Day 154-walking around Regensburg

   June 6-The day started out overcast, so we were unable to observe the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun, which was on-going at sunrise.  That was a shame, but maybe we will defeat aging and we will still be around in 2117 to see it then! 

On the stone bridge with Regensburg behind us.

   We had another good German breakfast and then we headed into Regensburg.  It was odd for me to visit Regensburg by car, since I always got around by foot or bike while I lived here, and it was not until we started walking around town that some of the sites and streets started to become familiar.  We walked across the old stone bridge, which was built in the mid-12^th century, and then explored the narrow streets of the inner city.  Since Regesnburg was never heavily militarized during WWII, it was not bombed by the Allies and retains all of its original churches, Renaissance-era towers, narrow alleyways, and other medieval and Renaissance structures. 

   We climbed the tower at the Holy Trinity church to get a good view of the town.  Then we headed over to Dampfnudeln Ulli’s to eat Dampfnudeln.  I have not had this delicacy in almost twenty years.  YUM!!  We walked around and within the old Gothic-style cathedral, which dates to the 13^th century and then we saw the Porta Praetoria gate in the old Roman wall that surrounded the town during the Roman era. 

Rudy, Ruth, and Spencer dig into their Dampfnudeln.

The cathedral's elaborat Gothic decor.

The magnificent Regensburg cathedral.

  

  

More of the old windows.

Elaborate stained glass windows in the Cathedral.

                                                  

The kids stand in front of the Porta Praetoria, which was the southern gate into the ancient Roman fortress of Ratisbonne, from which Regensburg developed in the Dark Ages.  Next to the gate is the Roman watchtower.  The current street level is several feet higher than the ground level of the Roman times.

Looking upriver at the old stone bridge and the medieval storehouse on the left.

The layout of medieval Regensburg.

   Ruth and Rudi headed home and we did some more shopping and then we drove downstream to see Walhalla, which was built by King Ludwig I to honor famous Germans.  Busts of more recent important figures have also been added, including Albert Einstein and Sophie Scholl, who published a student protest paper against the Nazis during WWII.  She, her brother, and a friend were caught by the Nazis and executed. 


Inside Walhalla.

 

Mendel, the father of genetics!

 

   Next door was the ruins of the medieval castle of Donaustauf, which was destroyed by the Swedes during the Thirty Years war.  It is now essentially a park for the town, so the kids enjoyed wandering through it and seeing what a real castle looks like, in terms of its construction.  Alex quickly discovered that the Disney castles are not very representative of real life!

With so many gatehouses along the entrance, Donaustauf appears to have been well-defended.



Shan and Thomaheim, twenty years on.



  We drove back to town and to the Uni.  We drove by Thomaheim, where Shan had lived; it looked almost the same as before.  We also walked around the campus a little bit. The campus has changed some with new buildings and a reworked school cafeteria.  We headed back to the Schneiders where we had some käsespätzle that Ruth had made based on Rudi’s family recipe.  It was delicious!  After more beer and good conversation, we were off to bed.