So I got me a Train-Ticket and rode down south.
It was an 7 hour drive but I got to know a nice girl, who rode with her daughter. She was adorable and the nice talks made the time fly by ...
I got a first class ticket and even had a new ICE-Train on the route I chose... I think they look soo cool, and they drive up to 200 mph fast.... I feels a little like flying.
Seven hours might not sound long for americans .... but it's almost once the whole way across Germany.
In the evening we went one a famous christmas market and had a warm drink - because it was freeeeezing cold down there... :-)
Its one of the prettiest markets in Germany...
We had a great time together and we hadn't seen each other for over 1/2 year.
In the morning we had a great breakfast in an old cinema, which had been restored and now is a restaurant. It was a really nice athmosphere in there - and the breakfast was alomost as good as Susy's. :-)
Wiebke was really tired, since we had been talking forever in the night...
Then we went to see the "FUGGEREI"
Its a cool thing, so I found something about it in a dictionary..... don't be bored... READ! :-)
The Fuggerei is a walled enclave within the city of Augsburg. It was a place where the needy citizens of Augsburg could be housed. By 1523, 52 houses had been built, and in the coming years the area expanded with various streets, small squares and a church. The gates were locked at night, so the Fuggerei was, in its own right, very similar to a small independent medieval town. It is still inhabited today, affording it the status of being the oldest social housing project in the world.
The rent was and is still one Rheinischer Gulden per year (equivalent to 1$ for a whole month), as well as three daily prayers for the current owners of the Fuggerei. The conditions to live there remain the same as they were 480 years ago: one must have lived at least two years in Augsburg, be of the Catholic faith and have become indigent without debt. The five gates are still locked every day at 10 PM.
Housing units in the area consist of 500-700 square foot apartments, but because each unit has its own street entrance it simulates living in a house. There is no shared accommodation; each family has its own apartment, which includes a kitchen, a parlour, a bedroom and a tiny spare room, altogether totaling about 60 square metres. Ground-floor apartments all have a small garden and garden shed, while upper-floor apartments have an attic. All apartments have modern conveniences such as television and running water. One ground-floor apartment is uninhabited, serving as a museum open to the public. The doorbells have elaborate shapes, each being unique, dating back to before the installation of streetlights when residents could identify their unit by feeling the handle in the dark.
This is a picture which we took because of the statue in the back - it looked so "typical catholic"!
Augsburg is a really pretty town. It is really old and has a lot of beautiful sights. They even have a tram (4 lines) which cross the town...
I am glad, that I found time to visit Wiebke in Augsburg - it feels great to have such great friends although we don't see each other very often any more.
If you guys come to Germany - and you have been to Hamburg to visit me - than you should for sure take a trip to southern Germany - there are some quite nice cities down here! :-)
