Scenic Tours Jewels of Europe #9

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Regensburg

Regensburg is on the Danube. The boat could not go under the Steinerne bridge so it had to go around it in a canal and reverse into the river berth. The bridge is now only for pedestrians and cyclists. It is said that the bridge builder promised Satan the first 3 souls to cross the bridge if the bridge was finished before the church. The bridge was finished first but the builder shooed a dog, a cock and a hen across first. Satan was furious and punched the bridge upwards in the middle to break it, but failed, resulting in the raised centre. Knights of the 2nd and 3rd Crusade crossed this bridge on the way to the Holy Land.

Our guided walk took us past the historic old sausage shop (Wurstkuchl) that was built as a cafeteria for the bridge builders. The bridge was started in 1135 and finished in 1146 and the sausage shop has been operated by the same family ever since.

Regensburg was a Roman town and remnants of the old wall can be seen in some of the buildings. It originally had 30 towers and was 20 m high but little of it remains.

Our walk went into some of the narrow streets where we saw some remnants of the Roman wall and along others with overhanging buildings to the old Rathaus. This was the first German parliament building and the Mayor still lives there. We continued via the Bishop's Residence to the Thurn and Taxis Palace, but as no photos were permitted I can remember very little of it. However the Baron Thurn and Taxis was responsible for starting the first European postal service in 1490.

In the street were 4 brass "stumbling blocks" which are memorials to the Jews. The inscriptions say "Deported in 1942 Killed Piaski".

The New Parish Church (Neupfarrkirche) was said to built on the demolished Synagogue after the Jews were expelled in 1519, but recent excavation shows that it is built beside the Synagogue site.

As we left Regensburg we saw the Walhalla Memorial Hall, built by King Ludwig 1st to honour distinguished Germans. Wikipedia claims that it is being kept up to date.

Our bed decoration was an elephant.

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