If there weren't so many gorgeous historical cities in Bavaria, Augsburg might get a bit more attention. The city was settled by the Romans and is more than 2,000 years old. The architecture is great: a unique take on the Renaissance styles filtering north along early modern trade routes from Italy. The Fuggers -- the richest family in Europe -- lived in Augsburg and left their stamp on it. The history is incredibly rich. Many tourists overlook it, but there was plenty to do and see to keep Austin, Lucy and Gavin busy while I worked at the city library. They checked out all the museums, palaces, churches, archaeological sites, and shops. Austin was the kids' tour guide for most of it, so I don't have many pictures.
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| Dramatic City Hall built by Elias Holl. |
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Flowers and fruits in the city market.
The old city archive is the yellow building just visible in the back. |
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| Communing with Jakob Fugger outside the Maximilianmuseum. |
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| Holy Cross churches! Must see! |
One of my favorite places in Augsburg is the Fuggerei, a complex of houses built in the sixteenth century by Jakob Fugger to provide inexpensive housing for the poor, and a steady stream of grateful tenants to pray for his soul. It is so peaceful in this little enclave, especially now that non-residents have to pay a fee to enter and wander its streets. (Too bad, really.) The apartments have all been modernized, but one remains in its original state as part of a Fuggerei museum. There is also a very interesting (if a bit random) WWII-era bunker to visit.
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| Quiet afternoon streets. |
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| Leafless trees make cool designs against the walls. |
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Gavin in the doorway:
people must have been short back then! |
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| Love the bright shutters. |
The Augsburg Zoo probably shouldn't make any list of must-do tourist sites, because it's a nice but pretty standard zoo. But the day we went it was 60 degrees and felt almost like summertime, and it's been a couple of years since we took the kids to the zoo so it felt like a special event. Really, it might have been the kids' favorite day in Augsburg.
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| Communing with the cranes. |
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| "Free Goats" in captivity. |
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| Happy Alpacas. |
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| The Zoo Biergarten. |
Our very last night in Germany we took the kids to the Augsburger Puppenkiste, a marionette show that has played for decades on German TV so every German kid knows all about it. The theater was a block from our house. We saw Hansel and Gretel -- a story the kids know very well so they weren't fazed that it was all in German. They thought it was interesting, if strangely low-tech. I liked people-watching best. The German crowd was totally into it, adults as well as kids!
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| Theater seats in the nave of an old hospital chapel. |
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| Lucy and the Marionettes. |
