Day 4 - June 12, 2006
Augsburg, Germany
In the morning, we checked out of our hotel in Fussen and set the GPS for Augsburg, Germany. Augsburg was only about an hour away. Augsburg is a University town and our hotel was near the University in a residential area. The Hotel Prinz Leopold was much more modern then the last two places we stayed at; it was several floors with an elevator. The room was very sunny and the bathroom was very different. It was one plastic "unit" the shower, toilet, and sink were all one piece. We rested for a little and read our tour books so we could decide where to explore. Then we drove to where the map said there was parking which turned out to be a modern parking garage near the old town. Our first stop was through an alley to a church called St. Anna.
St. Anna, a former Carmelite monastery church dating from 1321. In 1518, Martin Luther stayed in the adjoining monastery when he was called to Augsburg to recant his 95 Theses before a papal emissary.
Augsburg, with a population of 260,000 is the largest town along the Romantic Road. It was founded about 2,000 years ago by the Roman emperor Augustus and reached it's cultural zenith during the Renaissance, under the patronage of the enormously wealthy Fugger family. The city was an important trading hub linking northern Europe to Italy. Augsburg was prosperous as a result of international trade in gold, silver, and copper. The Fuggers and Welser merchant families made Augsburg second only to London as a banking hub. A stroll through Augsburg reveals an attractive urban landscape loaded with historic buildings, charming corners, and the lively ambience of a university town.
The church was right off one of the main shopping streets with lots of modern shops and restarunts; you would hardly know a church was hidden there. Curt of course started analyzing the 'retail' immeadately. I think he was more impressed with that then the old architecture! While we were walking, we looked for a place to eat lunch but nothing sounded appetizing. Then we saw a sign at the end of another alley that said "hot dogs" in English. We walked down to find the smallest little shop which sold hot dogs with sauerkraut, pickles, ketchup (free ketchup!), mustard, etc. We got hot dogs and cokes then continued exploring. Next we found the main square, or Rathausplatz. There was a huge big screen tv set up for the world cup next to a fountain. We figured that was where the town gathered for the latest Germany game.
Augsburg's main square, Rathausplatz, is dominated by two imposing Renaissance-era building, both considerably rebuilt after damage in WWII. The Rathaus, completed in 1620, is one of the most significant secular buildings of the German Renaissance. The Augustus fountain in front of the Rathaus was dedicated on the occasion of the town's 1,600th birthday in 1594. Climbing to the top of the soaring sopre of the Perlachturm (Perlach Tower) next to the Rathaus reveals a marvelous view of the old town center. The tower is capped by a distinctive onion dome which is seen on churches all across Bavaria. The Rathaus' domes have pine-cones on top which is the town symbol.
Next we looked around for the entrance to the Perlach Tower; it took us a little while to find. We went in the church but it was not there. Finally we found it around a corner tucked away in an alley behind a gift shop. There was a little door that was open revealing steps. We were a little hesitant to climb stairs once again, but by this point were were pretty used to the leg pain, which was tolerable as long as you kept moving. We didn't want to miss anything so we started climbing. Luckily the steps were easy to get up but we did get out of breath. Right before we reached the top the tower bells started chiming. It was so loud that I had to cover my ears! They kept ringing and ringing but we couldn't leave because we had just walked up all the stairs and hadn't seen the view yet! Finally the bells stopped and we went up the final stairs to a room where there was a lady in a ticket booth. Funny they take your money after you climb the stairs to the top. Up the last flight of stairs was the outdoor viewing area right under the bells. It was a great view just like the tour book said, and another breeze to cool us off. After we left the tower we walked to the next stop, the Fuggeri.
In the old residential quarter of town, you'll find the Fuggerei, one of the most important building complexes in Augsburg. It was the welfare settlement in the world and is still in use today. It was building in 1523 by Jacob Fugger. It's surrounded by walls and gates; the compound looks like a minature town with 67 identical cottages containing 147 small apartments, a church, a fountain, and a park. Residents pay an mimimal annual rent and are expeced to pray three times a day for the soul of their benefactor, the Fugger family. The Fuggeri Museum lets you glimpse into the interior of one of the cottages as it looked in centuries past.
