SPLENDOURS OF EUROPE - Part 5

A beautiful Sunday morning sailing beside the picturesque countryside on our way to Regensburg

And who would have believed that I floated on the Danube River.

A serenity pool at the stern of the ship gave me a different perspective of the river.

A Royal Villa along the Danube river.

The Old Stone Bridge with its 16 arches was built between 1135 - 1146 and is the oldest of its kind in Europe, now exclusively used for pedestrian traffic.

Few other cities in central Europe have legacies of more than 2000 years of history. Of 1500 listed buildings, 984 comprise the UNESCO World Heritage Old Town.

We hurried along narrow street and alleys through a shopping district 

and past numerous taverns and street cafes

As in other medieval cities we saw fancy signage such as this one for a lock smith    

These Dirndl skirt dresses in a shop window would be for special holidays and for some women part of their common wardrobe. Our tour guide wore one with style.

Find Waldo in Regensburg

The soaring spires of St. Peters Cathedral under renovations, not uncommon for a church built between 1250 and 1275 AD and the 341 foot spires added in 1869. It is one of the most outstanding Gothic buildings in Bavarian Germany

Built in 2009, the St. Peter's organ is the largest and heaviest hanging pipe organ in the world at 37 tons and 5871 pipes. The organist reaches the console by a hidden elevator. It would have been magnificent to have heard the swell of music fill this massive space as I sat in the pew looking upward to the impressive stained glass windows.

Regensburg is unusual among major cities in Europe in that it has never suffered serious destruction throughout its long history. All the stained glass windows are perfectly intact.

The High altar made of silver and gilded copper was created over 100 years,

 beginning in 1695.

On leaving Regensburg we sailed past the Valhalla, built in 1841 and modelled after the Parthenon in Athens, as a Hall of Fame for the German nation. It houses statues of Germanic deities along side many busts and plaques commemorating people who have made the greatest contributions to German history and culture.

Such a glorious evening as over dinner we watched the day come to a close as the CREATOR painter filled the night sky with an original masterpieces.