Postcard from Regensburg

Regensburg is the victim of hype. Our daily handout describes the city and its people as “entertaining and informative, glorious and gruesome, romantic and racy.” Yes, all that’s ridiculous, but I was at least willing to believe “glorious,” given that it was once more commercially important than Munich and Nuremberg, and that it had escaped the bombs of WW II  (whereas Nuremberg was 90% destroyed). I expected to see street after street of half-timbered marvels, an old city center caught in a time warp. Nothing of the kind. I saw old architectural forms encased in stucco facades. It was pretty, even lovely at times. But it didn’t knock my socks off, and that’s what a UNESCO World Heritage Site is supposed to do. So thank you Stone Bridge, old wurst kitchen, Rathaus, and Dom of St. Peter’s. Thanks for the pleasant memory.

(What did knock my socks off was the news that Regensberg is denying passage to any ship that wants to sail under its Stone Bridge just so it can preserve the millennium-old design of the bridge. This means that any vessel in transit must use the Main-Danube Canal as a detour! The nerve of these guys!)

Also had a tepid opinion of the Danube Narrows, which we sailed through in the afternoon. It would have been an altogether drab experience if it hadn’t been for two or three saving camera shots. The last of these was of the Weltenburg Abbey, site of the oldest monastic brewery in the world. Their beer dates back to the middle of the 11th century.