Regensburg/Liberation Hall/Weltenburg Abbey - Wednesday 27 July

This morning we awoke in Regensburg near the top of the River Danube. During the night we had left the canal, and reached the Danube itself. Our wonderful local tour guide had gone to the trouble of dressing in national costume, and she led us on a walking tour through this medieval town for two hours. It was a glorious, sunny day with blue sky - must have been in the mid 20s for temperature. This town was left untouched during WWII.

The town started way back in Roman times, and we did see part of what had been a Roman tower. The city has cobbled streets throughout the old town. We saw the original stone bridge, still crossing the Danube, and still a main bridge. We also saw the oldest sausage (bratwurst) kitchen in all of Germany, dating back to the year 1135. We didn't sample the sausages, which come in a roll with mustard and a side of sauerkraut. We also saw the old salt storage house. We walked through a variety of squares, small alleys and a number of the famous towers of the wealthy citizens who lived here in the middle ages. We walked through Regensburg Cathedral, a Gothic church.

Regensburg was once home to Oskar Schindler, remembered in "Schindler's List". Another proud son of Regensburg is the current Pope, Pope Benedict XVI. Today the BMW factory and the university are amongst the largest employers.

After lunch we headed off on our tour to the Liberation Hall and then the Weltenburg Abbey which is the world's oldest monastery brewery. The Liberation Hall was a monument erected by King Ludwig I to celebrate the defeat of Napolean and the union of Germany. It looked like a copy of the Pantheon in Rome. It was impressive, with spectacular views toward the Danube River.

Then we were back into the bus and heading towards the Abbey which was located on a beautiful spot beside the Danube Gorge. The Abbey itself had an amazing church, with incredible decoration inside - the most impressive we've seen on this trip. We had time for a drink - a Weltenburg dark beer, and a Coca Cola for me. Huge pretzels were also served.



Then we had a short walk to a boat that took us for a 20 minute trip along the gorge. It was absolutely beautiful - very scenic. 

Back at our boat we had dinner and then headed to the lounge to blob out for the evening, while we sailed along the Danube. During dinner we sailed past another incredible monument built by King Ludwig - the Walhalla Monument (Steve had biked to this while we were on our trip to the Liberation Hall/Weltenburg Abbey). It looked like the Parthenon on top of the Acropolis, and completely out of place. Impressive though!