We found the gate to the Fuggeri entrance and paid the admission. I saw a church entrance and opened the door to see a bunch of old ladies praying. Curt said "Holly!" so I quickly shut the door. I guess I didn't read the sign that said people still lived there! We walked down to the museum where one apartment looked liked it did in the middle ages. There was hallway with a living area, kitchen, bedroom, cellar, and even a closet with a toilet chair. The kitchen had a little window that said that was where the woman cooking could look into the living room to check on children. The living area was used for crafts, such as weaving. Outside each apartment was a metal ornament hanging on a rod. Each object was different, such as a pinecone, so that if a resident came home late at night (before electric lights) they could feel their way home since all the apartments looked the same. Most of the Fuggeri was destroyed in WWII, but it was rebuilt.
World Cup Game
After we toured the Fuggeri, we hurried back to the area we were before with all the shops so that we could find a neat bar with a big screen tv to watch the USA vs. Chech Republic world cup game. This was the game were were going to try to go to with Curt's friends, but they decided they couldn't come on the trip. We walked for a while but didn't see anything, finally I saw something that looked promising... we peeked in and they had a projection screen! We went inside and sat at the bar; Curt got a local beer and I got a coke with no ice of course. I don't know how they can drink things with no ice. During the game I had fun watching the bartender pour drinks. Most people ordered a local beer named after some Augsburg royalty. The beer came in brown glass bottles, which the bartender poured into frosted mugs. Interestingly, he made sure there was about an inch of foam. Over here people don't like the foam and will make fun of you if you pour beer "wrong" and get lots of foam! The beer was "Helles" (German for "Light") and served cold. He also made lots of apple and cherry drinks mixed with sparkling water. The apple, cherry, and sparkling water came in a glass bottles also. I think they recycle a lot in Germany. He also mixed wine and sparkling water. The game was pretty boring, and finally the Chech Rep. scored. The people in the bar cheered. I guess the the German's aren't USA fans. The bartender also put out some bowls of what looked like cheeto puffs but tan colored instead of orange. I tried one and they were peanut! I was really hungry so I ate the whole bowl and then bartender gave me another one an laughed. No one scored the rest of the game, so the Chech Rep. won. We left and headed for someplace to eat dinner.
We found a restarant with lots of people sitting outside so we figured it was probably good. We asked for the English menu this time and ordered lettuce salad and the main course was goulash which was like a stew that came with a side of potato salad. The lettuce salads in Germany are really good, lots of fresh vegetables like kolarabi, carrots, and cabbage shredded and the dressings are very light similar to a ranch but more watery. After dinner we walked back to the parking garage and found our car. In the stairwell, a man tried to ask me something I thought he pointed to his watch like asking the time but Curt said, "no Deutsch" ("No German") so he walked off. We drove out of the garage expeting to come to a ticket booth but there was a machine instead. We put in our card but nothing happened, it just spit the card back out an beeped. Of course we couldn't read anything. We didn't know what to do we tried it several times and wondered how in the world we would get out of the garage as there was no one around and we didn't speak any German. I looked behind me up the next level and I saw there was a machine that looked like it took money and I thought "I bet you have to put your card in that machine first before you can leave...." I was just about to tell Curt that when the man that I saw in the stairwell came running up to us. Curt said "Sorry we don't know what to do" I guess he understood we were dumb Americans so Curt handed him our card & some Euros and he ran into the adjacent office to let us out. I bet he was trying to ask us something about leaving when we saw him before!
We got back to our hotel and decided to take a walk across the street. There was a cemetary that I had seen earlier and I thought there would be some neat old graves to look at. Unfortunately the cemetary was locked so we just walked thought the neighborhood and ended up near a modern grocery store. I remembered the potato snacks I had eaten earlier so we went in to try to find them. Apparently that is the only chip the Germans like because the whole asile had that and nothing else. I got the most expensive one I figured that was the "name brand" and the tastiest. I also got the apple drink that is apple juice and sparkling water that I had seen the bartender make earlier. It's called apfelschorle, and the bottle I got was made by Coca-Cola. This bottle was a heavy plastic so I guess they do have some plastic bottles. It actually was pretty tasty but I guess it didn't pass the American taste-tests. I think the Germans are really into apples. Our hotel had apples on the counter, and the bar we were in for the game had apples all around the bar on ledges. After I got the snacks we walked back to our hotel and went to sleep.
