We arrived in Nuremberg in just a couple of hours from Frankfurt, but then had to lug our suitcases up a very steep hill to get to the castle at the top, where our hostel for the next few days is. This is a youth hostel called DJH Jugendherberge which is located within the castle walls and they have family rooms, which is what we are in for 3 nights. I wanted to show the kids a different experience rather than just staying in Airbnb's the entire time. Here there are common spaces to hang out in and communal breakfast and dinner. There are several families here with little kids, some school groups, and young adults in their 20's, but so far we haven't seen many teenagers.

Sunday night we met up with a high school friend of Paul's who lives here. Kerry and her husband, Chris have been living in Nuremberg for several years now, having been brought out here for Kerry's job. Kerri met us at our hostel and then we walked to their place, had a nice dinner there and played a fun card game on their terrace, over looking the river. It's a beautiful spot! We were lucky that we are in Nuremberg on a German holiday, so neither Kerry nor Chris had to work on Monday, which meant we were able to see them again. Kerry gave us a nice walking tour of the city and then we all met up for lunch at a local biergarten. Hanging out with locals in a foreign city is so much nicer than trying to figure it out on one's own! I've heard so much about Paul's high school friends over the years, it was really nice finally meeting Kerry.

Then it was time for Paul to work, unfortunately the hostel environment was not conducive for Paul to work, so he ended up going to a hotel with better wifi to work. The boys and I just chilled out at the hostel. Tuesday we decided to experience some of the local history and went to the Documentation Center and Rally Grounds. This is the area where Hitler gathered and held many rallies back in the 40's. They also used this space to check in and transfer thousands of people to concentration camps. It was a sobering experience, but they have turned this area into an event space and when we were there they were setting up for a rock concert, which certainly detracted from the experience. There was construction and barriers up everywhere which limited our ability to see the true meaning of the rally grounds.