Our departure time this morning for MAN was 6:15am, so it was another abruptly early wake-up and quick breakfast. With a two and a half hour bus ride to MAN, I tried my best to sleep on the way there, but when I couldn’t, I put my earbuds in, listened to my favorite Harry Styles album, and looked out the window to admire the rural views of Germany. During the trip so far it has been small, quiet moments like this where I’m able to comprehend how grateful I am to be experiencing a new country, and now every time I listen to this album I’m reminded of this special memory.
I paid closer attention to the vehicles we were passing in the bus, and I noticed that majority of the buses and trucks were from MAN which I had never noticed before. When we got to their headquarters and began touring the factory, I appreciated the unique perspective of the company being mainly focused on trucks, buses, and larger automobiles. They dominate an entirely different market compared to BMW and Audi, so it was interesting to hear their thoughts on trends like autonomous buses and electric vehicles.
After our tour and talk, we headed into the city of Nuremberg for a tour of an underground bunker used to protect important artwork and people during World War II. I found the dim lighting and drop in temperature in the bunker to be relaxing, and I really enjoyed walking through and seeing replicas of protected artwork and learning about how the bunker was made to be functional during the war. I never knew that Nuremberg was practically demolished by bombings during the war, so when I left the bunker I looked at the city differently now knowing it was rebuilt to resemble its original state.
With the rest of our free time in Nuremberg, we walked around an outdoor food market with vendors selling everything from crepes to dried fruit to fresh vegetables. We grabbed lunch at the same place we went to in Munich which we realized was a chain in Germany, and popped into some stores to do some quick shopping. I left wishing we could have seen the courthouse where the Nuremberg trials were held or the rally grounds of the Nazi party, but then again not many people can say they’ve toured an underground bunker from World War II.
