By Wednesday morning started off with the typical German breakfast (bread, cheese, ham, butter and COFFEE) plus some unusual morning snacks (pickles?!). We had a tight morning to get to Regensburg which involved multiple train connections. Layered on top of that was an early morning shopping trip to pick up some Christmas brooches (the shopkeeper said she had a box at home that she’d bring in for us to look at). Angela and I wandered off to the store (yes, I led us down the wrong street). Highly conscious of the timeline, we made our selections quickly and sped walk back to the hotel where the taxi was waiting. We were maybe a minute away from the hotel when Angela realized that she’d left a gift bag in the lobby so there was a quick return to the hotel and then we were off again to the Salzburg train station…which caused a minor PTSD flashback.
Years ago (when I was in SMU’s summer abroad program), I missed my train because I left my book bag at a shop…and as luck would have it, the train journey on the next day was hindered due to a strike weekend at the Rome train station in Italy. This series of unfortunate events definitely produced some mental and emotional scars. So catching trains/missing trains causes my blood pressure to rise a bit. The train rides are starting to blur together, but if I recall correctly this journey had a tight change that we managed. On a side note, DB (DeutscheBahn) has a lovely Bavarian ticket that allows 4 people to travel together for a set price, which worked perfectly for our travels.
Regensburg has a Christmas market called Thurn and Taxis. We happened to arrive on a special night where they had a parade and a release of balloons. It was brutally cold out but we managed to celebrate. It gets dark at around 4:15 in Germany in Wintertime, which pushes me into full hibernation mode. We had a late bratwurst/potato soup lunch at Würstkuchl where we witnessed (but did not experience directly) some grumpy German customer service. There’s nothing quite like seeing (and hearing) two Germans argue with each other. By 8/9 pm I was ready for food or my bed. We found a great pizza and pasta place where I was…challenged by a restroom situation. Years ago in Vienna I used the wrong restroom and came out of the stall to find two gentlemen waiting, so this wasn’t my first bathroom debacle. And it is my own fault. There was no Damen/Herrn sign…just the gender symbols…which I recognized but couldn’t remember which was which. I had a 50/50 shot and chose poorly. I opened a door to find urinals (with one of them in use). So yeah that was embarassing.
The hotel, Sorat, was beautiful – right on the Danube.
Regensburg has a Dachshund museum! Sadly we didn’t get to visit (arrived too late), but we happened to be walking by when Moni, Blümchen und Klein-Seppi were exiting the museum, which made me miss my sweet girl Mavis (and made me want to come back to Regensburg to see the museum).
The Dom is being renovated. I think it was supposed to be completed in 2023…but here we are in 2024 and it looks like they’re half way done.
Two lovely excuses to come back to Regensburg. We leave Regensburg for Rothenburg ob der Tauber next and one of our most hair-raising train experiences yet!
