We arrived in Regensburg to chilly weather and possible rain. But the morning was just cloudy and we headed out on a walking tour of Regensburg. It is a beautiful medieval city and one that escaped major bombing in World War ll. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of that. The old stone bridge that crosses the Danube there was built in the 12th century and has sixteen arches. Our guide on our walk was very knowledgeable and shared information on parts of the gates still there from Roman times. The final stop of the tour was at St. Peter’s Cathedral. At that point people had a choice of either staying in town and continuing to walk around, maybe having a bit to eat or heading back to the ship. There had been an optional tour in the morning called a Regensburg Jewish Walking Tour.

I headed back to the ship for lunch having booked an optional tour for the afternoon; Weltenburg Abbey and the Danube Narrows. After viewing the Abbey we got on a smaller boat to travel the narrows. It was a pretty amazing afternoon if a little wet. The rain started to fall as soon as we got on the bus to the Abbey but it really didn’t take away from the fun.

The Abbey is Benedictine and there are now six monks living there. We toured the beautiful church and in their restaurant got served some beer and pretzels. The Danube narrows are beautiful with some higher cliffs and interesting vegetation. By the time we went on the narrows boat ride the rain had let up. Another optional tour that day was to the Microbreweries of Bavaria. Again the ship had left the dock in Regensburg right after lunch and those of us on the optional excursions and those who had stayed in Regensburg were to meet the ship in Kelheim. It all worked out fine and we were all back on the ship in time for a wonderful dinner.

Dinner that evening was a great hearty German buffet with accompanying accordion music from some musicians who had come on the ship for the evening.

Then it was on to Nuremberg for the final stop of the cruise. On the way the ship made a short stop in Roth where there was an optional excursion for those who wanted to take a bus into Nuremberg and once again meet the ship when it arrived at noon. There were a couple of optional excursions that afternoon; one was Nuremberg through History and the other which I took was Nuremberg & World War ll. That was four and a half hours of immersion into the history of Nuremberg and the Nazis. The guide for our group on that tour was Werner who is a teacher and passionate about not letting anyone forget what happened there. Apparently Hitler loved Nuremberg and spent time there before the war started planning some huge unfinished buildings including a stadium whose design was based on the Roman Coliseum.

It would hold 50,000 but was never finished. Today it still stands partially complete and some of it has a museum telling the story of the Third Reich. It is incredibly well done. We toured the remains the Zeppelin Field where Hitler addressed 200,000 Germans in a show of strength to the world. But after the war began Hitler never returned to Nuremberg.

That evening we were all back on the ship for a final dinner before some would head home and some of my group would get on a bus the next morning for three days in Prague.