2 On the Road: European River Cruise

Regensburg Stone Bridge was built in the 12th century and, for more than 800 years, it was the only bridge across the Danube.

By the Stone Bridge is the Historical Sausage Kitchen. They serve Wurstkuchl Bratwurste made from the purest ham of pork. The sausages are small, about the size of a finger, with sauerkraut as the traditional side order. Historische Wurstküche, operating since 1146, claims to have the oldest bratwurst recipe in the world. There's a sausage rivalry between Regensburg and Nurnberg, who also claims to have the oldest recipe.

The gate at the end of the Stone Bridge.

Painted in 1573, this mural of David and Goliath was rediscovered in 1960. It has recently been cleaned and touched up.

If I could only read German.

Like most of the cathedrals in German, St. Peter's Cathedral towers above all the other town structures. Talk about a busy exterior!

Could this one have any more "icing" on it?

Hey, I bet this says the alley is for pedestrians and bicycles only.

Thought I would show some of the streets

The Goldene Turm (Golden Tower) is a so-called “house tower”. It was built in the second half of the 13th century. In the Middle Ages, wealthy merchant families built these towers as status symbols - the more important a family was, the higher the tower they built.

We walked into the courtyard of the Golden Tower. The upper stories have wooden exteriors on three sides and are used as student housing.

This sign on the courtyard wall forbids mopeds and motorcycles.

Doesn't look like everyone was obeying the sign. See the scooter?

Wandering some more narrow streets

Entering Haidplatz.

The gray building was the former inn, 'Zum Goldenen Kreuz' (to the Golden Cross). It once served as quarters for high-ranking diplomats, princes, kings, and emperors. So the story goes that, while he was staying in the city Charles V (ruler of both the Spanish Empire from 1516 and the Holy Roman Empire from 1519) met a lovely local gal named Barbara Blomberg. More on this story later.

Interesting design in the cobblestones of Haidplatz

Statue of Barbara Blomberg in Haidplatz

Just an interesting building. I'm sure it's centuries old, like everything else in this Medieval part of the city, an UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Altes Rathaus has three sections dating from the 13th century. This is the Town Hall Tower.

To the left of the tower is the Gothic Imperial Chamber building and the baroque Town Hall.

A police car burrowed its way through the crowd.

Above the door of the Altes Rathaus is a relief about which we were told a story but I sure don't remember the names of the figures.

Back to the story of Charles V and Barbara Blomberg. Well seems they felt an attraction and she became pregnant. Couldn't have a common burgher's daughter and singer marry the Holy Roman Emperor, so Barbara was quickly married off a court functionary in Brussels. The child , named Jeromín, was taken from his mother at the age of 3 and eventually learned of his heritage. He became a historic military hero named John of Austria.

You know I love taking photos of alleys.

This city bus was four sections long!

Click to enlarge for reading. Tells about the next photo - part of an old Roman fort

Noticed this sign pole by the dock. Look at the top sign.

In the afternoon, I walked across the old Stone Bridge.

From the far bank, I took this photo of the town gate with St. Peter's Cathedral in the background

Renovation of the bridge has been ongoing for years but is supposed to be completed in 2017.

Looking back across the Danube from the Stone Bridge.

We went to a local restaurant for dinner and it was where I had taken the earlier photo across the Danube. This is a photo taken from my seat.

You were out of luck if you drank anything but wine or beer. The very small white pitcher contains warm water. We eventually got some cold water and I was able to order Sprite. It came in small glasses which were hard to get refilled.