Augsburg was the next town on the route. Although it was late in the afternoon we still got to see the Augsburg Cathedral, the Zentrum, and the Fuggerei. All interesting and offering lots of photographing opportunities.
Entering the town of Augsburg.
The entrance door of the Augsburg Cathedral, a Roman Catholic church founded in the 11th century in Romanesque style with 14th-century Gothic additions.
The chapel of the Augsburg Cathedral.
Prayer candles flicker in the darkened corners of the church.
A carving of Mary and Jesus as a child. The cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
The southern clerestory has five stained glass windows dated to the late 11th-early 12th centuries, the oldest in Germany. Portraits of the prophets Jonah, Daniel, Hosea, Moses and David are depicted.
The halls surrounding the main cathedral area.
The ornate windows looking into the central garden area.
The outside fountain has unique drains of bronzed fish heads.
A town map made finding the popular sites easy. It was late in the day but we still found plenty of stuff to see.
We even found a submarine in Augsburg!
Ornate 16th-century bronze statue of the Roman emperor Augustus located in the central square of Augsburg.
Augsburger Rathaus (Town Hall of Augsburg). The Goldener Saal, or Golden Hall, is the most impressive of the Rathaus's rooms.
Love the ornate and lifelike craftsmanship that went into this 1620s building.
Our last stop in Augsburg was Fuggerei. I found this area especially interesting.
The Fuggerei is the world's oldest social housing complex still in use.
The cost of entrance into this community costed €4...
...which cost more than 4.5 times the rent for a month to live here!...
...Yes, you heard correct! The rent to live here inside this community is the same as it costed when it was built in the 1520s - just one Rheinischer Gulden (88 euro cents) for an entire year...
...However it’s a exclusive membership - You must be a Roman Catholic and prove your faith and have become indigent without any outstanding debt...
...and be willing to have tourist come into your community to take pictures...
...of your religious statues...
...and your beautiful gardens, walls, and simple living.
But all was not always so... The US Eighth Air Force bombed the Augsburg Messerschmitt works during the day on 25 February 1944. That night, RAF Bomber Command followed destroying a large part of the center of Augsburg.
The Fuggerei was heavily damaged by the bombings of Augsburg during World War II, but has been rebuilt in its original style.
I was reminded of the true cost of war in many of the places we visited in Germany. The staggering human cost of 70 million lives lost across Europe and Asia, from 1939 to 1945, should not be forgotten, regardless of what country or nationality you are:
The Fallen of WW II by Neil Halloran.
Back to the ride report and something more positive...
Chantil noticed a city on the map called Kissing. Go figure, a city named Kissing on the Romantic Road? Anyhow, we stopped long enough at the entrance of the town to "kiss" under the sign. Awww.
We wanted to make it to a campsite near the town of Landsberg am Lech but we were a bit behind schedule (too much kissing?) and the sun had already set. It would be well into darkness before we would make it... so we found a secluded forest road just off the roadway and set up our tent and sleeping bags. Although "wild" camping like this in Germany is frowned upon (Germans are rule followers to a tee), we would get an early start and be on our way south to the next town before anyone would even know we were there.
Until tomorrow…
Day 4 - Monday, 30 Apr 2018:
