Euro Travels: Regensburg, Germany

Last month I drove to Regensburg in the middle of the night to pick up Stephen following his wild day at Oktoberfest. Since I was simply on a retrieval mission, I didn’t get to experience Regensburg, but that quick visit gave me enough of a taste to know that I wanted to go back.

Reasons I wanted to visit Regensburg:

• Tons of young people were hanging around all over the town when I was there for my late night swoop-in session. (Young people = cool place. Calling people “young people” = I am an old person.)
• It’s only an hour away. (Ideal driving distance!)
• The Danube River flows through it. (I’ve never seen the Danube before, and it seemed like one of those things I should see while I live in Germany.)

With our Frommer’s Guide in hand, we took the town. First stop: cemetery.

Can you see the cemetery behind Stephen? No? Well, it’s there. We didn’t go in (but I wanted to!). We just admired all the golden leaves on the ground and kept walking. Our real first stop was the St. Peter’s Cathedral.

The steeples can be seen all over town, and they are absolutely breath-taking! The main cathedral was built in the 1400’s, but the steeples were part of some redecorating ordered by King Ludwig I in the 1800’s. (It took them ten years to build these bad boys!) And there is a big ol’ King Ludwig statue across the street.

We continued our trek around the town to find the Steinerne Brucke (or stone bridge). I really wanted to see this.

Apparently I am developing a love affair with bridges. (The Charles Bridge in Prague and the many bridges in Salzburg both hold special places in my heart, as well!)

This bridge is a looooong one. There are 16 arches going under the length of the bridge. It was built in 1146, and it was built to last. There was a band playing and pockets of people talking and enjoying the view. I loved the vibe! I could have easily planted myself on the bridge for the remainder of the day!

But it was well past lunch time and we were getting hungry! Our lunch spot was the Historische Wurstkuche (Historic Sausage Kitchen). 800 years of satisfied customers can’t be wrong, right? Stephen got a plate of sausages and I had some potato soup.

Nothing beats soup on a cold day! Now if only we could have enjoyed it inside. We were both chattering-our-teeth-oh-so-cold by the end of lunch. We needed to move around, which is exactly how we spent the next hour and a half. Sights included the Porta Praetoria (an ancient gate from the days when Rome was in charge), The Diocesan Museum (we didn’t go in), Hinter der Grieb (an old street with a Middle Age feel), and the Old Town Hall.

I give Regensburg two thumbs up. There were so many restaurants and probably the best shopping I’ve seen of any place we’ve visited so far. (We didn’t get to shop much because stores are closed on Sundays, but I think I know where I’ll be doing some of my Christmas shopping!) You might not of heard of Regensburg, and it probably isn’t somewhere you are planning to visit any time soon, but maybe you should. It’s a great place and my favorite small town in Germany!*

PS Our internet has finally been fixed, so I should be back to my regular posting time frame as usual from here on out.

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