In the morning, we checked out of our hotel in Fussen and set the GPS for Augsburg, Germany. Augsburg was only about an hour away. Augsburg is a University town and our hotel was near the University in a residential area. The Hotel Prinz Leopold was much more modern then the last two places we stayed at; it was several floors with an elevator. The room was very sunny and the bathroom was very different. It was one plastic "unit" the shower, toilet, and sink were all one piece. We rested for a little and read our tour books so we could decide where to explore. Then we drove to where the map said there was parking which turned out to be a modern parking garage near the old town. Our first stop was through an alley to a church called St. Anna.
St. Anna, a former Carmelite monastery church dating from 1321. In 1518, Martin Luther stayed in the adjoining monastery when he was called to Augsburg to recant his 95 Theses before a papal emissary.
Augsburg, with a population of 260,000 is the largest town along the Romantic Road. It was founded about 2,000 years ago by the Roman emperor Augustus and reached it's cultural zenith during the Renaissance, under the patronage of the enormously wealthy Fugger family. The city was an important trading hub linking northern Europe to Italy. Augsburg was prosperous as a result of international trade in gold, silver, and copper. The Fuggers and Welser merchant families made Augsburg second only to London as a banking hub. A stroll through Augsburg reveals an attractive urban landscape loaded with historic buildings, charming corners, and the lively ambience of a university town.
The church was right off one of the main shopping streets with lots of modern shops and restarunts; you would hardly know a church was hidden there. Curt of course started analyzing the 'retail' immeadately. I think he was more impressed with that then the old architecture! While we were walking, we looked for a place to eat lunch but nothing sounded appetizing. Then we saw a sign at the end of another alley that said "hot dogs" in English. We walked down to find the smallest little shop which sold hot dogs with sauerkraut, pickles, ketchup (free ketchup!), mustard, etc. We got hot dogs and cokes then continued exploring. Next we found the main square, or Rathausplatz. There was a huge big screen tv set up for the world cup next to a fountain. We figured that was where the town gathered for the latest Germany game. Augsburg's main square, Rathausplatz, is dominated by two imposing Renaissance-era building, both considerably rebuilt after damage in WWII. The Rathaus, completed in 1620, is one of the most significant secular buildings of the German Renaissance. The Augustus fountain in front of the Rathaus was dedicated on the occasion of the town's 1,600th birthday in 1594. Climbing to the top of the soaring sopre of the Perlachturm (Perlach Tower) next to the Rathaus reveals a marvelous view of the old town center. The tower is capped by a distinctive onion dome which is seen on churches all across Bavaria. The Rathaus' domes have pine-cones on top which is the town symbol.
Next we looked around for the entrance to the Perlach Tower; it took us a little while to find. We went in the church but it was not there. Finally we found it around a corner tucked away in an alley behind a gift shop. There was a little door that was open revealing steps. We were a little hesitant to climb stairs once again, but by this point were were pretty used to the leg pain, which was tolerable as long as you kept moving. We didn't want to miss anything so we started climbing. Luckily the steps were easy to get up but we did get out of breath. Right before we reached the top the tower bells started chiming. It was so loud that I had to cover my ears! They kept ringing and ringing but we couldn't leave because we had just walked up all the stairs and hadn't seen the view yet! Finally the bells stopped and we went up the final stairs to a room where there was a lady in a ticket booth. Funny they take your money after you climb the stairs to the top. Up the last flight of stairs was the outdoor viewing area right under the bells. It was a great view just like the tour book said, and another breeze to cool us off. After we left the tower we walked to the next stop, the Fuggeri.
In the old residential quarter of town, you'll find the Fuggerei, one of the most important building complexes in Augsburg. It was the welfare settlement in the world and is still in use today. It was building in 1523 by Jacob Fugger. It's surrounded by walls and gates; the compound looks like a minature town with 67 identical cottages containing 147 small apartments, a church, a fountain, and a park. Residents pay an mimimal annual rent and are expeced to pray three times a day for the soul of their benefactor, the Fugger family. The Fuggeri Museum lets you glimpse into the interior of one of the cottages as it looked in centuries past.
