I finally get to see the Danube

On our second day of the car rental and our fifth day of holiday with Jeremy and Rachel, we decided to head north to the town of Regensburg. The town was first settled in the Stone Age, but the interest for us was the Danube River and the remains of a Roman fort, built sometime around 179 AD by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Remains of this fort can still be been in parts of the Altstadt ("Old City"). From the 6^th century to the 14^th century, Regensburg was the capital of Bavaria. In the 1100’s the first bridge across the Danube was built, and Regensburg became a major city along the trade routes of that time in Europe.

So, the attraction for us was seeing the Danube River and touring the Altstadt, which escaped damage during World War II and remains almost intact to this day. We jumped into the car and headed up north along the Auto Bahn. Jeremy was not feeling well so he did not get his chance to drive on the Auto Bahn, but perhaps that was OK. You really need to be much more attentive while driving on this highway as people follow the rules of passing on the left and driving slow on the right. The challenge is that the passing lane can be going upwards of 120 mph, while the far right lane (there are usually only 3 lanes) is full of all the trucks going perhaps 60 mph. Thus you see a massive change in speed across these lanes and really need to be attentive to the BMWs and Porsches that come screaming up behind you. And then, after you pull into the middle lane to let these hot rods go by, it can be very difficult to get back into the passing lane as you might now be doing 80 mph while the passing lane might be zooming by at 100 or 120 mph. My ultimate dream is to rent a 911 and spend a day making all those cars get out of my way!

The funny thing about Bavaria is how most of the country is still farming community. When you leave Munich proper, within 10 miles or so you are deep into farming country. The landscape is mostly flat, and there are hamlets and farm land all around. Bavaria had always been a large farming community, and this still remains the same today. As we drove north we covered a lot of farm land, with a great deal of the agriculture focused on raising hops.  These fields are like vineyards on steroids. There are giant phone poles, probably 20 feet tall all tilted this way and that, with a wire trellis running across the tops of all of them. The hop is a long, stringy vine that can grow to 20 feet tall or more, so these poles and trellises are designed to grow the vine to its maximum height. Field after field was filled with these crazy leaning poles just waiting for the warm weather and the hops to start growing. I can only imagine what it must be like to walk through this maze of plants in the late summer when the vines are tall and the smell of the hops fills the air. I told Deb we will need to come back up here and do just that for an experience you will never forget.

Arriving in Regensburg, three major attractions for us were the Cathedral in the Altstadt which is a massive German Gothic cathedral and one of the main works of Gothic architecture in Bavaria, the Stone Bridge, as already mentioned, which is a remarkable example of medieval bridge building and which the knights of the 2nd and 3rd crusade used to cross the Danube on their way to the Holy Land, [wikipeida], and the remains of the Roman fortress' walls, including the Porta Praetoria, which was one of the main entrances to the old fort.

The Cathedral is so massive that you can’t really fit it into one photo. Here are a few that show the outside façade, including one with Deb sitting on the steps, and one of Rachel and Jeremy outside. The interior of the Cathedral was massive and incredibly cold. This giant stone building must never heat up, and on this cool spring day it was downright frigid inside.  Rachel took a picture inside the Cathedral that gives you a sense of its scale.

There was also a crypt in the cellar of the building with the bones of many famous Regensburg citizens, including all of the bishops who had served here.

The inside of the Cathedral was, in fact, so cold that we cut our tour short to head back out into the relative warmth outside. Our next stop was the medieval bridge on the Danube. By this point we were getting a bit hungry and in need of something to drink so we stopped at Jacob’s Family Brewery, directly adjacent to the river and the bridge. This place claims to be the oldest sausage tavern in Europe, but we only got a couple of beers and sat there admiring the sights. Even with their claim as the oldest sausage house in Europe, I think we had had enough Bavarian food at this point so we only nibbled on the bread and rested a while at this spot.

Our next stop was the remains of the old roman fort and the old roman wall. Here is a photo of some remains of the wall as they have been incorporated into an old house in the old town, a plaque commemorating the site, and Jeremy in front of the remaining gate from the old fort.

We then wandered around the old town, looking into the shops and finally trying to find our way to the home of Schindler, of "Schindler’s List" fame. We found the Strasse where he lived, along with the correct address, but were a bit surprised that there was nothing there noting the spot.

We continued to wander around the old town, but I think on this day we were all running out of steam, and Jeremy was not really feeling all that well. 


As we have travelled around, I have come to the conclusion that you could do a photo journal of the doorways you see in all of the old towns in Germany. Here are a few photos that just make you want to walk up, ring the bell, and step inside to see what is behind these fabulous doorways. 

We stopped for lunch and headed back to the car for the ride back to Munich. 


That's all for now. See you on Saturday, our next day with R and J.