Regensburg Hauptbahnhof

We must have made good progress because by the time we woke at 7am we were already moored at the Bavarian city of Regensberg. We hadn't expected to arrive until around 9am. After breakfast we set off on a tour of the old town with a local German (ie non-Scottish) guide. He told us that he was a final year student majoring in politics. Regensberg is a university town and it seems that most of the local tour guides are university students.
The city boasts many beautiful well-kept buildings and our guide told us quite a bit about the history of the place.
It has a magnificent stone bridge which, stupidly, the Germans blew up in the dying days of the war when they were clearly facing defeat. They thought that they would slow the Allied advance, which it didn't. The bridge was subsequently rebuilt. Being Sunday all the shops aside from cafes and restaurants were closed. As it was, this suited us because it meant there were fewer people around to annoy Brian by getting in the way of his photographs. We wandered round the town for a couple of hours and visited the cathedral, which is large even by normal cathedral standards. As seemed to be the case with so many of the cathedrals we'd seen, the exterior was difficult to photograph properly because of all the scaffolding and building materials about the place. Most such buildings seem to be in a permanent state of undergoing restoration.
Our guide had pointed out to us the best place to buy traditional Bavarian food of sausages on a roll with mustard and sauerkraut, and certainly the cooking smells coming from there were almost irresistible. Brian was keen to try some, but there was such a long queue outside the door that he reluctantly gave up.
Even though the weather was dry it was bitterly cold so after about three hours we were quite happy to head back to the warmth of the ship.
Brian, along with two fellow passengers, Carolyn and Juri, had booked bikes for the late afternoon. Mary wasn't terribly keen on the idea of Brian tempting fate yet again, but bike rides round the area had been highly recommended.
The three of them duly set off, with Brian being the oldest, least experienced and by far the wobbliest.
They rode for quite some distance along the banks of the Danube and criss-crossing the various bridges. They discovered extensive parklands and bike tracks surrounding the city as well as a really picturesque lake. In the course of their ride they covered maybe eight to ten kilometres and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Whether the many pedestrians and cyclists who came so close to being run down by an out of control cyclist enjoyed themselves similarly is another matter.
We had booked in that night for dinner at the Chef's Table, the up-market restaurant on the ship. It was a very noisy gathering, though that was largely self-inflicted because we'd arranged to go there with a lively group of people whom we'd dined with there on the previous occasion.
We then headed to the lounge where a very good Bavarian entertainer and his ten year old son put on a lively show with piano accordion, alpine horn and other such musical instruments.Read more