We started the day (thanks to Leon’s morning energy) with a coffee and sharing a Greek cherry tart, and a cookie. Not many places open early on a Sunday!
We did some research last night on what we may like to see, and the first stop is Joseph’s. Joseph’s is a design innovation lab. We had a play with AI music making Udio Beta software, and made 4 songs in the matter of minutes. Kinda incredible and scary. typed in make a song about cyber-theft in a hard-core style. And out 2 options popped! It opens more questions than it answers, such as who owns the copyright to this, and does the AI work by trawling what is already out there and owe credits to real musicians? Next we looked at the exhibition around artificial intelligence helping with the sustainability of data storage, and I realised that Joseph Fraunhofer, I actually heard of him in my optics study, through Fraunhofer diffraction! It’s kind of spooky when two worlds collide like that.
We then went into the design and innovation museum shop with the intention of going around the actual museum, but on Tuesday they have a new VR Space exhibition, so we decided to save ourselves for that!
Instead we had a lovely wander around Nuremberg Centre and Old town, the architecture in this place is breathtaking! Such a mix of medieval and new/ rebuilt, from the flattening that happened during World War II.
We stopped at midday to watch the midday bells of Frauenkirche. It’s strange to also think it was a central place many Nazi marches and rallies strode through in darker times.
Saint Sebald is the patron saint of Nuremberg and this rather grand Cathedral is named after said Saint. It is very near our hotel, and I’d taken some photos yesterday before I knew the name. Inside, there was a Christening happening, and the baby was curiously reaching for the candle. The gothic exterior was matched by the impressive and high, arched gothic ceilings, gold-gilded religious paintings and shrines, and a dark coffin, that apparently holds the remains of Saint Sebald (see below). I come across a humble cross. It is made of 3 nails and calls me over, as it mentions Coventry. Coventry Cathedral ruins is a place that we have frequented a few times as a midway point to meet our friends from Shrewsbury, Linds and Howard. It was completely gutted in WW2, as Germany retaliated for what the U.K. did to Dresden. Saint Sebalds really reminds me of perhaps what Coventry Cathedral would’ve looked like before it was crushed. The beautiful words that are said every Friday, are deeply moving, and echoes what Rev. Howard had placed in the Coventry site, with a similar cross and the words ‘Father forgive’. The unity between the two sites gives me hope for humanity, and as Nuremberg has now paved the way for many human rights in a new era of togetherness, it seems fitting. It’s so tragic yet beautiful how the darkest hours can bring people together, and we can still find love for each other, despite the differences of leaders.
