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Larry's Tour: Regensburg
Program veteran Larry Guin has compiled a tour
guide to Regensburg and some of the major attractions within traveling
distance of the city. Browse these pages to explore the wonderful
opportunities you have ahead of you or, while you are in Regensburg, to plan
your next trip. Be sure to keep us posted about your plans on the SiR
Discussion List so we can follow you around Europe electronically!
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At somewhere between 500 and 800 years old, our apartment buildings are relatively new since
the history of Regensburg goes back 2,000 years. In fact, Regensburg is one
of Germany's oldest cities.
1. The Romans built a wall around the city during the Roman Empire (a little
of it still remains).
2. Crusaders gathered there over a thousand years ago on their way to conquer
the Holy Land. The Stone Bridge in town was the beginning point for the
Second and Third Crusades.
3. Charlemagne ruled the Holy Roman Empire for a while from
Regensburg.
4. Napoleon and his armies captured the city in 1809.
Here is a short history of the past 2,000 years:
History of Regensburg , along with a short summary
of the town's attractions,
Attractions of Regensburg.
The Old Town
Regensburg is a modern city of 125,000 - shopping malls, industry,
and the latest technology. Mercedes Benz builds cars here and Siemans makes
computer chips. But this isn't the Regensburg that we live in, not even
close. We will live in the Old Town, a circle in the center of Regensburg,
which is preserved as it appeared in the 13th and 14th centuries. The city
enforces a ban on new construction, except for repairs. This is the Europe
that most travelers want to see - a charming Old World medieval town - yet
Regensburg is not a tourist town. It has no major airport, so it is left up
to the locals and a few lucky travelers to enjoy. It has the look and feel of
a small town and Nita and I rarely ventured to the outskirts of Regensburg. I
think that we went to the mall twice during the whole semester. The Old Town
is just too charming to leave.
Regensburg is quintessential Europe in its most scenic and romantic form:
narrow winding cobblestone streets; towers and turrets; stunning church
artwork, small pastry shops, a Gothic cathedral, the Danube River, a palace, a
mini-Oktoberfest (in September), and warm, fun-loving people. I was there for
exactly 100 days in 1997 and every day that I walked out of the apartment and
onto the street, I thought, "Man, am I glad to be here!"
All of the Old Town is closed to most traffic; trams and taxis are allowed on
the major streets only. Our apartment is on a pedestrian-only street, no
vehicles at all. You can turn left onto the street and, in less than five
minutes, you will be at the old Stone Bridge over the Danube River. Built
during the early part of the 12th century, the bridge is almost 870 years old
and will probably last another 870. If you turn right instead, you will be at
the cathedral in two minutes. Construction began on the cathedral in 1250 and
continued for another 250 years. Both are historic, beautiful, and very
impressive.
Nita and I traveled to many of the large European cities on our last trip:
London, Paris, Rome, etc. I'm not sure that I enjoyed any of them as much as
Regensburg - it is that charming. The atmosphere is just so enjoyable, it's
almost magical: pastel-colored buildings everywhere, large open squares where
people meet to visit, Baroque churches, ... it is an incredible place.
Photos
I am a little limited here since I can only show photos that I can
find on the internet. There are other pictures of the colorful old city
gates, the Roman wall with its keyhole openings to shoot arrows from, and
beautiful flower-filled parks that I would like to include, but can't find.
But let's go with what we do have.
1. Let's begin with a shot of the Old Town:
The Old Town
All the buildings are concrete and stone; Germans look down upon wooden
structures as temporary and inferior since they don't last for centuries. The
cathedral is, of course, the largest building in the picture and is a couple
of minutes walk away from our apartment. It will be described on some of the
later web sites.
2. There will be better photos later but here are some that reveal the
ambiance of the town:
Ambiance
of Regensburg
3. I don't know who this Japanese guy is, but he takes nice pictures.
Although pictures never capture the emotion of the experience, this guy is
good. The web page that will come up is an index of various cities. You will
want to come back later and visit some of the other cities (more on this
later), but for now, click on the link below, then (on the list of German
cities) click on Regensburg. There are
five pages of pictures for Regensburg. Make sure that you see each of them;
there is a "NEXT" link at the bottom of the pages. (My description of some of
the pictures is found in the next paragraph of this note.)
