Travels with Breck: Regensburg Friday 8/23/13

Yesterday the Internet was really iffy so I did not get the blog done - did get pictures on Facebook but was kicked off before I got the last caption done. Getting ready to leave for our tour of Nuremburg - will finish yesterday's post later and do today's too.

Regensburg was a neat city but our guide was AWFUL. We really didn't see much because he went off on tangents and didn't keep walking while he talked. The city seemed like a fairly neat place to see too so it was too bad the guy was the pits.

The first stop was perhaps the neatest. There was a stone bridge across the Danube which had been built in the 1st half of the 12th century. It was the first solid bridge across the Danube - an engineering marvel for the time. Right by the bridge was a restaurant - The Old Sausage Kitchen - which has been in continuous service since they started building the bridge in 1135!!!

While we were up by the City Hall there were a few weddings going on. Our guide sai all marriages had to be civil ( I suppose the have church weddings in addition if they want) and that Fridays and Saturdays were busy days. On our way along the river we saw a young couple in traditional dress having photos taken. We later saw them at the City Hall with their parents and friends - obviously their wedding day. Our guide said the young people are once again enjoying wearing tradition dress for special occasions.

We went through the Jewish section of the town. The actually had a relatively small Jewish population at the beginning of Hitler's reign because they had had earlier troubles with Jews being forced out of town. There were some plaques embedded in the street commemorating those that were sent to camps. And in some of the buildings tombstones from the Jewish cemetery had been plastered into the exterior walls.

After the Regensburg tour we came back to the ship for lunch and got ready for a second tour of the Weltenburg Abbey.

We got off the ship at a lock in Regansburg and took a bus to the town of Kelheim to start our tour. It ended up being very different than advertised but it was okay. The tour was mostly of the town and very little of the abbey. We did go to a biergarten and had a beer and pretzel. Then we took a tour boat through the Danube narrows which was really pretty. A lot of locals using the river boating and playing along the shore. Really nice place. At the Abbey we went to the Church of St. George and had a talk about its history.

Here are some pictures.