RIVER CRUISE - 2018
Saturday Aug 11 - Regensburg
The bus congregating spot where we were dropped of in Regensburg was on the opposite side of the main Danube channel from the old part of town. It had a public WC that was very much in demand because the bus didn't have one. I took one look at the long line and said forget it. But later when I took a closer look, the long line was all ladies. The men's was empty. One problem that women's lib hasn't been able to solve.
Because we would be here all day, I opted for the walking tour despite having seen most of the old city back in 1994. We met our guide a the bus area and headed for the famous stone bridge dating from the middle ages, and then the old town.
The now pedestrian & bike only old stone bridge
The Danube splits into 3 channels in Regensburg. The main channel is in the background and a spur off the middle channel is in the foreground
Old part of Regensburg
More old town
New city hall
Old city hall
Our tour guide
A baroque church near the cathedral
The gothic cathedral dating from the middle ages. I was disappointed that we didn't go inside. In 1994 we had attended a high mass with the world famous choir directed by former Pope Benedict's brother.
The stones are walls of the Castra Regina, a Roman fortress built in 179AD. We had missed this in our 1994 visit.
Another door of the Castra Regina.
In addition to €15 each we got for lunch, we were given vouchers for 6 sausages, sauerkraut, and a beer at the historic Sausage Kitchen. It is located on the river bank at the base of the old stone bridge and claims to be the oldest restaurant in the world dating from 1146. Apparently passengers from every cruise ship in Regensburg were also given vouchers. The place was chaos and seemed disorganized. The sausage and kraut lived up to its reputation and the wait was worth it.
After lunch we headed back to our new ship to get bikes. We mainly explored the much quieter islands in the middle of the river.
Heading back to the ship to pick up bicycles after the tour.
As we were crossing over on a bike and pedestrian bridge to an island, we spotted a biergarten with a small group playing blassmusik better known as oompah, or I should say they were taking playing breaks in between 10 minute beer drinking and smoking sessions.
It made my day. I had complained to the cruise director about having rock music as our nightly entertainment just as we were entering Bavaria, home of oompah. He said they had tried it; but the passengers didn't like it and got bored. His credibility with me dropped dramatically. No self respecting tourist operator anywhere near Munich would fail to include a night of oompah at the Hofbrau house. He was to be proven wrong a few days later.
As we sailed from Regensburg not only we had a new ship, but were leaving the Danube for the Danube-Main canal. The canal runs for 106 miles between Kelheim, a short distance upstream from Regensburg, and Bamburg. It rises 223 feet from Kelheim to 1,332 feet above sea level at the continental divide (where water flows one way to the Atlantic and the other way to the Black Sea) before dropping 574 feet to the Main at Bamberg.
We were also entering an area called Franconia. The tour guides for the next 3 days insisted that although we were still technically in Bavaria, the people consider them selves Franconians, only annexed to Bavaria by Napoleon.
Because we were in beer country, we were treated to a dissertation on beer during happy hour. It was explained that there are 4 types of beer: a bright lager, pilsner (pilz), dark lager, and wheat beer. What I found interesting is the the forth, hefeweizen in German, was fast gaining market share. What is strange is that all types of non-traditional ingredients are being added. In other words the trend is similar to that in the US where craft beers with ingredients like rutabaga juice and turnip skins have been gaining market share.
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