Bicycle Touring Checklist   About Bicycle Touring   Contact/Feedback   Table of Outdoor Checklists (Home)

| << | 30 | 31 | | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | | >> |

| Germany: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | South Tyrol: 12 | 13 | Germany: 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Trip Notes | Ray's Pics |
Bicycle Tour Adventure #39: Auto from Italy, through Austria, to Bicycle Germany, Day 14

Vilpian (South Tyrol, Italy): Monday Morning (3 Oktober)

Lana (Ray and Letizia's Home): Monday Morning;
We Load the Bicycles into Ray's Van and head to Schwangau by way of Garmisch, Germany;
We will Convoy our Vehicles through Austria
(We have all forgotten that today is a National Unification Holiday in Germany, East and West Germany Unified as One German Nation in 1990)

Germany: Garmisch, Before Noon

Germany, Steingaden: Road Stop, Early-Afternoon

Germany: Schwangau, Late-Afternoon;
We will bicycle to and around Füssen

King Ludwig spent the town's entire budget and bankrupted the kingdom and was removed from power - He is conceived as and portrayed as not being all together in the head. Ludwig was a fan of the Musician Richard Wagner and he wanted to dedicate and create a 'True German Medieval Castle' for each Opera of Wagner's.

Füssen

Ideas in Conflict - 1200s

First, Read the Notice on the Church Wall (above right).

The following is what is Between the Lines:

During the 1200s there was a battle of ideas and one of those ideas was a need for a 'Separation Between Church and State'. During this time, the Church was growing and in many places the church was the government. Bishops and Cardinals could make regional policy and enforce the policies with military might as well as through political influence.

This mixing of church and state led to some corruption in the Church and a degrading of the faith towards the original purpose of the Church.

Thus the quote, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely - John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887.

The church was fighting for its existence because Islamic Forces were challenging the faith. For a while, the church needed an Army of Christians.

This was the time period of the Knights Templar (red cross on white) and the Teutonic Knights (black cross on white - a similarly based Teutonic/German religious order that also fought in the Crusades). Royalty (the State) did not like foreign soldiers on their turf and royalty did not like having local policy dictated to them.

The point is: The [Catholic] Church was The Church and State. Kings and other State Leaders (royalty) did not like policy dictated to them, especially when it did not have to do with faith. Soon, there would be a separation of Church and State and in the process, the Knights Templar would be removed as an entity (even though all of the state leaders knew that it was based on trumped up charges), Kings and States would sit idle and allow the destruction of the Church's Army because it was to their best interest.

Another Idea in Conflict was Fair Representation of the needs (and later, Rights) of the common man by his Leader(s). This Idea is played in the 1200's and will ebb and flow but won't find its way into a self governing state until the 1700's (starting with the American Colonies in 1776 with the 'Shot heard around the world') and that was just the start - It is still a concept that is slowly spreading to countries with a Central Government or Dictatorship.

Castle Füssen

Basilica of St Mang in Füssen, Bavaria
[Sometimes Saint Magnus, Sometimes the Church of Füssen (other names exist)]

Little is known about Magnus. He met with the Bishop of Augsburg who received him and entrusted him with the Christianization of the eastern Algäu. He went into the wilderness, crossed the Lech River at a place still known as St. Mangstritt ("footstep of Saint Magnus"), and built a small dewlling, where afterwards the monastery of Füssen was erected, and he died there. [Wikipedia]

His original burial place was in the small chapel he built. His bones were transferred to the crypt of the church being built in 850. Around the year 1100 all his bones disappeared. The burial place in the crypt of the St Mang Basilica can be seen today, although the only bone of St Mang is a relic which can be found above the main altar in a glass cross. The cross also contains his staff, breast cross and chalice.

St Mang's Feast Day is 6 September. On this day Holy Mass is celebrated, then all proceed by torchlight through the old part of the city. During the week of the Saint's Feast a special 'Magnus Wine' is sold. Only 500 bottles are produced. Also, a special harvest display is featured which traditionally ties to Oktoberfest as well as celebrations common to most farm harvests, a fall celebration to give thanks (similar to Thanksgiving in the USA).

The oldest fresco in the whole of Germany can be found in the crypt of St Mang's Basilica. It dates back to about the year 980. [Wikipedia]

Stadt Zentrum (City Center): Füssen, Late Evening