Regensburg, Day 1

The crossed keys are the coat of arms of the city of Regensburg, from St. Peter, the patron saint of the city.

Regensburg is OLD. As with so many old cities, the impetus was the river and its transport capabilities. The Romans came in 90AD, but it had been a camp before that. Regensburg eventually became an important political center of influence. Today, it's a World Heritage Site, because of the still-extant Medieval and earlier buildings. Regensburg is, thankfully, one of the lucky places that escaped most of the ravages of WWII.

One of the most interesting things I learned today was that this is the place where the postal system that was eventually copied all over Europe developed. There is something about communications that really grabs me. The foresight and organization that are required, and the terrific usefulness to the end user are terrific. Plus I can't help but think it must have contributed to the rise of literacy.

The Danube (Donau, auf Deutsch) runs right through the city, and our hotel is right on a branch canal constructed in 1973. There's a loch about a half-mile down from the hotel that allows cargo boats to negotiate the water and, I assume, not get mixed up with the tourist boats that dock near the city. We watched a boat go through the loch; the water rushing in behind the gate, until it was the same depth as the water on the other side. Then the gate opened and the very long cargo boat continued on its way.

The duck family was waddling down the walking path that runs along the water. Mom was worried about us so she hurried her ducklings along.

The "monument" with all the faces is a bit of "up yours!" from the landowner to the city. The city wanted part of the land, my guess is for something to do with the canal, but the landowner didn't want to sell. The city took it anyway, so the landowner built several of these pylons on the patch he still owned. They're just awful--Celtic juxtaposed with Egyptian, mixed with Roman and gawd knows what else. Just dreadful, but a funny, human story. I took this picture because of the guitarist--Regensburg had the oldest music school in Europe.

Couldn't resist the picture of the hyacinths--which I smelled before I saw them. Gorgeous!

And St. Peter's Cathedral. Old, started in 1274, first phase went until 1520, then Ludwig I finished it mid-19th C. I will remember it, though, because I sat in the cafe across the street, drinking a dark (dunkel) beer, while downloading a German dictionary to my Kindle. My, how times have changed. When I first started traveling, I had to carry printouts of everything, plus books to read, plus guidebooks. There was no easy way to stay in touch with anyone. There were telephone offices where you could schedule a time to make an overseas call. To share your experiences, you wrote letters, which could take two weeks to get to their destinations.

Now I can do that, all of that, with just a Kindle Fire or equivalent machine. Now if I just had a transporter......