Part 2...
Regensburg, Germany
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The view of Regensburg from the Old Stone Bridge - the entrance into town
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We arrived in Regensburg and were met at the dock by a local tour guide. One of the nice things about a Viking River Cruise is that at each stop, you have an included excursion - generally a walking tour of the city pointing out the highlights. This is always in the morning, leaving the rest of the day up to you - you may take an optional excursion or just explore on your own. Regensburg is much larger than Nuremberg, but still had the European charm that I was drawn to.
The apartment of Oskar Schindler which he lived in for several years after the war.
Despite the continued frosty temps, we really enjoyed our morning tour. We then we had an afternoon excursion booked to the Weltenburg Abbey, famous for it's dark ale that has been brewed there by the monks since 1050! This excursion was not quite all it was cracked up to be- it took a long while to get there and to be honest there wasn't much to see. But we did have lunch - including apple strudel, which made it all worth it! - and after a quick peek in the shop it was time to head back in to town. We had one thing on our minds- in the morning we had passed a Bratwurst shop which our local guide had said was the best and orginal shop,
Wurstkuchl, and had been in business for 500 years!- we knew that we HAD to try the Regensburg style of Brats...the mustard used here was their own recipe -a grainy, sweet mustard, different that the yellow mustard in Nuremberg. ( however,I preferred both the brats and mustard of Nuremberg)
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| Wurstkuchle outdoor seating area |
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| Grilling the brats |
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| Best Bratwurst in Regensburg! |
Passau, Germany
Arriving in Passau, we noticed that this was a very popular stop for many River Cruises - there were countless other ships parked along the riverside, and it was very interesting to compare them to our sleek, new vessel. After a quick perusal we definitely decided we had made the right choice with Viking - one which was reiterated later in the day by a couple of older ladies who told us they would love to be on
our ship, because theirs wasn't that great, lol.
Our included morning tour took us to a very special pipe organ concert in St. Stephan's Cathedral. This pipe organ is the third largest church organ in the world. It was really very beautiful and impressive to listen to, but boy those wooden pews were uncomfortable - yet somehow, several of the men in our group managed to be lulled to sleep by the hymns being played... my husband included! (He claims he was closing his eyes to really "experience" the music - yeah, right)
Our afternoon in Passau was spent decorating gingerbread and making marzipan sculptures at Cafe Simon.
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No bad eh?
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Of course, with all of that "hard work" making gingerbread and all, we really needed to find a little something to eat...hmmm....perhaps some Bratwurst? Yes, please! We made our way to Braueri E.F.Peschl where we not only sampled their Bratwurst, but they served us a basket of fresh out-of-the-oven pretzels! Now, these pretzels were not your dry, doughy, preservative filled, movie-theater style - there were the real deal! Yum, yum - we made quick work of that meal. We were all in heaven as we headed back to the ship, which was conveniently parked right across the street. We went up to the top deck to enjoy the views, and the slightly warmer temps. and sat there and reminisced about those pretzels and how great they were - the restaurant was just across the street. And then I got a brilliant idea! I shared it with the group and everyone agreed- my husband was going to run across the street and procure a supply of fresh pretzels, to-go! Never mind that it was a half hour before the ship was scheduled to leave - we had to have just one more pretzel!!
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| Braueri E.F. Peschl - best pretzels ever!! |
Watching the clock somewhat nervously, we waited with baited breath as 6p.m. drew nearer. The captain was getting himself positioned in the wheel house and the men in the group decided to go down to the gang plank and prevent them from bringing it in. I have to wonder if they were more concerned about Andrew or their promised pretzel? Suddenly, in a flurry of activity, Andrew emerged triumphant with not just a few pretzels, but an entire basket held high like a trophy- in true "Andrew Style" he bought their entire supply and had to wait for them to be baked. We were all cheering from up top and even a the traffic stopped to let him cross the road, seemingly knowing not only the urgency but also the value of his precious cargo!
Andrew was met with a hero's welcome and we had enough pretzels for not just our group of friends, but all of the other travellers on the top deck. We even offered one to the Captain, who had been watching the whole spectacle quite amused, but he declined. It was an epic moment, and one that we'll all remember fondly!
Auf Wiedersehen! Our time in Germany had come to an end (a very fun and delicious end, mind you!) and we were all looking forward to heading to Austria the next day.
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| Austria, here we come! |
Part 3 coming soon....
Despite the continued frosty temps, we really enjoyed our morning tour. We then we had an afternoon excursion booked to the Weltenburg Abbey, famous for it's dark ale that has been brewed there by the monks since 1050! This excursion was not quite all it was cracked up to be- it took a long while to get there and to be honest there wasn't much to see. But we did have lunch - including apple strudel, which made it all worth it! - and after a quick peek in the shop it was time to head back in to town. We had one thing on our minds- in the morning we had passed a Bratwurst shop which our local guide had said was the best and orginal shop, Wurstkuchl, and had been in business for 500 years!- we knew that we HAD to try the Regensburg style of Brats...the mustard used here was their own recipe -a grainy, sweet mustard, different that the yellow mustard in Nuremberg. ( however,I preferred both the brats and mustard of Nuremberg)
Our included morning tour took us to a very special pipe organ concert in St. Stephan's Cathedral. This pipe organ is the third largest church organ in the world. It was really very beautiful and impressive to listen to, but boy those wooden pews were uncomfortable - yet somehow, several of the men in our group managed to be lulled to sleep by the hymns being played... my husband included! (He claims he was closing his eyes to really "experience" the music - yeah, right)
Of course, with all of that "hard work" making gingerbread and all, we really needed to find a little something to eat...hmmm....perhaps some Bratwurst? Yes, please! We made our way to Braueri E.F.Peschl where we not only sampled their Bratwurst, but they served us a basket of fresh out-of-the-oven pretzels! Now, these pretzels were not your dry, doughy, preservative filled, movie-theater style - there were the real deal! Yum, yum - we made quick work of that meal. We were all in heaven as we headed back to the ship, which was conveniently parked right across the street. We went up to the top deck to enjoy the views, and the slightly warmer temps. and sat there and reminisced about those pretzels and how great they were - the restaurant was just across the street. And then I got a brilliant idea! I shared it with the group and everyone agreed- my husband was going to run across the street and procure a supply of fresh pretzels, to-go! Never mind that it was a half hour before the ship was scheduled to leave - we had to have just one more pretzel!!
Andrew was met with a hero's welcome and we had enough pretzels for not just our group of friends, but all of the other travellers on the top deck. We even offered one to the Captain, who had been watching the whole spectacle quite amused, but he declined. It was an epic moment, and one that we'll all remember fondly!
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