August 9 – Regensburg, German

It is another hot day although maybe not quite so humid.  There was a major storm throughout Europe last night so perhaps their drought is over.  However, we have a very sunny day.

We spent the morning cruising.

One of the main sights was Valhalla, a memorial along the river dedicated to laudable and distinguished people of Germany.  It is modeled after the Acropolis in Greece.

Our stop today, Regensburg, dates back to the Roman times and parts of the Roman Wall and gates are still intact.  The walk took us to  remnants of the Roman walls,

to an old Cathedral,

to the old bridge  that has been almost completely restored and through the windy streets throughout the old medieval city center.

There were many old, quaint buildings...

One building had a large David and Goliath mural.

We also saw a large metal half sphere that had a scale model of Regensburg in the Middle Ages.

After the tour we settled in at a small restaurant that specialized in all types of ice cream desserts…five or six pages of colorful photos of ice cream desserts.  It was a very difficult decision but someone has to do it.  Very yummy.

The walk back to the boat took us back along the very pretty river front.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on board.  We had a lecture this afternoon by a gentleman who has studied the history of the attempts at building the canal and had written a book on it.  The first attempt at a canal was during the reign of Charlemagne, back in the late 8^th century.  It didn’t work then.

This evening we are traveling through the Main-Rhine Canal that connects the Danube River to Main River and on to the Rhine.  Some of the locks are almost 90 feet tall.