Departing Maastricht by bus then multiple trains, and to break up the long journey, we overnighted in Nuremberg.

Over the centuries, Jews have suffered multiple pogroms and massacres all across Europe. Nuremberg has been no exception, and the city was especially significant in the Nazi era. The Nazi Party chose the city to be the site of huge Nazi Party conventions – the Nuremberg Rallies. The rallies were held in 1927, 1929 and annually from 1933 through 1938. After Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933 the Nuremberg rallies became huge Nazi propaganda events, a centre of Nazi ideals. The 1934 rally was filmed by Leni Riefenstahl, and made into a propaganda film called Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will).

At the 1935 rally, Hitler specifically ordered the Reichstag to convene at Nuremberg to pass the Nuremberg Laws which revoked German citizenship for all Jews and other non-Aryans.

During the Second World War, Nuremberg was the site for military production, including aircraft, submarines and tank engines.

Many Nuremberg Jews either fled from Germany during the Nazi era, or stayed and were then rounded-up and transported to various concentration camps where they died. At the end of the War in 1945, there were no Jews left in Nuremberg. There are many Stolpersteine (brass plaques) installed in the streets of the city, to commemorate Jews who were persecuted by the Nazi regime.

On 2 January 1945, the medieval city centre was systematically bombed by the Royal Air Force and the U.S. Army Air Forces and about ninety percent of it was destroyed in only one hour, with 1,800 residents killed and roughly 100,000 displaced. In February 1945, additional attacks followed. In total, about 6,000 Nuremberg residents are estimated to have been killed in air raids.

Despite this intense degree of destruction, the city was rebuilt after the war and was to some extent restored to its pre-war appearance, including the reconstruction of some of its medieval buildings.

Between 1945 and 1946, German officials involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity were brought before an international tribunal in the Nuremberg Trials. The city was chosen because of its role in the Nazi regime and there was symbolic value in making it the place of Nazi demise.

Following the trials, in October 1946, many prominent German Nazi politicians and military leaders were executed in Nuremberg.

In the late afternoon, we enjoyed wandering around the Old Town and up to Nuremberg Castle and surrounds.