We slept late on Tuesday, recovering from the previous 36 hours of little sleep. Breakfast was the traditional fare: strong coffee, rye rolls, dark bread, meats, cheeses, butter, and home-made strawberry jam.
First, we visited my aunt Karin in her new apartment on the outskirts of Regensburg and said hello to a few cousins who had come to meet us. After that brief visit, Thuraya and I were driven to Dom Platz in the center of the city to give Thuraya her first view of Regensburg.
The streets of old-town Regensburg are cobble-stoned, narrow, and winding. Each block contains a variety of specialty shops and at least one or two cafés, the tables spilling out into the street during the warm months. Every few blocks you’ll find a bier garten, konditerei, or gothic cathedral. The history here is long and complex, starting with a Roman fort established around 90 CE, moving through a series of powerful bishops, becoming a free imperial city, and often serving as a small stage for large events. Regensburg is most recently famous as the city that gave the Catholic world its current Pope.
The day was bright and warm, but with enough shade and breeze to make the walking pleasant. We started with the Cathedral of St. Peter, typically referred to as “the Dom.” It’s a huge, two-spired Episcopal cathedral that is the centerpiece of the Regensburg skyline. The main construction began during the end of the 13th century and continued for 250 years. Inside is always cool and dark, the stained-glass windows providing the main source of light. I lit a candle there in memory of my recently departed uncle.
From the church we walked next door to the Bischofshof, which was formerly the bishop’s palace but is now a museum, hotel, and bier garten. We then walked down Goliath Strasse (so-called because of the huge painting of David and Goliath on the side of one of the buildings) to the Steinerne Brücke (the stone bridge), the other defining feature of the city (the first being the Dom). We walked to the center to admire the classic view, then climbed the Salt Tower to look out over the bridge.
Beside the bridge sits the Historiche Wurstküche, which claims to be the oldest makers of “bratwurstle” (small bratwurst sausages) in the world. We stopped there for a typical meal of bratwurstle, kipferl (small rye rolls), sauerkraut, and beer.
Afterward, we explored the more famous of the churches, including the gilded Alte Kapelle (Old Chapel), the Neufarrkirche, St. Emmeram’s Church and Monastery, St. Jakob’s Church with its Scottish portal, and the Dominican Church of St. Blasius, where we climbed another tower to get a 360-degree view of the city. We also visited Bismarckplatz to view its fountains and the exterior of the Regensburg Theater and then back through Rathausplatz, which holds the old and new town halls.
We ended our explorations in Neufarrplatz eating one of the many fantasy-like ice-cream creations. Coldstone Creamery has nothing on the “eis” creations here.
Once we were back at the house, my second-cousin Melanie met us with her new baby, Felix, and we all had a dinner of ripperl, potato salad, more bratwurstle, and more sauerkraut. As should be clear by now, eating is one of the main activities here, and for good reason: it’s all delicious.
The full photoset on Flickr is here.
