We attended an international church community service just in time to be invited to their American Thanksgiving party. Excellent timing! While enjoying homemade pumpkin pie (the pumpkin puree was brought back from the US because you can't find it here) we got to know a few of the parishioners, who happened to be expats from Minnesota. We were grateful for this welcoming community for letting us celebrate with them, even though we were strangers. This past weekend we toured a wet and foggy Augsburg. There was much to see and do. Of all the sights, we were most impressed with the world's oldest social housing project that is still in use today - the Fuggerei. What a story this place has! Founded in 1521 by Jakob Fugger the Rich, the complex was built to house needy residents of Augsburg. A city within a city, the walled settlement now has 67 houses with 147 apartments, eight lanes, seven gates, gas lights, and a Catholic Church. The yearly rent was .88 euros, which at the time, was roughly a week's wages (around a dollar). The goal was to help support residents who were actively working towards economic recovery. Additional Fuggerei conditions required residents to be Catholic, to have lived in Augsburg for at least two years, to pray three times a day (including praying for the Fugger family!), and to have become poor without any outstanding debt. The museum we toured was forthcoming, stating that the religious Fugger family believed the housing complex would assist with the purgatorial process and was working towards their personal salvation.
Astonishingly, the same rent and residency conditions exist today! How is that possible? The settlement continues to be financed entirely through an endowment, but what I'm really wondering is: Who's taking prayer attendance?! Here are some additional facts we discovered: - In the 16th century the complex contained a facility used to fight syphilis, medicinally treating patients with products provided by the Fugger enterprise. - The witch-hunting craze hit Augsburg and in 1625, an 11-year-old girl accused her mother, Dorothea Braun, of being a witch. Dorothea, the Fuggerei's infirmary caregiver, eventually "confessed" to witchcraft after "severe suffering" and Augsburg's court found her guilty, resulting in her being beheaded and burned. - Mason Franz Mozart, great-grandfather of the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, lived in the Fuggerei during the last chapter of his life, from 1681-1694. - The complex received extensive damage during World War II bombings and was later reconstructed in its authentic style. - Today the housing units are 500-700 square feet and contain a kitchen, parlor, bedroom, small spare room, and a bathroom. This social housing complex was considered groundbreaking 500 years ago. I was blown away by the Fugger family's ongoing generosity because it's not often we hear stories of extremely wealthy people using their money to empower their poor neighbors. We noticed that the Fugger family didn't just throw money at a project from afar. Rather, they stayed engaged by responding to community needs (building an air raid shelter during WWII and providing medicine for a taboo disease - syphilis - instead of evicting those residents) and paid attention to details that created dignity so that those living in the complex didn't/don't have to be defined by their poverty. What a legacy. (Facts taken from the Fuggerei Museum and the Fugger Website.)
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We returned to southern Bavaria to explore Mittenwald, notable for its colorful painted houses and its history of making violins. We headed out on a heavily forested hike that was so dense, one could actually forget they were in the mountains. There was a beautiful rest area along this hike where you could relax and finally enjoy a panoramic view of the mountains. Walking through Mittenwald feels like walking through a picture book. The town’s buildings are alive with painted frescoes depicting detailed scenes. Unfortunately, by the time we got back from our hike, it was already dusk, so these pictures don't begin to capture the fairy tale charm of the village. If you’re curious, just google "Mittenwald colorful buildings". There are so many bikers in Munich! WAY more than in Minneapolis (which is consistently voted one of the bike friendliest cities in the US). Back home we celebrate our bike culture, tend to get competitive about it, and some even consider it hipster to bike. But we're not getting those celebration (bragging?) vibes in Munich. It's like people don't even think about the bike culture here because cycling as transport is an ingrained way of life. Munich has been intentional about building an impressive cycling infrastructure, not for spandex warriors, but for regular commuters. Even as the temperatures continue to drop and there are several public transit options, people of all ages are still opting to bike. I have been motivated to see middle aged folks arriving to an evening concert on bikes and families commuting to and from events on bikes like it's no big deal, just a comfortable way of life. Matt is a dedicated bike commuter, so he was determined to find a bike, asap. We went to a flea market and found him one! The man who sold it forbade Matt from replacing the rough looking genuine leather seat. I found a beautiful Wonder Woman inspired bike, but after a few circles around the parking lot it was clear it was too much of a whole body workout to say "yes" to. My search continues. On the way home from the flea market we utilized this awesome double decker bike parking. It's a great way to pack hundreds of bikes into a condensed space and even short people can manage it! This one was located next to