have to see for yourselves!). We ate bread in the shadow of the Church of Our Lady, ducked inside for a quick peek, drank a lot of water, then climbed Nurnberg’s atrociously steep hill to peer out over the city.
What a view! It was worth the sore feet and frazzled nerves to get up to the top. Nurnberg’s Imperial Fortress was well placed and gorgeous. It’s a shame we opted out of going inside, but our schedule and our pocketbooks were both too tight for it.
So down we went, first into St. Sebaldus Church. St. Sebaldus was pretty, and amazingly well restored since getting battered nearly to rubble during WWII. St. Sebaldus himself is still there in a rather large ash box or a rather small coffin, I’m not sure which.
From there we toured the home of the medieval artist Albert Durer (there’s an umlaut on that “u”, but I can’t figure out how to put one in). If we’d gotten there 45 minutes earlier we could have had a live tour, but we didn’t, so we were stuck with the audio tapes. They also had really neat looking palm pilot tours, but they were going to be 14 Euro. The tapes were free and worth every penny we spent on them. I took off the stupid thing halfway through. After a twenty minute film that gave most of Durer’s life story, the tour writers apparently ran out of things to say and just started repeating the same stories in different ways. The machines worked on some kind of radio frequency, so they were mostly static as you walked around the rooms. The art was nice, and I can appreciate Durer’s contribution to Humanist thought as well as the impression of medieval life that his works have given us, but I’d rather view the pieces without an explanation over a CB radio.
In the toy museum, Tiff and I both snapped off a couple of illegal pictures before they told us they’re not allowed. It’s a shame, the pieces they have in there are amazing. If you can imagine the toy, they’ve got one. Little tin Hitlers, H-Man, trains, dolls, and wooden models of the city are all there alongside board games and clever metal devices. I was in heaven, but only briefly. We had used up most of the day by then (a good portion of it walking) and met the rest of our companions for dinner.
Ladies and Gentlemen, get yourselves a Nurnburger Brat if you ever get the chance. This brat rocks. It’s a delightful little sausage-sized one, brown and soft, and it has some of the best flavor I’ve ever tasted. It’s almost sweet, and very… I don’t know. Good. Rich, flavorful, but not overwhelming. Just a tasty little brat.
The sauerkraut that came with it was good as well. A pair of Germans sharing our table wished me a good nights sleep once I finished off my portion and started working on Tiffany’s. I’m beginning to see what they meant.
Another train ride, which should have cost extra but didn’t because the ticket guy was too amused, brought us sleepily home. It’s really still early as far as Saturday night is concerned, but we’ve all walked way too much today. Tiff and I shot straight for home, and I suspect the others did as well. I’ve read too much of the tin drum, I think it might be adjusting my psyche. I’m almost through with it, though, so I can spend tomorrow on the website discussing it. You can’t see those discussions, they’re on a closed school site, but if I ever get into anything extremely juicy, I’ll let you know.
Oh yeah, I filled the memory card up again today. 250 more pictures. That makes a total of about 500 waiting to be uploaded for ya. I hope you can see them soon.