1 May 2013 
Kelheim to Regensburg 38 km / Total 428 km 
 ☁ 12C-17C

Hotel am Peterstor, €60 ($78 ) Including breakfast
 

 
Hurrying to Regensburg

We decided to get an extra early start today because Regensburg, the most intact medieval city in Germany, and our next destination, promised to be an interesting town to spend time in. It was only 36 flat kilometers away and it was an easy ride. We saw more people children and adults alike on bikes today than we've seen on our whole trip. Later, it dawned on us that May 1st is a holiday!
 
 
 
The weather forecast had been for 20 C and sunny. But not until 3 pm did the sun briefly peek through the cloudy sky.

We noticed many more cargo boats on the Danube from Kelheim down. 

 
We stopped to eat our lunch in the Donau Park on the western edge of Regensburg which gave us a chance to do some serious people watching. Junko and Hiro got the biggest kick out of the little kids on tiny bikes or special kiddy-carts being pulled behind their parents bikes. You do need bicycle friendly paths for those.
 
 
 
 
Hotel Closed until 4 PM

At 1 PM, we arrived at our reserved hotel in the old quarter near the Palace, to find business hours posted 7-11 & 4-10. Bummer... The door was locked and, when we called the hotel's phone number, it rolled over into a recorded message. We were stuck waiting until 4PM. 
 


We had 3 hours to kill.

Exploring town with loaded bikes is a bit cumbersome. 

Our first stop was a café terrace overlooking the Regensburg Cathedral (dating to 1273) for cappuccino. The Gothic Goliath is a noteworthy towering structure in the center of Old Town. Junko and Hiro went inside the church while we watched the bikes.

Dave and Hiro went to Tourist Information office for maps and the lowdown on what to see. It turns out, Regensburg is a UNESCO World Heritage City because its medieval buildings have survived many centuries mostly intact. It is an open air museum of sorts and the thing to do is to walk around outside and look at the colorful old buildings, churches, plazas and squares.
 

 
Regenburg Sightseeing

We rode our loaded bikes back down to the riverfront and on to the Romanesque Stone Bridge constructed from 1135-46! Originally it was made only from stone but has since been reinforced with concrete. Street performers were out, a steel drummer got some interesting new age sounds out of a kettle. The beer gardens were full. A pair of guys stripped and jumped in the Danube to the cheers of the beer garden crowd. They must have lost a bet.
 

Illuminati in Regensburg

Founder of the Illuminati, Adam Weishaupt, lived here for two years (1785-87) to avoid prosecution. Made famous in Tom Hank's movies, the Illuminati were originally called the 'Federation of the Perfectibilists’ and were outlawed in 1785. Because Regensburg was a 'free city’ outside the ban, Weishaupt could live here out of the reach. This intelligent, educated, forward thinking group of men picked ‘Federation of the Perfectibilists’ for their name? If they would have stuck with that moniker, they would have never made it in the movies.


 

 
5/2 Regensburg ☁☁


City Tour  

After breakfast at 11 am, we joined an hour long city tour. We sat in the "English Speaking" coach. Interesting facts about places we passed sounded through the loudspeaker. Afterwards we went back to some of the places by foot to get a closer look. The Cities Old Town made UNESCO Word Heritage list in 1996, we all agreed, for good reason.

The Saltztadel (Salt Transfer Station) is at the Stonebridge and Regensburg had the right to collect tolls from the valuable salt which was freighted on the Donau in the 1300’s.
 

Walking Around The Charming Old Quarter

Around every corner is a picture worthy narrow cobblestone alley, lined with uneven buildings, often one or more turrets or church steeple peeking out in the end. We made it to the Taxis Palace, occupied by a well-known Turin and Taxis family who moved to Regensburg in 1748. But decided to skip the tour, there was a lot of restoration taking place and we had seen enough gaudy baroque in St. Emmeram next door, which was bought by the family from the church.

After lunch we agreed to meet Junko and Hiro each with take- out dinner of choice in our room. They picked up deli salads; we got Middle Eastern from Jerusalem, a takeout…

Yup, Regensburg was well worth the extra day stay. 

Junko and Hiro Wrote About Regensburg

レーゲンスブルグ
今日はドナウ川沿いの小さな村々を通り抜け軽くここまでやって来た。中世の街。12,3世紀に最も栄えたと言われ往時を忍ばせる石橋や大聖堂に目を見張る。細い路地から教会の塔が覗く。百塔の町。圧巻である。シティツアーバスで石畳を進む。ローマ時代からの砦を見ながらガタガタ走る。ここで人々が長い間積み重ねてきた歴史を想う。路地を歩いているといつの間にか広場にでる。そこで明かるい長い春の夜を楽しむ人々。
朝教会の鐘の音を聞きながら走り始める。鳥がさえずっている。爽やかな朝。今日もペダルを踏んで一日が始まる。色づき始めていた菜の花が，まっ黄色になった。土手にはライラックの花がとぎれなく続いている。
ユキヤナギ、レンギョウ，桜、もくれん…の木々、そしてパンジー，チューリップ、スイセン、ワスレナクサ、ムスカリ、タンポポ…いっぺんに咲き出すなんて!
バイエルンの春。 
  __________________________________


References: 

....1) The Danube Cycle Way; Donaueschingen to Budapest by John Higginson
... 2) Bikeline Maps & Guides; Donau-Radweg 1, (5 books in the series)

Our plan in a nutshell; 2900 total kilometers at 50 km per day - 2 days riding for 1 day off for a total of 58 riding days & 90 total days - April to July, 2013 :)