Regensburg: Monday August 22
ORIGINAL PLAN: Arrive in Regensburg midday. After lunch, tour this wonderfully preserved medieval city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, including structures dating back to Roman times. Discover many 13th- and 14th-century patrician houses and see the splendid St. Peter’s Cathedral. During free time, visit the Alte Würstküche (Old Sausage Kitchen), Germany’s oldest restaurant. Alternately, you may choose to disembark this morning and drive with your guide to Munich for an optional full-day tour of this cultural and historic city, rejoining your ship in time to enjoy dinner on board before our evening departure. (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
Witness a true medieval city untouched by World War II bombing and rich in architectural splendor. Regensburg is one of Germany’s best-preserved cities and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To get acquainted with this gem, explore it on foot with a local guide, who will share a personal view of the city he knows so well. See some of the Roman city walls erected by Marcus Aurelius upon its founding. Walk past the Old Town Hall and see the 12th-century Old Stone Bridge, a 16-arch marvel of medieval engineering that still carries traffic today. See the famous Alte Wurstküche (Old Sausage Kitchen), Germany’s oldest restaurant, and admire its idyllic courtyards. At the Gothic St. Peter’s Cathedral, gaze up at the Donkey Tower, a remnant of the former cathedral that was left to support this one. Marvel at the structure’s superb stained glass windows before returning to your ship at your leisure.
* Moderate - Walking portions may be long and somewhat challenging with occasional step-ups, stairs and inclines. Total time walking or standing normally ranges from 1.5 to 3 hours.
2:00 – 3:30 pm Walking Tour (Viking Included) Jim & Barbara reserved
Other tour to Munich: 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Things to do: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g187312-Activities-a_allAttractions.true-Regensburg_Upper_Palatinate_Bavaria.html
Zoe: Regensburg is one of Germany’s best preserved medieval cities; a lot of Roman history here. We went on a bus tour to the Palace of Princess Gloria of Thurn and Taxis. It is built on the site of a Benedictine monastery.
OUR EXPERIENCE:
An overview for the day with special insights was in the Viking Daily.
Our ship docked at Regensburg. I started the morning by opening our cabin's sliding glass door and feeding a few ducks bits of a granola bar. Soon, about seven of them were fighting over every morsel. None of the passengers seemed to notice, so I got away with it.
Around 2:00 we walked onto shore where we joined our guide, Hubert Konig, for 90 minutes of entertaining stories and theatrics. He started by showing us a figure of Romulus and Remus to emphasize the Roman roots of the town. He also pointed out the porta praetoria, a former residence of Goethe, the 12th century stone bridge, and a place to sample local sausages and beer.
Our guide shared more stories about Germany and Hitler during World War II...
...how to get around Regensberg...
...and how to enter through the city's gates. Rebuilding the city was a David vs. Goliath task.
When we passed a group of Scouts, I shared pictures of American Boy Scouts. They were too tired to be bothered.
This disappointment was followed by the excitement of the day:
Bill and I had read about this gold museum in the Viking Daily. We noticed is as our guide led us past it to other sites. Later, Barbara joined Bill and me when we returned for a 5 Euro (each) tour. At first we were hesitant to pay the 5 Euros because it appeared to be an antique store with a few golf items. The owner's son assured us that there were treasures in the basement below, so we took the dive. When we reached the basement, we were joined by the owner, Peter Insam, who assured us that he had spent nearly 60 years researching and putting this collection together. We were surrounded by so much golf history memorabilia that we could hardly follow Peter's talk.
A few minutes later, he left us to browse the collection. We saw evidence, including ancient golf balls and clubs, supporting his claim that golf began in the Netherlands long before it reached Scotland:
The collection included golf balls throughout history, a large selection of pictures of women playing golf, and a humorous set of golf rules sure to amuse any golfer.
Click here to view more of the best 33+ rules of golf
After our special side trip to the golf museum side trip, we were back to wandering the streets of Regensburg. The main focus was St. Peter's Cathedral begun in 1273, replacing earlier churches dating back to 700 AD:
The Sailer Chapel: Burial place of Bishop Sailer 1781-1832
After touring St. Peter's. I was ready to try some of the local sausages hyped by our tour guide. I ended up with a plate of small sausages (breakfast sausage size) on top of a bunch of sauerkraut. I think I missed our guide's favorite spot:
I polished it off anyway with some beer and pondered our guide's business card and all the locks we faced from here to Budapest:
