The entire city of Augsburg appears to be under construction. Literally. You can't go a block without running into a grader or shovel. Luther Platz has no Luther statue, presumably exhumed as the whole platz -- and all the streets throughout the downtown -- are dug up. It does not add to the ambiance.
We got up in the morning -- late -- and hoofed it down to St. Anna's for the liturgical Lutheran service. The church is remarkable (see the last post) and kind of inspiring. Attendance looked to be about 80 people, which is more than we've seen elsewhere in our journeys but was dwarfed by the size of the cathedral. The pastor was a woman (as in Innsbruck) and the service was liturgical enough to follow. And we sang the songs somewhat lustily, being as German is easy to pronounce if you know the rules... even if you have very little idea of what exactly you're saying.
Afterwards, I went to the tourist information center to find out where we could get wifi, being as (1) I had no intention of paying €15 per computer for internet and (2) we didn't have anywhere to stay the following night. Henry's coffee shop offered a decent breakfast and free wi-fi for customers, so Judy and I got internet access on both of our computers and 2 decent breakfasts and good German coffee for a couple Euro more than we'd have paid our rip-off hotel for internet access for one computer.
Not that I'm bitter.
And we got a room reservation at a Pension in Munich that would take us to the day we need to return to the U.S. And breakfast was good. I had drei Eiern mit Speck und Brot (look it up) and Judy had Spargel crepe mit Hollandaise sauce. I will write more about Spargel in the next entry. It merits a separate entry.
We next visited the Romisches Museum, which contains relics of a Roman colony established here about 2 millenia ago. Not big, but kind of cool.
We'd heard about a fair just outside the city center and caught a tram up to it. It was basically an old-time except for a big-time, full-scale beer hall complete with band. You can guess where we headed. We parked in front of the oompah band, only to have a bachelor party -- decked in traditional lederhosen -- park in front of us. It was relaly fun. The groom-to-be had a rope with a picture of his betrothed around his neck, and a ball and chain around his leg. His compadres made him go up on stage and sing with the band, to the delight of all. One of his friends came in with a squirt gun and started blasting his buddies. Judy laughed her Judy laugh, which got her blasted too. And she laughed some more, and got blasted some more.
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| the groom-to-be |
Afterwards, we visited two more churches, the 1000+ year old Dom Maria Heimsuchung, and St. Ulrich's. The latter is Dominican (I think) but they have actuallly reserved one chapel for Evangelical Lutheran services, which seems at once weird and wonderful.
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| Just one entrance to the Dom. |
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| Inside the Dom... Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane |
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| the Dom |
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| The Dom |
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| Inside St. Ulrich's |
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| Inside St. Ulrich's |
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| St. Ulrich's. the Lutherans get the little(!) chapel in the center foreground. |
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| The Lutheran "piece" of St. Ulrich's |
After touring around, we stopped in St. Moritz Platz for some food. I was attracted to a sign for "Spargel Suppe," and indeed got some, and was not disappointed. I have never been disappointed by Spargel here. And I will leave that as a teaser for the next entry, dedicated to Spargel.
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