The reason I’ve stayed in Europe all of this time after the cruise starts next week. A “family reunion” if you will, with my geocaching “cousins.” I am definitely ready.
It’s common that toward the end of a vacation one is ready to be home. The “I’ve prepared myself for X duration and we’re approaching X so it’s time to be home” feeling. That’s been starting, but has been in full force for the last couple of days. I’ve run out of steam, my brain is full, and I’m ready for the next “chapter” of the trip (I expect my energy and brain will return tomorrow, and I’m delighted that my last ten or or so days traveling should end having adventures with amazing people).
Getting to Regensburg was fine. It helped that I met a nice woman from Hamburg at the train station in Slovenia and we were on the first three trains together (it took four trains to get here). At the Munich hauptbahnhof (train station) I got a hot pretzel. It’s Bavaria, after all, so soft pretzels are required. They’re also inexpensive, often less than a Euro.
Regensburg was always intended to be an “interlude” — somewhere to spend some time to get closer to Berlin. It’s a fine city. Old town looks, well it looks like a typical European old town. Cobblestones. Old buildings. Churches and a cathedral. A nice stone bridge built in the 1100s, yes nearly 900 years ago. I walked the kilometer or so to the bridge, did some caching, took a nice boat ride on the Danube, and walked back. It’s much cooler today, and cloudy while I was out and now starting to rain.
I almost forgot to mention the highlight of the day: the best chocolate sorbet of the trip which was purchased next to or perhaps on the bridge in the gold building in the first picture below, before taking the boat ride. Who said 11am is too early for sorbet?!? Interestingly, I also had a delicious (late) lunch, near my lodging, which was a salad/rice bowl with edamame, avocado, beets, chicken and I forget what else. Tasty and hit the spot.
The photos are approaching the bridge, looking at the Danube from the bridge, looking at the bridge from the Danube, and some of the brightly colored buildings I saw after walking across the bridge.
While near the bridge I spotted some river cruise boats and several tours for a group on a Viking excursion. Been there, done that, don’t need to do it again (admittedly we went south from Vienna so didn’t explore this part of the Danube).
Tomorrow I go to Berlin. I’ll be visiting my friend Mike who I met via the “ride board” during college. Remember those? A driver can post if they’re open to taking passengers, and a passenger can check to see if there’s a driver going near where they want to go. I had a car and he needed a ride so we drove from San Diego to Portland (about 1100 miles/1800km). Let’s just say we’ve known each other more than half of our lives, and he lives in Berlin so I’ll get to stay with him, his wife (who I’ve met) and his teenage kids (who I haven’t met) for the weekend.
Monday I head to Heidelberg for what should be a fantastic week, then I’ll spend my last night near the Frankfurt airport.
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