Day 10 – Nurnberg (Nuremberg)

We docked in Nuremberg early in the morning, and were off the ship by 8:30 for our city tour.  It was the site of the Nazi party rallies and thus was heavily bombed during WWII.  Not much remains of the old city, more than 75% was destroyed.  It has since been rebuilt and is now one of Germany’s largest cities with almost 500,000 inhabitants.

First stop was Imperial Castle, which sits high on the hill above the city.

Then it was into the city centre for a walking tour and free time.  While the city itself is nice,  since most of it was rebuilt, it lacks the character our other stops have had.

It was another beautiful day and many fruit & veggie vendors were set up selling their wares and people were out strolling around and shopping.

In my walk around, I managed to get a picture of this gentleman trying to break into someone’s house…

Avalon certainly has things well organized; the Rhine Canal doesn’t go through the centre of Nuremberg, so we docked outside the city and were taken in by coach.  The Vista then sailed on to Roth where the coaches took us after our time in town.  Quite seemless really.

Since leaving Bamberg last night we’re no longer on the Main River, but on the Main-Danube Canal.  Completed in 1992, it is 171 km long, has 16 locks and was built to connect the Main and Danube Rivers.  It provides a navigable route from the North Sea and Altantic to the Black Sea in the east.  The high point of the canal is 406m above sea level (1,332 ft) is the highest point on earth that can be reached by commercial vessels from the sea.

This picture was taken at Eckersmehlen, the largest lock on the Canal.  The height difference was 24.7 m (81 ft) and it is 1438 ft long; there are 2 others with the same depth, but they are both shorter.