Regensburg is a relatively small city in Germany with a population of around 150,000 people. It was declared a Free Imperial City in 1245 with a growing prosperity during the Middle Ages. Regensburg is unusual among other major German cities in that it never suffered serious destruction through the various wars, so it has no less than 1300 listed buildings of historic interest. Another interesting fact is that it has over 350 restaurants and cafes!! Brian and I were thinking of dad and Roy/Pat when the tour guide told us this; we would have plenty of places to go for a Friday night dinner!
Before we arrived in Regensburg we passed The Valhalla which in Norse mythology was a hall in the palace of the chief of the Gods, Odin. During battles, his female attendants, the Valkyries, selected the men who had died most bravely and conducted these heroes to this place where they might enjoy an eternity of fellowship and feasting. This was constructed between 1830 and 1841 and modeled on the Parthenon in Athens, this building was conceived as a Hall of Fame for the German Nation.
This is the ancient Steinerne Brucke (bridge). Resting on 16 arches, this is one of Europe’s earliest surviving bridges constructed between 1135 and 1146. The white building beside the bridge is a salt house and years ago it was where they stored the “salt” and in order to withstand the weight of the salt, they could only fill it up to the top level nog pzxg the last row of three windows. It held up to 800 tons of salt.
This little building was actually built when they were building the bridge and was an outside kitchen where they cooked sausages to feed the men building the bridge. Today, it is called Historische Wurstkuche and is renowned for its local fried sausages served with sweet mustard and sauerkraut! We didn’t get a chance to try one though.
Entrance to the city of Regensburg.
Brian and his “Ozzie” friends! The three musketeers – they always seem to be up to no good!
As you know, I love dolls….so I couldn’t resist getting my picture taken in front of this store window!
Another store front……the chocolates looked delicious!
Chocolate anyone??
I am really fascinated with the churches. This is St. Peter’s Cathedral and once again was beautiful on the inside (pictures following) but still no comparison to the Melk Abbey we saw a couple of days ago – I don’t think anything can compare to that! Nevertheless each church is unique in its own right.
Side/back of St. Peter’s Cathedral.
The entrance to the main Cathedral
The Alter and a few of the many stained glass windows
A closer look
The organ pipes
These are some of the shops As it was Sunday, none of the shops were open although several cafes were open. The European people love their coffee shops and the desserts/streusels are the best in the world….they beat Tim Horton’s donuts any day!
Cheers Roy! This one’s for you – Brian’s first German beer!
This was our lunch buffet on the ship today. All things “German Bavarian”. We were unsure about the “white sausage” but it did taste good! We try everything offered and often are quite surprised with the different tastes and quite enjoy it. We often think of Pat when we eat and wonder what she would choose….not sure Pat if you would like any of this food!
This was our dessert – Apple Streusel, custard and fruit. It was the best part! Don’t ask if I’m gaining any weight……….I just CANNOT resist all the desserts and there are plenty!
This was my Pretzel….notice that I’m drinking coffee, while Brian is drinking the beer!
That’s it for the pictures today. It has been a really relaxing day. The weather once again has been beautiful today. While I am updating this blog, Brian is out for a run – trying to wear off all that food we eat! I should be with him but I wanted to get my blog done earlier today since I like to publish the blog before we leave port as the internet is not as good when the ship is moving. I’m just happy that I am actually able to post with pictures as I hope it makes it more enjoyable for those of you following my blog. I am realling enjoying the blogging, so I hope everyone is enjoying it too! I can’t believe that a whole week has gone by already; of course, it is going by way too fast. We are really enjoying the other people we have met and most are Australian, then Canadians and maybe a couple of Americans. We have got to know a few of the Australians and they are great fun – they love to have a good time and have a great sense of humor! Everyone on the ship are so impressed with the qualty of this tour company. They treat you like kings/queens and they are extremely well organized and on time. Every evening they give you the plan for the next day, they have a Daily Briefing just before supper-time, explaining what will happen the next day and help you make the choices that suits each individual person. All the local tour guides have been phenomenal and before you leave the boat, they give you a receiver and earpiece and when the tour guide talks, you hear it through the receiver so you are not all crowding around the tour guide trying to hear them. You can even wander off a bit to get pictures and still hear what they have to say. You never have to wait in line-ups to get into places, you just go right in, they have already organized your group tickets and away you go. There is no wasted time whatsoever. Well, I better sign off here, before Brian gets back from his run, and I can get this post published. I hope things are going well at home. We wish all of you could be here with us! Wouldn’t that be an awesome trip!
At 6:00 p.m. tonight we set sail for Nuremberg. In case I am posting this entry before you have had a chance to read the one I did yesterday, just keep moving down to read that one too.
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