Blisters on my Feet
05 09 2010
I haven't written as much as I would have liked this week, but to be honest there has not been that much super-eventful to write about. I have spend this week mostly walking around my old stomping grounds, visiting places where I grew up.
During my last vacation here I had almost every day planned out in advance, "Today we will go here, tomorrow there, Wednesday this, etc". This time I have been playing it by ear, just waking up in the morning and deciding what the day feels like. So instead of a daily "this is what I did" I'll just post a summary of some of the places I have visited this week.
Mittelhembach
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My grandparents village, a collection of maybe 30-40 houses surrounded by forests and fields. My grandparents are currently on vacation in Italy, so I have free reign over their apartment and this is where I have established "home base" for the first few weeks of vacation. My bedroom opens to the forests east of the village and I get to wake up to the smell of nature and sounds of birds singing. The village itself is very quiet and very peaceful, a great place to relax. It also means I can use my grandparents kitchen for breakfast and dinner, so instead of having to pay to eat out twice a day I just bought some cheap groceries and cook at home.
Schwabach
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Here is what I truly consider my "hometown". First settled around 2500 years ago, and first called Schwabach around 1500 years ago. I went to High School here and eventually got mowed up to the "Realschule". Schwabach is where I spend most of this week, just walking around my old neighborhoods, eating lunch on the market place, drinking beer in the park. Schwabach has some interesting historical impacts:
The Schwabacher Schrift was a font developed in the town and was widely used by to print the Gutenberg Luther-Bibles in the middle ages. This Bible lead to the development of a common German language and the Schwabach Font became very well known.
The Schwabach Articles were written by Martin Luther in Schwabach in 1529, and were used as the basis for the Augsburg Confession, leading to full blown reformation in Germany. The Schwabach Articles, and the later writings based on it, forever changed the political and religious landscape in Germany and Europe. Of special note is that the articles were written while he stayed in the Inn "Zum Goldenen Stern (at the golden star)", where I was a dishwasher and did a very short internship to decide if I wanted to apprentice as chef. I don't know about anybody else, but I think that is kind of cool.
Nuernberg
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Nuernberg. If Schwabach was my hometown, then going to Nuernberg would be the equivalent of "going to the City" for Oklahomans. It might be one of the most famous cities in Germany, and at the same time one of the most infamous. It was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, and each new emperor had to hold his first court there. The first railroad of Germany originated in Nuernberg. The Nazi Party also held their National Conventions here, and the Nuernberg Laws were the basis for striping the Jews of their rights in Nazi-Germany. The allied forces literally bombed the hell out of Nuernberg during WW2, due to its symbolic status to the Nazis. The Nuernberg Trials signaled the end of the Nazi reign. The city has healed well form its scars after WW2, rebuilding much of the historic downtown. I think the city did a very good job with moving past it's historic connection to the Nazis, while acknowledging it's part in Germany's dark history. The old parade grounds are now part of a park, and the old Nazi headquarters is now a "documentations center" regarding the rise and fall of the Nazi Party. The Germanic Museum features the "Pavilion of Human Rights", and every few years the city awards a price to a person that made a significant contribution in the area of human rights. We used to sneak to Nuernberg on the train and go to Oktoberfest, the Train Museum, and the Christmas Market.
That pretty much concludes the little virtual tour of my old hometown and stomping grounds. I'm still working on getting some video clips put on YouTube, but pictures can be found on Flickr via the link on top or to the right. Tomorrow will be one more trip to Nuernberg, and then I visit my brother in Karlsruhe before moving on to Italy. My GPS has been giving me fits, so I'm still trying to get it working again to see if I can do some stuff with it. Despite the rain I enjoyed this last week, and I'm looking forward to the rest of this vacation.
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During my last vacation here I had almost every day planned out in advance, "Today we will go here, tomorrow there, Wednesday this, etc". This time I have been playing it by ear, just waking up in the morning and deciding what the day feels like. So instead of a daily "this is what I did" I'll just post a summary of some of the places I have visited this week.
Mittelhembach
View Larger Map
My grandparents village, a collection of maybe 30-40 houses surrounded by forests and fields. My grandparents are currently on vacation in Italy, so I have free reign over their apartment and this is where I have established "home base" for the first few weeks of vacation. My bedroom opens to the forests east of the village and I get to wake up to the smell of nature and sounds of birds singing. The village itself is very quiet and very peaceful, a great place to relax. It also means I can use my grandparents kitchen for breakfast and dinner, so instead of having to pay to eat out twice a day I just bought some cheap groceries and cook at home.
Schwabach
View Larger Map
Here is what I truly consider my "hometown". First settled around 2500 years ago, and first called Schwabach around 1500 years ago. I went to High School here and eventually got mowed up to the "Realschule". Schwabach is where I spend most of this week, just walking around my old neighborhoods, eating lunch on the market place, drinking beer in the park. Schwabach has some interesting historical impacts:
The Schwabacher Schrift was a font developed in the town and was widely used by to print the Gutenberg Luther-Bibles in the middle ages. This Bible lead to the development of a common German language and the Schwabach Font became very well known.
The Schwabach Articles were written by Martin Luther in Schwabach in 1529, and were used as the basis for the Augsburg Confession, leading to full blown reformation in Germany. The Schwabach Articles, and the later writings based on it, forever changed the political and religious landscape in Germany and Europe. Of special note is that the articles were written while he stayed in the Inn "Zum Goldenen Stern (at the golden star)", where I was a dishwasher and did a very short internship to decide if I wanted to apprentice as chef. I don't know about anybody else, but I think that is kind of cool.
Nuernberg
View Larger Map
Nuernberg. If Schwabach was my hometown, then going to Nuernberg would be the equivalent of "going to the City" for Oklahomans. It might be one of the most famous cities in Germany, and at the same time one of the most infamous. It was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, and each new emperor had to hold his first court there. The first railroad of Germany originated in Nuernberg. The Nazi Party also held their National Conventions here, and the Nuernberg Laws were the basis for striping the Jews of their rights in Nazi-Germany. The allied forces literally bombed the hell out of Nuernberg during WW2, due to its symbolic status to the Nazis. The Nuernberg Trials signaled the end of the Nazi reign. The city has healed well form its scars after WW2, rebuilding much of the historic downtown. I think the city did a very good job with moving past it's historic connection to the Nazis, while acknowledging it's part in Germany's dark history. The old parade grounds are now part of a park, and the old Nazi headquarters is now a "documentations center" regarding the rise and fall of the Nazi Party. The Germanic Museum features the "Pavilion of Human Rights", and every few years the city awards a price to a person that made a significant contribution in the area of human rights. We used to sneak to Nuernberg on the train and go to Oktoberfest, the Train Museum, and the Christmas Market.
That pretty much concludes the little virtual tour of my old hometown and stomping grounds. I'm still working on getting some video clips put on YouTube, but pictures can be found on Flickr via the link on top or to the right. Tomorrow will be one more trip to Nuernberg, and then I visit my brother in Karlsruhe before moving on to Italy. My GPS has been giving me fits, so I'm still trying to get it working again to see if I can do some stuff with it. Despite the rain I enjoyed this last week, and I'm looking forward to the rest of this vacation.
Categories : Vacation
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