a train station and served as a park and ride. Here are some other biking related observations we've had so far: - The majority of people don't have fancy expensive bikes and many people are biking around (usually helmetless) on heavy beasts. - Most people don't lock their bike to things; they just put a lock through the wheel. This is still a hard one for me to grasp. Is it really that safe here? - Biking buggies are usually located in front of bikes instead of behind. Seems like kids would have a better view from there, right? - Many bikes have dynamo lighting, which means a hub generates electricity to power the bike's front and back lights. - Apparently you can get fined for not having a government approved battery bike light, although I'm not sure anyone actually enforces that one. .. - Many sidewalks have a biking and walking lane, so bikers don't have to contend with traffic as often. Even when on sidewalk paths, bikers must bike in the direction that traffic is going or they can get fined. - Bikers stop at stoplights and wait for green lights, even if they're on trails just stopping for walkers. - This is the first year Germany has allowed helmet cameras. - You have to buy a ticket for your bike to ride on the train. I had to include this creative bike art currently located on an island in the Isar River. This is one of the dockless bikes belonging to a bike share program. Unlike many bike share programs, dockless ones allow riders to park bikes anywhere they like. While there are many advantages to dockless bikes, there are also some downfalls, even in cities with strong cycling cultures, like Munich. As the above picture demonstrates, not everyone feels the need to park bikes in responsible places. I've been surprised to see a few tossed into rivers and abandoned in the middle of forests. No place is perfect.
Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~ George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) With 910 acres, the Englisher Garten is one of the world's largest urban public parks, which makes it bigger than Central Park in New York City (843 acres). It is a beautiful sanctuary in the middle of Munich. So far we have only explored the southern third, where the expansive grassy fields make it a popular place to picnic, sunbath, and play sports like soccer, volleyball, and badminton. It is definitely the place to be.
We got to experience a proper fall this year, with the leaves staying on the trees long enough to reach their full glory before the snow began falling tonight. Below are a few scenes from the park. Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity. ~ John Muir Halloween doesn't seem to be a thing around here. We saw very few trick-or-treaters and no adults wearing costumes. However, the following day, All Saints Day, is a public holiday. Traditionally, folks may pray for deceased relatives and visit their graves. Most places were closed for the day, so Matt and I headed to Tegernsee, a small town that serves as a gateway to countless hikes. Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. ~ Miriam Beard I have never loved cities. Appreciated them, yes, but they've never fed my soul like being in the country does. Until I met Munich. Here's what I'm celebrating so far:
- Aesthetics: charming buildings with detailed architecture and flower boxes on windows - Amazing public transportation: I love not needing a car - Nature: beautiful parks and running trails - An outdoor culture: there are so many active people - It is so clean here (other then graffiti, which is surprisingly widespread) - I feel safe I hadn't felt fully safe living in Minneapolis for the past decade and followed precautions in certain situations, like not walking or running alone around my neighborhood at night. Unfortunately, I had normalized this reality. That's why it's a welcome refresher to feel safe here in an urban setting. I spend lots of time running errands on foot, and so far, haven't received any negative attention. We've walked along the river and through unlit parks in the dark, things we avoided back home. As a woman, I can't begin to express how empowering this feels. The constant need to have my guard up is shrinking and it feels so good. I’ve already begun wondering: why would I choose to live in a place where this doesn't exist, when places like Munich already have it? How does Munich pull this off, and what can Minneapolis do to cultivate it as well? I’m fully aware that I’m still in the honeymoon period and more negative aspects will inevitably come to light as well. But today I bask in the realization that a city can be a safe, life-giving environment for me. While I would love to end this post on that promising note, I can’t. Because as I was walking home, I passed an American flag… at half-mast. My thoughts were transported to the community of Thousand Oaks, where the US had once again experienced a horrific mass shooting. I'm not interested in getting political; but I can't put on the blinders and be silent just because I'm half a world away now. It would be remiss to post about feeling so safe here without acknowledging the recent trauma back home. In regards to gun violence, we are far safer in Munich than most anywhere in the US. So is it too much to hope for the US to be just as safe? I feel very strongly that we can learn from other cultures that have different ideas about living. Are there policies we could adopt from other countries that would make ours safer? When it comes to gun culture, there are alternative realities knocking at our door, ones where gun violence is neither accepted nor expected. Instead of normalizing our current and alarming status quo, may we call upon courage, discernment, and clarity to create a better one. |