Regensburg

I spent this past weekend with Juliane in her native little Bavarian village and in the cute lil' university town of Regensburg. According to that wikipedia link, settlement in Regensburg dates back to the Stone Age and there are lots of really old things around the town, to the extent that when I pointed out some old things near the Autobahn exit and asked what they were, Juliane replied, "Oh, that's some old stuff, we have lots of it lying around." !!! She clarified this answer by saying given the long history of people inhabiting this area, it's difficult to know what all the old stuff is.

And there really is a lot of old stuff lying around! Regensburg survived WWII relatively intact and needless to say, I spent a lot of time amazed at how old and cute everything is! For someone who comes from somewhere that has standing buildings less than 200 years old and is a bit of history junkie, it was damn awesome (but maybe boring for others). 


Here are the photos.

Regensburg is one of those old cities that incorporates old things into newer things (as they should). I was pretty impressed with this old wall that looks like it used to be part of some sort of mediaeval battlement. Juliane told me not to be so because....

...here I am walking under the Castra Regina, a fort built by the ROMANS during the reign of Marcus Aurelius!

Anyway, the town is dominated by the twin towers of the Dom, 

which your classic Gothic Cathedral, although I noted it didn't have a rose window.

There is also an old stone bridge (Die Alte Brucke) which was used by CRUSADERS to cross the Danube (according to wiki)

According to Juliane, the bridge was only recently closed to traffic due to the damage it was getting from the cars and buses, so here I am taking a classic tourist shot (with Dom in background).

A view of the Dom and Die Alte Brucke from a beer garden - which was open despite the weather being very cold!

And the classic postcard shot of the bridge and Dom over the Danube. 

The Mediaeval church or St. Emmeran's, now part of the palace of the Princely family of Thurn und Taxis.

The Altstadt (old town) of Regensburg is UNESCO heritage listed but the town itself is not a museum piece - this mediaeval building used to the homes for merchants but are now student apartments!?!

Another old house that's clearly still lived in.

Mediaeval ramparts incorporated into modern housing.

Oh look, this playground is also built like a castle!!!

Walking through the streets, it was like turning back 500 years.

The old alleys are so little, I could almost touch them arm to arm!

But it's not all mediaeval streets, this Platz has some Baroque buildings

And this church (I can't remember which one it was, sorry Juliane!) has the classic Baroque/Rococo interior. There was also a pastel pink Marian chapel attached! 

But returning to modern times, Pete Doherty is apparently now a resident of Regensburg.

And this is the window he smashed in an attempt to get a guitar that was in the window. Thumbs up, Pete. Thumbs up. 

So for people who want to pretend that they walked through a magic portal and ended up somewhere in the Middle Ages, Regensburg is for you! Juliane was mildly disappointed that we didn't bump into a tour group where the guides are dressed in period clothing. I'm not so disappointed - I'm going to come back in the summer to see it all when the weather gets better!