Japanese Guy's
Indexed Scenes
On the first page, you will see the main train station, a picture of a street
near the cathedral, two pictures of the interior of a church, and the
cathedral. (You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.) On my first day
in Regensburg seven years ago, I was walking around town taking in the
sights. I stumbled across a very plain-looking, small church that was not
mentioned in any of the city's tourist literature or maps. I decided to stick
my head in the door just to see what it was like and was amazed. The two
pictures of the church's interior (on page 1) show what I saw. I am still in
awe of the fact that Europeans consider this normal and nothing out of the
ordinary, certainly not worthy of guiding tourists to it. Be sure and click
on the pictures to enlarge and get the full effect.
The Stone Bridge (Steinerne Bruke), on the
4th page, is Regensburg's symbol and best known landmark. For hundreds of
years, it was the only bridge that crossed the Danube River. At the bottom of
the same page is a well-known old old restaurant in town (located next to the
stone bridge) that is famous for its sausages (or wurst, VOORST). Bratwurst,
yum!
The third picture on the 5th page shows the room from which Charlemagne ruled
the Holy Roman Empire. It is in the Old Town Hall
(Altes Rathaus, or ALT-es RAT-house). Rathaus in German means
"Town Hall". Many today would say that "Rat House" is a good description of
government officials' offices. :-) The old town hall is an interesting
place. Upstairs are the headquarters for various ruling emperors and
legislatures over the centuries. Downstairs is a torture chamber
(fortunately, no longer in use, although it can be toured!)
4. Here is another traveler's index of several cities, with Regensburg
selected:
Second Indexed Scenes
The picture of the "Northern Gate of the Roman Fort" shows an arch over the
entryway. These stones were laid by the Romans; the keystone at the top of
the arch wedged the other stones into place and has kept them there
undisturbed (i.e., without falling) for about 1,800 years.
5. I hope this works. This site,
Panoramic Views, has 360 degree views (movies) of several places around
Regensburg.
If it doesn't work, try this one. It is a similar site:
Alternate
Panoramic Views .
To see this, I don't know if you have to have any special software on your
computer or not; I don't think so though. Just click on the various red dots
to see the panoramic views (or the underlined locations on the alternate
site). This is pretty cool technology: you can control the camera by using
the VCR-type buttons or you can drag your cursor across the picture while
holding down the left-hand mouse button. For example, to see the tops of the
buildings, point to the movie, hold down the left-mouse button and drag the
cursor up. Pretty cool!
If the name has "kirche" at the end, it is a church; if it has a "platz"
(German for "place"), it is an open-air square.
Our apartment is very close to the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall). In fact, in
the panoramic view of the Altes Rathaus, you will see an optician's shop
called Apolla Optik. Our apartment is less than 100 yards behind
Apolla Optik.
6. Here are some miscellaneous shots around town that can be zoomed by
clicking on them:
Miscellaneous photos
Other Nearby Locations
7. This is an interesting site:
Danube River Sites
This link contains a number of photos around Regensburg, then shows other
locations down the Danube River (Donau in German) between Regensburg and
Passau, which is about 50 miles away.
8. Let's go back to our Japanese guy's index (click on the link below) that
we saw earlier and look at some other nearby towns.
Japanese Guy's
Index Again
Click on Rothenburg, a beautifully preserved, walled city that isn't far from
Regensburg. The last picture on page 1 shows the
Altar of the Twelve Apostles that is entirely hand-carved out of
wood by one of Germany's most famous craftsmen. The alter also contains a
drop of blood (encased in glass) that the Vatican has certified is a drop of
Jesus' blood. Whether it is or not is certainly debatable, but the Vatican
investigated (long, long ago) and determined that the claim was provable.
Also click on Nuremberg (Nuernberg), which is about an hour from Regensburg.
Nuremberg is a fascinating town with a lot of beautiful old buildings and a
lot of history. It is where Hitler consolidated his power (photo)
and first convinced the German people that Jews were not worthy of being
considered human beings. Fortunately, it is also where the Nuremberg trials
placed many of Hitler's top officers on trial for war crimes after the war was
over (photo).
Be careful on the Japanese Guy's Nuremberg site or you will miss a lot. He
actually has 7 pages of pictures of Nuremberg, even though on his index page,
it looks like there is just one page. Be sure to click on the "NEXT" link at
the bottom of page 1 and later pages.
You will also see excellent pictures of Munich, Neuschwanstein, and lower down
the index page (under Italy), 3 pages of great pictures of Venice (labeled
Venezia) from our earlier tour visits. I didn't find this web site until
after I had sent the earlier letters.
9. Let's also go back to another index visited earlier.
Attractions Very Close to Regensburg
Click on (1) Nurnberg (Nuremberg), (2) Passau, and (3) the
Rhine River.for some excellent photos of nearby attractions. (Again, I
didn't find this site until after I had sent the earlier letters.)
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