We found the gate to the Fuggeri entrance and paid the admission. I saw a church entrance and opened the door to see a bunch of old ladies praying. Curt said "Holly!" so I quickly shut the door. I guess I didn't read the sign that said people still lived there! We walked down to the museum where one apartment looked liked it did in the middle ages. There was hallway with a living area, kitchen, bedroom, cellar, and even a closet with a toilet chair. The kitchen had a little window that said that was where the woman cooking could look into the living room to check on children. The living area was used for crafts, such as weaving. Outside each apartment was a metal ornament hanging on a rod. Each object was different, such as a pinecone, so that if a resident came home late at night (before electric lights) they could feel their way home since all the apartments looked the same. Most of the Fuggeri was destroyed in WWII, but it was rebuilt.World Cup Game
After we toured the Fuggeri, we hurried back to the area we were before with all the shops so that we could find a neat bar with a big screen tv to watch the USA vs. Chech Republic world cup game. This was the game were were going to try to go to with Curt's friends, but they decided they couldn't come on the trip. We walked for a while but didn't see anything, finally I saw something that looked promising... we peeked in and they had a projection screen! We went inside and sat at the bar; Curt got a local beer and I got a coke with no ice of course. I don't know how they can drink things with no ice. During the game I had fun watching the bartender pour drinks. Most people ordered a local beer named after some Augsburg royalty. The beer came in brown glass bottles, which the bartender poured into frosted mugs. Interestingly, he made sure there was about an inch of foam. Over here people don't like the foam and will make fun of you if you pour beer "wrong" and get lots of foam! The beer was "Helles" (German for "Light") and served cold. He also made lots of apple and cherry drinks mixed with sparkling water. The apple, cherry, and sparkling water came in a glass bottles also. I think they recycle a lot in Germany. He also mixed wine and sparkling water. The game was pretty boring, and finally the Chech Rep. scored. The people in the bar cheered. I guess the the German's aren't USA fans. The bartender also put out some bowls of what looked like cheeto puffs but tan colored instead of orange. I tried one and they were peanut! I was really hungry so I ate the whole bowl and then bartender gave me another one an laughed. No one scored the rest of the game, so the Chech Rep. won. We left and headed for someplace to eat dinner.
We found a restarant with lots of people sitting outside so we figured it was probably good. We asked for the English menu this time and ordered lettuce salad and the main course was goulash which was like a stew that came with a side of potato salad. The lettuce salads in Germany are really good, lots of fresh vegetables like kolarabi, carrots, and cabbage shredded and the dressings are very light similar to a ranch but more watery. After dinner we walked back to the parking garage and found our car. In the stairwell, a man tried to ask me something I thought he pointed to his watch like asking the time but Curt said, "no Deutsch" ("No German") so he walked off. We drove out of the garage expeting to come to a ticket booth but there was a machine instead. We put in our card but nothing happened, it just spit the card back out an beeped. Of course we couldn't read anything. We didn't know what to do we tried it several times and wondered how in the world we would get out of the garage as there was no one around and we didn't speak any German. I looked behind me up the next level and I saw there was a machine that looked like it took money and I thought "I bet you have to put your card in that machine first before you can leave...." I was just about to tell Curt that when the man that I saw in the stairwell came running up to us. Curt said "Sorry we don't know what to do" I guess he understood we were dumb Americans so Curt handed him our card & some Euros and he ran into the adjacent office to let us out. I bet he was trying to ask us something about leaving when we saw him before!
We got back to our hotel and decided to take a walk across the street. There was a cemetary that I had seen earlier and I thought there would be some neat old graves to look at. Unfortunately the cemetary was locked so we just walked thought the neighborhood and ended up near a modern grocery store. I remembered the potato snacks I had eaten earlier so we went in to try to find them. Apparently that is the only chip the Germans like because the whole asile had that and nothing else. I got the most expensive one I figured that was the "name brand" and the tastiest. I also got the apple drink that is apple juice and sparkling water that I had seen the bartender make earlier. It's called apfelschorle, and the bottle I got was made by Coca-Cola. This bottle was a heavy plastic so I guess they do have some plastic bottles. It actually was pretty tasty but I guess it didn't pass the American taste-tests. I think the Germans are really into apples. Our hotel had apples on the counter, and the bar we were in for the game had apples all around the bar on ledges. After I got the snacks we walked back to our hotel and went to sleep.
posted by stogsdillalover | 7:07 PM
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