Landsberg am Lech

Wow. Here I am, on Friday, August 28. I have no more Thursdays left of my trip. I'm in my final week in Europe, and I can't believe how quickly 75 days have gone by. It always seemed very slow when it was passing, but I feel like I just left a couple weeks ago, though it was actually almost 11 weeks ago.

And how do I sum up the past few days in a short post? So much has happened.

The last thing I wrote about was that I was leaving Salzburg. Now, and for the past few days, I have been in Landsberg am Lech, Germany, about 50 minutes west of Munich. I'm staying with Jörg, another friend of my history teacher. Look, here we are eating pumpkin soup on my first night:

So on my first day in Landsberg, I wanted to just walk around the town, so that's what I did. I walked for about 7 miles around he city, which reminds me of Grass Valley a bit. It has old buildings, and a population of only 30,000, and its surrounded and filled with trees and hiking trails. The main difference is that this town dates back to the 1300s... There's some towers on the hills around the area, which I hiked up to, but couldn't go up into the tower because it was closed.

Also, there is a huge River Lech through the town, with a large dam-like structure right in the center, so I like sitting by the water and listening to the rush of the river in the cool air. So when I got waffles and berries on Wednesday, I ate them in front of the river. (And it was really good!!)

Okay I'm switching topics now because I have a lot to cover. Later that afternoon, Jörg and I drove up to Dachau, which was a major concentration camp before and during WW2, and let me tell you, it was truly horrific. To think that the grounds I was standing on had thousands of future-victims to the war just 80 years ago is extremely disturbing. We visited the rebuilt barracks, which clearly had no room for anyone to have personal space. The massive burial site for unknown victims' ashes. I think the most disturbing part though was the ovens. All of this is the reason I never want to visit a concentration camp again. It's too much. 

Oh also I had beer. 

(Not this full glass. That would be too much for me. It was so strong that I could only drink about half of it.)

Okay happier topic now. Yesterday, on Thursday, I took a day trip to Augsburg, another city about 50 minutes northeast of Landsberg. The two cities and Munich all form an equilateral triangle, roughly, if that gives you an idea. 

The problem with Augsburg is that I had no specific plans: I didn't know where anything was, nor where I should visit. Eventually, after wandering around for about an hour, I was able to find a map with all the major tourist attractions! So I started off on my journey, roughly following the green line, a few pictures down.

So I visited the Dom, the city's cathedral, which was very very impressive. An organ concert was in session at the time, so I got to listen to that while I walked down the aisles and through the corridors.

My next stop was the City Hall, or the Rathaus, which was originally destroyed in WW2 but then rebuilt exactly alike to the old one.

One of the biggest attractions in Augsburg is the Fuggeri House, where the Fugger family lived in the 15th century. Who is the Fugger family? I hear you asking. Well, I'm not too sure, but I know they were filthy rich because I think they sold salt which was huge back then, so they still own the land and the house. They built a bunker there during the war, so I got to go down there! That was rad. I've never been in an underground bunker before. 

Also when I was wandering around, I think I discovered the secret to teleportation: wander around in a city that you think you understand because you have a map and then you get lost and find out that you're about a mile from where you thought you were. At least, that's what happened to me, so I'm still not sure how that happened. So my walk back to the train station looked a bit like this:

(Transporter marked by red dots)

Disclaimer: I'm sorry I have like no pictures of Augsburg. The app is being weird and won't let me download many of them?? Sorry

When I got back to Landsberg, I met Jörg's wife and 5 year old son, and we went out to dinner. I had paprika and feta cheese, so that was interesting I guess.

I was accidentally up until 2am and I'm not sure why. 

Today, on Friday, I spent the day in Landsberg again, and got more ice cream* before Jörg's babysitter for his son met up with me, so he and his friends could show me around the city. Look, here we all are!!

Anyway, yeah. I don't think I'll update until maybe the 31st, when I will have time to write on my train to Munich. That's my last stop. I stay there for two nights before I fly out. It passed quickly...