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Regensburg, Germany

This morning we left Prague and headed by bus to Germany. There were some pretty areas of countryside with quaint-looking towns along the way in the Czech Republic and Germany.

Around lunchtime we made it to Regensburg. This is an old fortified German town that had its economic height in Medieval times. At one point it was the capitol of Bavaria and later was the location of the general assembly of the Holy Roman Empire. It started out in pre-Roman times as a Celtic settlement. Because it was repeatedly attacked by pre-Germanic/Teutonic tribes from across the Danube, the Celts asked for help from Rome. The town was fortified by the Romans, and one area of Roman construction still survives. Since Regensburg prospered during Medieval times there was a lot of construction and since it fell on poorer economic times later they didn’t rebuild in the Gothic or Renaissance styles. That means it is a pretty well preserved Medieval town to this day.

After a short guided tour of the city, Paul and I ate lunch, sausage and sauerkraut, while sitting by the Danube. We then went to see the cathedral and Alte Kapelle. The Regensburg Cathedral is a gothic style building started in 1273, however previous churches stood there as far back as 700. It has some stained glass windows from the 13th and 14th centuries and it’s large silver altar was made between 1695 and 1785. Alte Kapelle is a church with rococo interior and large amounts of gold leaf.

We then got back on the bus to meet our boat in Vilshofen. Once there we were treated to 3 separate appetizer events before dinner (keep in mind that we got to the boat around 4 pm). I think we will have to roll home. Outside of eating, we got settled in our cabin and relaxed. The boat stays here overnight.

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