Kyra's Excellent Adventure Part 9: Regensburg

Kyra's Excellent Adventure, Part 9: Going Medieval, part 1: Regensburg

Time to finish up my blog series on last year's trip to Germany (here's Part 1) before my husband and I head off on our next adventure, later next month. Stay tuned to find out where we're going!

We bookended our trip into eastern Germany with stops in three beautiful medieval cities. The first one was Regensburg, which is especially known for its cathedral. I remembered the cathedral from when we were in Germany in 1978-79; in June of 79, my best friend from back home came to spend the month with us, and she and I went all over the place on the train. Regensburg was one of those stops. I was excited to see the cathedral again this time. It's very squeezed in among a lot of other buildings and a good chunk of it was covered in scaffolding, but we still got some great views of it. Here it is lit by the sunset:

St. Peter's Cathedral, Regensburg

That evening, we all went our separate ways for supper. My husband and I found ourselves in this square near the cathedral. The yellow building was the site of the Perpetual Diet. From Wikipedia:

"The Perpetual Diet of Regensburg[1] or the Eternal Diet of Regensburg[2][nb 1] (German: Immerwährender Reichstag) was a session of the Imperial Diet (Reichstag) of the Holy Roman Empire that sat continuously from 1663 to 1806 in Regensburg in present-day Germany.[2]

"Previously, the Diet had convened in different cities but, beginning in 1594, it met only in the town hall in Regensburg. On 20 January 1663, the Diet convened to deal with threats from the Ottoman Empire (the Turkish Question).[2] Since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the Holy Roman Emperor had been formally bound to accept all decisions made by the Diet. Hence, out of fear that the Emperor would disregard the Diet's role by not calling sessions,[3] it never dissolved and became a perpetual diet."

With the obvious jokes, my husband and I grabbed an outdoors table at a small restaurant on the square, the Hofbräuhaus Regensburg, and ordered Abendsbrot, delicious breads and cheeses and a selection of interesting wursts. This was the view from our table:

This square was really pretty busy with people coming and going, eating ice cream and hanging out with friends, and we had a wonderful, relaxing time sitting and eating and watching the world go by. This was one of our favorite restaurants in Germany. Actually, they were all our favorites, but we had a really nice time here.

We spent the night at a nice hotel, in an old building but renovated with an elevator! At this point I was getting kind of tired of lugging my suitcase up and down narrow stairways. The hotel was on the Street of the Happy Turks, in a very hip and happening part of town. Lots of people out enjoying the town at night, lots of fun.

The next day we set out to do our sightseeing, including a return trip to the cathedral.

The inside is just as spectacular. We got there just in time to enjoy the short noon service, organ music and a brief sermon (in German). A nice, peaceful break from all the touristy running around.

Interior, St. Peter's Cathedral, Regensburg

Interior, St. Peter's Cathedral, Regensburg

The Danube River runs through Regensburg. My husband and I walked across this bridge with this cool medieval gate tower and got a great view of the city, with the cathedral and interesting medieval buildings.

View from bridge over Danube River, Regensburg

Right near the bridge is the building housing the Regensburg tourism office, with FREE PUBLIC RESTROOMS! Yay.

And then it was off to dinner with relatives in Rodewisch.

Next time: Going Medieval part 2, Nuremburg