Day 9 - Back to Germany for Regensburg in the Rain

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Today was migratory day on the Viking Vidal. Last night we met the ship in Passau, Germany but we weren’t supposed to be there until tomorrow because of the swap. For that reason, they moved the ship from Passau to Engelhartszell, Austria for the night. So, this morning we boarded the coach for the 2-hour bus ride back to Germany to visit the medieval town of Regensburg. Of course, after the tour it was a 2-hour ride back to Engelhartszell, Austria for the night. Tomorrow we will sail the ship back up the Danube to Passau, Germany where we will have a parking space available for the day and finish up our visit to Germany before continuing back down the Danube into Austria the next day. Very confusing, but we just go wherever they tell us, not really worrying which country we are in for the moment.

The walking tour of Regensburg was the included tour on this trip, and there weren’t any other optional ones. Because there is nothing to do in Engelhartszell, Viking offered hourly shuttle service back and forth to Passau for those that didn’t want to take the 2-hour bus ride back and forth to Regensburg. But we are docking in Passau and taking the Passau walking tour tomorrow, so it didn’t make much sense to us to miss Regensburg just to avoid some time on the bus. Evidently we were a distinct minority, as of the 165 passengers available for the Regensburg tour, only 28 decided to go! They didn’t know what they were missing. The first 45 minutes of the bus ride was up and over the mountains back into Germany with some beautiful views of the countryside and some beautiful small towns along the way.

Before we knew it, we were there in Regensburg and ready for our tour. Unfortunately, we didn’t really look at the weather forecast before we left, because the temperature had dropped to the 60’s and it was about to rain. We never thought to pay attention to this, and expected that when they announced it was time to get on the bus, they would have said something about rain and letting us know that umbrellas were available. Or they could have brought umbrellas on the bus in case anyone needed one. In any case it was a lesson learned, and for the rest of the vacation we will look closer at the weather forecast.

When we arrived at Regensburg, it had begun to drizzle, so Jody and I got a little wet. We were a little cold, but as we met Franz, our tour guide, we began to walk along and forget about being cold and wet and enjoy the tour anyway. Regensburg is a city of about 150,000 residents, plus about 30,000 university students, but the oldest portion of the city dates back around the 12^th century at the time of the bridge construction, but there are buildings that date back much earlier as there was once a Roman Fortress in the center of town that dates back to the 2^nd century. Portions of the Roman Fortress have been incorporated into buildings that still exist today, and when the Romans finally abandoned the fortress, some of the fortress was dismantled by the villagers to steal the blocks to build their own houses as was the custom with a lot of abandoned castles and fortresses.

Regensburg flourished after the bridge was built and became a center of trade because of its location. As the rich businessmen looked for ways to display their fabulous wealth a sort of tower contest grew up among the richest. There are several towers throughout the old city where the richest businessmen would try to outdo each other with the size of their tower. The tallest is a 9-story tower called the Goldener Turm, but there are several other competing structures still standing today. The most interesting part of the tower competition is that even though the towers were as high as 9-stories, the living area portion was limited to only the first few stories with the upper stories only built for showing off wealth and were unfinished without even working windows.

In the center of town is the gothic Regensburg Cathedral which was started in the 13^th century and completed in the 19^th century. It is open to the public and since it was not part of the tour, Franz recommended that we visit it during our free time later. As our walking tour came to an end, Franz left us at the Weissbrauhaus, a local microbrewery and restaurant. There we all had a lunch of Salad, Chicken with rice and vegetables and a dessert of apple crumb and ice cream. We were all encouraged to try the local beer, but Jody and I stuck with our favorite standby Coke Light.

After the delicious lunch, we were on free time until 3:30 when we would meet up with the bus. By now the rain had completely stopped, and the sun was beginning to pop out from behind the clouds. It was still a little cold, but Jody found a nice warm Regensburg sweatshirt and she was warmed right up. I was fine, but did manage to find us a couple of t-shirts and a magnet at one of the many souvenir shops. One of the things we noticed about Regensburg was that there was a significant amount of shopping, including a lot of jewelry shops, and almost all were local shops with very little of the chain stores that we had seen in some of the other larger cities. The local jewelry was interesting, but Jody only found one piece that she really wanted, but the shop was closed for lunch. When we came back later, it had reopened, but the piece was gone as it had already been sold. Jody was disappointed, but I’m sure there will be other opportunities in the next cities we visit.

We also made a brief visit to the Regensburg Cathedral to see what it looked like inside. It was really beautiful, but because the style is gothic, it was a little dark. But we did manage to take some pictures even with the low light, though I don’t think they show quite how impressive it really is. There were signs everywhere reminding us that this was a church and place of worship, so that we should be respectful and not spend time sightseeing, so we took our pictures and got out.

By now it was getting around 3:00 and time to head back to the bus. Since our previous trauma in Bamberg, we are always sure to confirm our pickup location by marking it on a map so we are sure where to go when the time comes. We made it back to the bus in ample time, and the ride back to the ship was quiet and relaxing. We returned just before 6:00 with plenty of time to relax before dinner. Tomorrow we have a busy day ahead, with a walking tour of Passau in the morning and an afternoon boat ride and visit to the baroque town of Scharding. Let’s hope the weather holds out, at least this time we will be prepared!

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