Mindelheim to Augsburg and Beyond

Be sure to read the post about Sun. in Mindelheim first. There were no pictures taken on Sun. afternoon or most of Mon. May 20 & 21.

We left the nice folks home about the middle of the afternoon and headed to Augsburg which was to be a pleasant drive until about supper time. I called it the "Wild Castle Chase" because we were looking for the castle where Helmut had spent some time in his youth while his Father made mattresses for the owners. Helmut knew it was called Markt - this is a very common name that means market and could be applied to lots of places. He also thought that it was not too far from Augsburg. So all along the way I am looking at all the castles to see if they have round towers. We checked out a few places that were Markt (something) but didn't find the right place the whole afternoon and the whole way to Augsburg.

By the time we were in Augsburg it was past supper time by every account either N. Am. or German. We also needed to find a place to stay. i vetoed taking a hotel in the center of the city figuring that they would be very expensive. We couldn't find any smaller looking places as we were driving around. Finally we saw a MacDonald's but it was on the other side of the major highway of course. So we drove around and around a back and forth until we were finally on the right side to turn in where we were able to get some supper. This was our first Macattack of the whole trip thus far.

After eating we drove on into the country side looking for a Gasthaus or hotel (it would have to take a Mastercard as we were very low on cash.) this was my idea. After many kilometers we came to the outskirts of Landsburg and found a big very modern hotel. It turned out to be fairly pricey and they charged 20 Euros more to have breakfast. We decided to for go the breakfast. It was a comfortable room and we had a good nights sleep. Even took a walk around the neighbourhood before bedtime.

The next morning our main goal was to find a bank where we could draw some cash against our Mastercard as we were getting very low on Euros. (I ate a granola bar before heading out). The first branch bank that we stopped at quite close to the hotel couldn't help us and sent us to the Landsburg Aldtstadt (old part of the city.)

Helmut tried several of the major banks with little or no help. One place the bank personnel were very helpful and made many inquirers for him. The long and short of this was that we found out that we couldn't get a direct withdrawal from the Mastercard with out a PIN number which we didn't have because they are never needed in N. America. We tried to get Mastercard to wire us some money but this required lots of different procedures and long distance phone calls. So we were stuck in this city for another night.

The whole day I had several bad episodes with low blood sugars so I learned that it isn't a good idea to go with out breakfast or to skimp on meals.

We went back to the same hotel for Mon. night. We were very exhausted by this time so had to have a nap before we found a Burger King for our supper.

Germany's parking and toilet situation is frustrating. Both of us would have gladly been on our way home that night but it wasn't to be.

Tuesday - we went back to the city center hoping to collect the wired money. After many hours of being sent from here to there and trying to make long distance phone calls to Mastercard and being put on hold so long that the phone company cut us off. We were unable to obtain any cash. We were tied up here until late Tues. when we just decided to go on our way without any more cash.

Landsburg has a nice little river running right through the center of the business area and it has a long park area where I spent a lot of time while Helmut went from one place to another. The Haupbahnhof (main train and bus station) had a good WC (washroom) that was free and was within walking distance of the riverside park. This city also has a walled castle in the center of town - it is used as some kind of a school so wasn't for sight seeing in doors. We drove through the area but couldn't find a parking place. On this day I ate a late lunch at the Haupbahnhof, managing to order it by myself in German. The biggest problem is knowing what the price is finally as you get charged for everything - the numbers are always said backwards to English so even when I understand the words I get mixed up. So I hand over a big Euro and hope they are honest and give me the correct change.

Around 5:30 pm we left Landsburg headed for some where else.