Exploring Fussen

Our Train to Fussen

We get up and head for breakfast about 10 minutes to eight to see if they are open early and they let us in with no problem. We are pleasantly surprised that there are hot scrambled eggs on today’s spread. German toast, scrambled eggs, cheese to mix into the eggs, coffee, and juice make a great breakfast.
I pay Herr Hoffman and we head back to the room to grab our stuff and walk to the train station. Rothenburg was a great town and we highly recommend it.
Today our journey to Fussen involves 5 different trains and almost 5 hours. Most of the connections are just 4 to 5 minutes except for one in Augsburg which is about 45 minutes. I am glad we did our homework on the connections as you would definitely have to ask where to connect next because the final destination is not listed until you get to the train line that it is on. Knowing, for instance, that we get off in Steinach and are looking for the train to Treuchtlingen, makes things go really smooth. We really are enjoying the train travel and watching the scenery go by. Time seems to go by pretty fast. We are feeling like seasoned pros, jumping off one train and getting to the next track and train. Moving along splendidly, we get off in Augsburg and just as the doors close, Carol says this is Augsburg Oberhausen. Not having looked close at the schedule, we didn’t realize that there were two stations in Augsburg. We want Augsburg Bahnhof(HBF) for our connection and are now in a suburb station. We look at the schedule and see a local train leaves in 10 minutes and stops at the main station. Luckily for us, this is the stop where we had a 45 minute layover, so we are able to absorb our error (probably my error) and still make our next train. One more connection and we are on the last leg to Fussen. Can’t screw this up as it is the end of the line.

German Alps

We must say that we have been on about every kind of train their is other than the bullet ones. Fast, slow, two car, twenty car, intercity express, regional, and local, air conditioned comfort and windows open with no AC . This last train has old springy cloth seats and is chugging along slowly. The upper windows open which is good for a few pictures. Today’s scenery started with hills, then flat farmland, back to some hills and woods, and now is really changing. We climb into Southern Bavaria with rolling hills, woods, lots of farms with cows, and the Alps between Germany and Austria come into view. It is really beautiful country we are traveling through. We reach Fussen and after looking at some bus schedules, walk the long two blocks to our hotel.
The room is very nice, IKEA furniture, clean, and faces a little alley with restaurants that we hope will be quiet by bedtime. Not ones for staying in after our journey, we head out to do a self-guided walk of the town.

Dancing Granite Fountains

Right up the street from our hotel, we start with a small square with 7 granite fountains. It is really cool as the top parts or heads are granite blocks probably weighing 100 or more pounds on top of granite pillars. The water makes them spin and nod. There is nothing holding them up and only the water power to make them spin. Very interesting from an engineering point of view.
We walk through an old cemetery and then and enter a Franciscan Monastery Chapel. It is extremely ornate and beautiful. Leaving the chapel we follow an old path down to the Lech River. The river is a turquoise blue color and we dip our feet in the cool water. We start climbing back into town and pass the small Church of the Holy Spirit which has a colorful outside.

St Magnus Rod

The next place we stop is the Basilica of St Magnus. He is Fussen’s favorite saint as he worked miracles in this area with his holy rod, in the eighth century. A glass cross above the alter contains his relics including the holy rod. It is another beautiful church and also contains a chapel honoring a more modern saint, Franz Seelos. He was from Fussen and went to Pittsburg and New Orleans to live in the early to mid 1800’s. He lived such a pious life that in 2000 he was beatified by Pope John Paul II. You could fill out a request for a miracle and Carol filled one out for her mom. We ended our walk at the castle above town and then started strolling through town looking for a place to eat.

Back to Basics

              We settle on a small place in a side street where the outside tables were full of locals drinking beer. We sat in the last outdoor table and ordered 2 cokes( are you kidding me) which when they arrived happened to have turned to beer. Our very own miracle in Bavaria. Since there was no English menu or English speaking owner, we ordered a pork schnitzel with what we think may be potatoes, and a tortellini with schingen and champignons. The pork cutlet came with roast potatoes and the tortellini with ham and mushrooms. Both were delicious and reasonably priced.
We then walk to the market near our hotel to see what they might have for us to buy tomorrow morning for breakfast and lunch. Our menu planned out we return to our room with a .59E container of ice cream for dessert. A thunderstorm unleashes heavy rains shortly after we get in so our timing was great. We FaceTime and get an answer from our good friends Rick and Beth and later Ruth and Richard. First time we have spoke to anybody back home in 2 weeks. It was fun but now it is time for bed.
CNC

Expenses
23.40E- Dinner and 2 beers.
. 59E- Ice Cream
62.20E – Hotel City Apartment
for those wondering why train expenses do not always show it is because we bought an 8 day German pass and days like today, we used it.

Miles Walked- 5.75 miles.