Augsburg

Our last stop of the day was Augsburg.  

There are two things that we discussed and remembered while we were there.  First, the Augsburg confession was written here which is the first of the great Protestant Confessions.  Second (and this actually occurred first), Martin Luther was called to Augsburg to meet with Cardinal Thomas Cajetan and be examined on his teachings following the Diet of Augsburg in 1518.

Below is a little excerpt about the Augsburg Confession.  Although the building where it was signed is no longer standing, we had hoped to find the building that stands in its place as it has a plaque on the wall commemorating the event.  Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful, but it was still neat to be near the spot where it took place.  Had we had more time and warmer weather (the younger ones were having a hard time with the cold!) we probably would have looked longer, but it was still good. :)

"The Augsburg Confession is the first of the great Protestant Confessions. All orthodox Lutheran church bodies base their teachings upon this treatise because they believe that it is a faithful to Word of God.

In 1530, Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, called together the princes and cities of his german territories in a Diet at Augsburg. He sought unity among them to fend of the attacks of Turkish armies in Eastern Austria. He called upon the Lutheran nobility to explain their religious convictions, with the hope that the controversy swirling around the challange of the Reformation might be resolved. To this end, Philip Melanchthon, a close friend of Martin Luther and a Professor of New Testament at Wittenberg University, was called upon to draft a common confession for the Lutheran Lords and Free Territories. The resulting document, the Augsburg Confession was presented to the emperor on June 25, 1530."

 "Augsburg Ost" - we're getting close

 Streets of Augsburg

 We were able to see where Martin Luther stayed during his time in Augsburg, so that was neat!

He stayed at St Anne's Cloister Church

The Fuggers were a well known wealthy family of Augsburg

It was getting later and the sun was getting low...

Even though it was freezing cold, we stopped for some ice cream!!  (which, of course, made us that much colder, but it sure was good!! :)

Shenandoah was visited by a little bug

(she wasn't too happy about that until...)

...she saw that it was stuck in her ice cream she had dripped on the table!!! :)