After getting off the flight and dropping off our things at the hotel, we took a short tour through Augsburg. Since we arrived on a Sunday, most of the shops were closed, but some restaurants and cafe’s were still open. I found it interesting how Germany, and I’m guessing other parts of Europe too have these town centers where pedestrians can walk without fearing that they would be hit by a car — unlike America where everything is heavily car-reliant.

In the picture I attached below, you can’t really see it, but there is a mixture of architectural designs (old vs. new) in the city because of how the city was bombed during World War II and had to be rebuilt.

One of our pit stops was at this cute cafe, and here we grabbed some sandwich and German soft pretzels as a snack. German butter goes hard.

Afterwards, we headed to the Fuggerei House for a tour. Our tour guide was very informational and told us about the history of the Fuggerei, why it was founded, why it is built the way it is, etc.

I l learned that it was the first social housing place in the world! Jakob Fugger was very ahead of his time, and the design of the house too was ahead of its time. For example, back then, it was expected for the poor to have “shared spaces”, but in the Fuggerei houses, each family had their own space/door. There was a lower and upper level. I was also shocked to learn that it is still used today to house those facing economical difficulties.

We were able to visit the inside of one of the houses undergoing renovation. Back then they had two bedrooms, a kitchen, etc. The modern day version of it (besides including modern necessities/utilities), changed the kitchen area to a bathroom and one of the bedrooms into the “new” kitchen. So overall, it felt bigger even though the amount of “rooms” didn’t change.

Coming out of the Fuggerei House, we were caught in the rain and had to take shelter under some yellow canopies to escape the worst of the downpour.

We finished our day grabbing dinner in a restaurant called Zeughaus Stuben with German students from the University of Augsburg. I got the Schnitzel vom Schwein “Wiener Art” (Pork Tenderloins in the style of Venice), and it was really good. I was pleasantly surprised by the potato salad, because I was expecting it to be like mashed potatoes, but it had a tinge of mustard in it, which helped pull everything together.

Overall, I had a fun day exploring the city, and can’t wait for the rest of the stay!

-Hannah Ye, 5.4.24