Regensburg

6th September

Beautiful scenery floated past our hotel this morning... Or the other way around! One spectacle was quite disconcerting to see. Below is a photograph of the building commissioned by King Ludwig 1, called Walhalla after the Germanic paradise where the Gods awaited the mightiest of men. It was modelled after the Parthenon in Athens and there are 240 steps leading up to it. The locals describe it as the Greek temple in the German wood and, though it was intended to be a hall of fame, none of the best known Germans are represented within it.

Above: Walhalla

Below: a pretty church amongst the trees.

Our destination for the afternoon was Regensburg (pronounced Raigensburg), a city of about 150,000 people in Bavaria. Being 'unimportant' in war terms, it was spared from damage during WW2 so an original 12th century stone bridge is a feature, along with a gothic cathedral and medieval cobblestone streets.

The photo above shows a man made beach on the banks of the Danube being enjoyed by locals. We were standing on the old bridge which has been receiving TLC with restoration and was so covered with tarps and scaffold that it was not worth photographing.

 This is some of the detailed stone carving of the beautiful gothic church. This church would have to be my favourite so far due to its simplicity inside. The numerous, magnificent stained glass windows have been allowed to remain the feature of the cathedral and, although the altar was ornate with gold leaf, no one feature detracted from another.

 This tower was built by wealthy French nobility in the town for the purpose of showing off. There is nothing in the tower at all and nowadays it has come in handy as a cell phone tower, with the antenna tucked inside so as not to spoil the look of the place.

The streets of Regensburg were teeming with locals and tourists alike and the many street cafés overflowed with coffee sippers and ice cream eaters who mostly turn their chairs to face the street and watch the passers by for entertainment.

This statue is the son of a beautiful local girl,  herself the daughter of a miller, who caught the eye of the 46 year old, fat and not so good looking King Leopold. She left the town when it was discovered that she was pregnant and she never returned. The son eventually discovered who his father was and entered the navy, eventually commanding the Spanish Armada.

After our guided walking tour, we returned to the cathedral to look inside. The windows were hard to capture, but I tried anyway! The steeples were only added in the 19th century.

So ended another day in another beautiful place. Regensburg was the original capital city of Bavaria, before Munich was established and took over the role. Leaving Regensburg before tea we headed off for our last few hours on the Danube River and, overnight, would move into the Mein Danube canal, travelling through locks that would raise us up the final 25m till we reached the highest point before stepping down through the locks to reach Nuremburg tomorrow.