But seriously, my girlfriend, Dana, was to be presenting a talk at the International Herpes Workshop 2001 during the week of July 28th to August 3rd at the University of Regensburg. Along with registration for the conference came a tour selection and a banquet at the Thurn and Taxis Palace, and we thought we'd make the best of the remaining time and see what we could see.
We arrived Saturday midday only to find that the reception desk at our hotel was closed from 11:00am to 4:00pm, a blunt reminder that it's best to make certain, beyond all doubt, that you understand all the documents you receive while planning a trip. In this case, we received a fax from the hotel that did contain the hours of the front desk, but in a format we didn't recognize as hours of operation.
*DOH!*
The remainder of Saturday was spent settling in and getting Dana set up at the University.
It should be noted here that our room at Hotel Am Peterstor, nestled among the narrow, cobblestone streets of Regensburg's historic district, was quite clean and well accoutred, despite the unremarkable exterior facade. Also, the clerk at the front desk was a true godsend and became our greatest ally while we were there, answering every question imaginable with a smile and a great deal of patience. We were pleasantly surprised.
Daily continental breakfast at the cafe below our lodging proved convenient as heck. We found the comestibles to be quite tasty and the staff friendly, enthusiastic and yet again, very patient, as we had some difficulty with the language barrier.
If you need to get around a bit further than pedestrian travel will take, there is an extensive network of bus routes connecting just about every corner of the city, and the fares are reasonable. Just be sure you understand the schedule clearly, as you may find yourself in a bind.
As evidenced by the huge herd corralled at the city's central train station,
the bicycle is another popular form of transit here. There is a dedicated bicycle lane above the curb on the main streets seperating the automobile travel lanes from the pedestrian sidewalks, and these aspects of the city are under apparently constant manual cleanup by roadcrews. Kudos to the administration of this program; American municipalities could probably learn something from this.
I should also point out that, for those with VISA checkcards & major ATM cards, it's no problem keeping your wallet stocked with local currency, and upon returning home, I found the service charges had been very reasonable (using a credit card for cash advances will likely prove significantly more costly).
Sunday, we headed out to discover the secrets of the city on foot.
Around nearly every corner, you can find yet another wide open plaza (platz) featuring
sidewalk cafes,
which all seem to offer quality fare and service, ornamental fountains and sculptures,
and in many cases, chapels of interesting architecture.
We snaked through the city past St. Peter's Cathedral
and down toward the Danube. Just below the
Steinerne Brücke (Stone Bridge), you can catch the cruise
out to Walhalla (further in the text). Dana wanted to find the Porta Praetoria (the last remaining ruin of a Roman fortress that stood here, it's around 2000 years old)
but we managed to find the Schottenportal first, at St. Jakob's Monastery.
After a day or so attending to tasks pertaining to Dana's conference, we took the afternoon cruise on the Danude to find Walhalla, of which we'd caught a glimpse in a postcard somewhere. I'm not the most cultured individual, but I'm really surprised I've never heard this monument mentioned anywhere or by anyone, including any of a number of acquaintances & family members who've been to Germany. A kind of replica of the Parthenon in Greece, Walhalla sits majestically upon a hillside overlooking the Danube just east of Regensburg.
It's a vigourous hike to get up to it, but it's worth it. For (I believe it was) 5DM, you can go inside and ogle the many sculptures housed within.
There is the large full statue of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, the monument's mastermind, and six sections of busts of famous Germans of the past, each section bound by a statue representing any of a number of virtues.
Also on the Danube, just west of Walhalla, there is a tiny village nestled in just below a sharp hill. The last vestiges of something indiscernible but ultra cool looking decay in the sun at the high point there. We would have loved to check it out, get a good picture (which proved impossible without a zoom) or at the very least find out what the heck it was, but since noone on the boat spoke English, we were unable and forgot in due course. If someone wants to go check it out and drop me a line, go for it.
About now, I had a different itch to scratch altogether. As a fanatic for music and "scrounging" for CDs, when I found a reseller, Musicland, tucked in among the shops on one of the back streets of town, I had to spend a few minutes and Marks and check out what they had.
(Just because I'm away from home doesn't mean I don't need the same things I need there, right?) With the longing temporarily fulfilled, it was time for the next mini-adventure.
Our Danube cruise to the Weltenburg Monastery, said to be one of the oldest breweries in the world, was enjoyable enough, but proved photographically disappointing. This seemed to be the place suffering from the most severe restoration work that we encountered on our trip. We were never offerred a tour of the brewing process (as I expected we would, but I have no real idea how these things work), and the monastery itself proved more of an isolated biergarten than a holy place. We have some video, but didn't get any good photos.
As we were still somewhat concerned we didn't know where the banquet on the final night was to be held, our next outting was to locate the Thurn & Taxis Palace. The Thurn & Taxis family owns a great deal of real estate in Regensburg, and I suspect elsewhere, and I believe is a part of the aristocracy in Germany, but I'll have to do some more research to be definite. We were told the Princess who had previously lived at this palace was a bit flighty for the family's taste and she was relocated elsewhere. But I digress..
The palace sits just south of St. Emmeram Platz and adjoins St. Emmeram Basilica in the southwestern quadrant of the historic district. When you enter the gate,
you find yourself in a courtyard full of sculpture and fresco,
with a few important clergy interned here and there. Like the chapel at Weltenburg, the private and bigger temples at Emmeram are unbelievably ornate and mindboggling to observe (I must discuss a lack of pictures with the director of photography, but I suspect it had to do with humility and spirituality).
On our final night, we had only the banquet at the T&T Palace
and then it was off to Romania! I hope you found this article helpful and informative and please feel free to check out the Romania leg and leave comments on both. Special thanks to my Bavarian ePal, Patricia Logan for pointing out and helping me correct some of the details herein.
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