Europe Day 11 – August 30th

22 Celsius and Sun & Cloud

This is the eleventh of twenty posts documenting Margaret-Ann and John’s 2011 trip to Europe.

Sepp joined Margaret-Ann and John for breakfast at the Ochsen Hotel, then drove them back to his house to permit John to take some pictures of his renovated (one year ago) house, before heading off eastward. Sigrid would join them in Munich on September 1st.

After driving for about an hour and a half, they stopped at Ulm on the Danube River in Baden-Württemberg on its border with Bavaria. Here they toured the pedestrian Altstadt and marveled at its outstanding architectural landmark, the Ulm Münster; celebrated for its 161 metre-high steeple – the tallest in the world. Sitting in the Münsterplatz, near the plaque marking the birth place of Albert Einstein, they ate a picnic lunch Sigrid had prepared… fleischkuekle – delicious! – followed up with tea and coffee at Café Tröglen. Then it was off to Bavaria.

Less than an hour later the group stopped in Augsburg, one of the oldest cities in Germany and third largest in Bavaria, where they took a two hour walking tour which included the Fuggerei -- built by the unbelievably wealthy Jacob Fugger to provide homes for the poor, it is the oldest social settlement in the world. Also discussed on the tour was the Rathaus (Town Hall) with its twin onion-domed spires. The tour ended at the Roman Museum where the group was treated to a very different concert of experimental music. Three university students used a variety of implements, including their hands, in playing the strangest looking “stone” instruments – a large hanging stone disc with a hole in the centre, a marimba-like instrument with stone slats, and a hefty stone slab. The music was amazing – very haunting and soothing.

After Augsburg, it was back onto the Autobahn, driving past Munich to Bad Aibling where the group checked in to the Lindl-Hof Hotel. For dinner, the group drove to the Maxlrain Bräustüberl (where Sepp had also taken Margaret-Ann and John in 2009) for a typical Bavarian dinner (large, calorie-laden portions of delicious food) complete with wiessebier for the boys and wine for Margaret-Ann.

Back at the hotel, Margaret-Ann retired to write notes in her trip log, and the boys had another wiessebier in the lobby while Sepp provided John with more information about this land of their fathers.

And so ended day eleven of Margaret-Ann and John’s 2011 European trip. Keep checking the blog for more postings of this trip.

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