Day 10 Thursday, June 2/11 Regensburg

Eating lunch in the dining room while going through a lock.  

After negotiating more locks and enjoying lovely views along the Main - Danube Canal we sailed toward Regensburg.  Last evening we reached the European Divide, the highest point along the Canal. We all went up to the top deck and enjoyed a toast.  From there  we worked our way down the locks to the Danube.  This included a technical stop for part of the night.  We arrived in Regensburg, on the Danube,  just before 2 p.m.  

Regensberg is now the fourth largest city in Bavaria but was once the capital of this area.  It still has a medieval feel to it and is one of the best preserved historic cities due to suffering no major damage during World War II.  It is known as the “city of churches” because there are so many places to worship.  Christianity was spread from there during the 7th and 8th centuries.  

Our guide, Christina, was quite surprised when we headed toward the town square and the bells started tolling.  The sound of so many church bells was something to hear and we were surprised to watch an important church procession going into the Cathedral of St. Peter, one of the most dominant in the town.   Christina was not sure what this was about but was quite excited that we got to see and hear it.  Listen to the bells!  

The town square where we watched the procession was full of locals and seemed very vibrant.  Often while touring there was a mutual obversation going on between the tourists and the locals.  Here I really felt it strongly.  As it turned out it was a holiday and everyone was out enjoying their time off.  Mostly in biergartens.  One great thing I noticed about Europe is that they don't wait until Friday night to enjoy themselves and they do so in a very pleasant and civilized manner.  

Before the tour John and I walked to the Stone Bridge which was considered an architectural wonder in its time.  

You have to look closely to see the date.  It was built between 1135 and 1146. 

We enjoyed many beautiful views from the bridge and we were amazed at how fast the current was here.  Don't fall in!

Check out the Roman Arch still holding up!

Churches so large you cannot get a shot of the whole facade. 

Zooming in on amazing details on church towers. 

As we walked the charming streets of Regensberg we saw some interesting shops with Bavarian wares. 

Hats galore.

Love the window boxes on yellow background.

I spy...Grant and Gisele at the oldest Sausage house in Germany! 

We chose a less famous but gorgeous church "biergarten.   And this was not unusual for churches to have these.  

I went in to use washrooms...very elegant! 

Ooops...watch where you are going.

We were berthed on the other side of this River Boat, part of Scenic Tours.  We had to walk through their lobby to get to shore.  This happened a couple of times due to limited docking space.