In which Sid and Doris go to the home of the Fuggers.
Early morning, well let’s say after breakfast, we go looking for the Teno shop as Doris is a fan of this German jewelry. The dude is shut but next door we enjoy the fabulous model and games shop – the Europeans do seem to have vastly superior games shops to the UK but maybe Doris has said that before. [Only about once every 2 days – D.]
To quieten the muttering we stop off instead at an extraordinary santon shop. S explains it is like a santa shop but more artisticable. These are scale models of people from Palestine at the time of Herod and other well known characters of the period. We come away having started a collection of 12cm tall characters with a male water carrier who has a peculiarly exasperated expression, and a shepherd. The figure of Christ saying to Pontius Pilate “oh for goodness sake make your mind up” will hopefully join the collection in future years.
Hermann is back in his special lift, then on the road to Germany, uphill to find an expired motorhome. So that was the clutch stink, always good to find out when driving an old car that it’s not your smell. Sid also worries briefly about Hermann’s hill-climbing fuel consumption before being reminded that the petrol gauge pickup is at the front of the tank and it is much more comforting to look at the gauge when going downhill.
Crossing into Germany and driving past Oberammergau and its rather less famous sister, Unterammergau (yes really) we also descend out of the Tyrol and allow the land of determinedly-painted houses and people striding over grassy alps on well-made footpaths to give way to a flatter landscape of grass and cows.
We are early into the Drei Mohren in Augsburg, a hotel that has been on the same site since 1364. Happily it has been rebuilt so the rooms are large and have electricity and other conveniences. [Unhappily that was because the Brits flattened it in 1944, see below – D.]
The earnest seekers after knowledge are soon walking out to the Fuggerei: a social housing project funded by Jakob Fugger, premier European banker to Emperors and Popes, in 1513.
Being a bit too close to the Messerschmidt 109 factory it was pretty much destroyed in February 1944 when navigators misjudged the wind at altitude so were a few miles off when they dropped. Rebuilding started almost immediately and the estate has been updated since to give each flat modern kitchens and bathrooms. (In fact pretty much the whole town has been rebuilt and looks period.) The estate had its own air raid shelter which now houses a museum of the Fuggerei in that era.
The estate also furnishes the conveyance of the day, this Stimson motorbike. We saw a 2CV two seat coupe but have no picture, a worthy runner up.
Naturally Sid and Doris are very interested in the ingenuity and kindness of the UNESCO recognised water system in the town. Developed since the 14th century there are canals, hydro electric stations and water towers for us to hunt down. So much to look forward to tomorrow.