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We had a super dinner of seafood last night in an Italian around the corner from our hotel, and this morning it’s time to move on again.

It’s about 100 kilometres from Regensburg to Munich, in a southerly direction. We buy 3 day tickets for the public transport system, and wander into town. Munich is a major tourist destination, and it’s packed. I spent a lot of time here in the 80s on work trips, but I don’t remember a thing to be honest. Anyhow, here are a couple of the major landmarks.

Karlsplatz.

Marienplatz.

It’s another blazing hot afternoon and we soon repair to a bar for a few beers.

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Yesterday’s boat trip was very good, so we decided to do another one. This one goes about 7 miles downstream to a memorial called Valhalla.
The scale and grandeur of this boat has to be seen to be believed.

So here is Valhalla. It’s basically a monument to German national insecurity. What happened was that Napoléon beat the Germans by turning one half of the country against the other half.

The country was divided and basically ruined, so Crown Prince Ludwig decided that a shrine to remind the Germanic people of their common heritage would be a good idea. Valhalla was therefore built, and it houses busts of Germanic notables – writers, painters and the like. You didn’t actually have to be German to be included – our own Alfred the Great is in there for instance.
Anyhow it’s a lovely day, so we stayed on the boat (very good drinks service) rather than climbing the 350 steps up to the absurd German folly.

There are some lovely villages along the river.

Here’s a houseboat made from a railway carriage.

Back at Regensburg, I have another bash at getting a picture of the cathedral.

Not a great photo really. This photogenic church building was easier and just next door.

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Lovely sunny day, so it’s off to the river.

Shame that the old bridge is being renovated, but if you’ve just read the Heidelberg bits you’re probably fed up with bridges anyway. Here’s the famous sausage place.

There are little marinas along the banks. Boating is very popular, but with the strong currents and complicated rules of the road you really need to get some tuition.

Boat school.

Nice views of the Dom from the river.

It really is a hot day!

The Rhine – Main – Danube canal joins the river here. It links the Occidental (North Sea / Atlantic) with the Orientale (Black Sea). People have been talking about creating this trade route for over 1200 years, and it was completed quite recently.

Entrance to the old bridge from the medieval town.

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Biggest journey of our holiday today, we get an early train to Stuttgart. This is followed by another to Nurnberg, and finally an hour due south to Regensburg. It takes about 5 hours all told.

We’ve stayed in all sorts of hotels on this trip, but this one is a bit different. All the rooms are themed, and ours is called the Pope’s room. To be honest, it’s a bit weird.

I last came to Regensburg on a work trip about 20 years ago. It’s a nice town on the Danube, famous for its sausages.

This is the Ratskeller – basically the town hall pub. There’s one of these in every German town I’ve ever been to.

We stop for a beer. Very nice too.

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We had a good night’s sleep after our gala evening with Heidelberg Mike last night. Above the town is a huge castle which dominates the whole valley.  The problem is that it’s undergoing a big restoration at the moment, and frankly it looks rubbish from down here – hence no photos. There’s a funicular railway up to the castle, but we decide to walk. It’s well worth the effort.

Strolling players rehearsing.

Back in town there’s a wedding in the square. Happy bride.

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We catch an early train to our next port of call. It’s a bank holiday here so the train is busy, but we get seats Ok. Our hotel couldn’t be in a better spot; view from our window.

The river is a big attraction here – lots of tripper boats.

A friend of ours lives here, so in time-honoured tradition we hook up for a few beers and watch England get knocked out of the footie.

Another photo of the bridge on the way home from the pub.

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Lovely sunny day, so we head for the Botanical Gardens. I’ve seen a few of these around Europe, but this is certainly the best so far. The main building was modelled on the Crystal Palace in London, and was completed just 12 years after the London landmark.

Later we cross the river in the hope of getting some better views of the city from the observation deck of a skyscraper. The lift takes us up 28 floors.

A good view of the Dom at last.

We cross the bridge back towards our side of the river. Young couples have attached padlocks bearing their names along the entire length of this huge structure.

More enormous river barges pass beneath us.

As you can see, this skipper likes to his car with him!