Regensberg, Germany
We almost bought a cuckoo clock, y'all!
If you would like to listen as I read this essay, simply tap the play button above.
Winding down…
As the cruise neared its end, we started feeling very tired. It was the kind of tired that makes your brain foggy and the thought of an afternoon nap, even when floating through Germany on the Danube River, sound heavenly. Our focus was shifting ahead to the next leg of our trip, a day in Wiesbaden, Germany where Kyle lived from third through 5th grade when his father was stationed there with the Air Force. I tell you this now so you’ll understand why the cuckoo clock shop was a big deal :)
But first, Regensberg, Germany: A beautiful city in Bavaria that was home to millennia of historical events, from the times of Ancient Rome to the Holocaust. There were many sobering moments as we walked those old streets.
This entry is from the morning of October 28th, our final full day on the boat. I wrote it in the dining room after breakfast, just before our waiter saw my journal and begged to see what I was writing! He was blown away that I had preserved the details of our trip like this. I think it meant a lot to him. He was clearly proud to be a European and happy that his neck of the woods was appreciated by this American girl.
From my journal:
Tuesday, October 28
7:53am
44 degrees
We hit a wall yesterday, having seen so much in so many places that we needed to take a break to just rest. Yesterday I went on the tour around Regensberg, Germany. Kyle stayed back (which was probably smart) and I froze in the cold rain! The weather made us miserable, but I did enjoy learning about the unique architecture and history there. Remnants of walls from the Praetorium built by the Roman Empire, an apartment where Oskar Schindler and his wife lived for a year, buildings still having structural issues because they were built over Roman tunnels, apartment houses that lean, a square where everything is centered and has been for thousands of years…
Later that day:
We were given a voucher to use at a local historic sausage restaurant. They gave us six small sausages on a bed of sauerkraut with sweet, grainy mustard and a crusty roll (and a beer!). It was so good! We also went into a shop to admire their huge selection of cuckoo clocks. Kyle almost bought one! He was like a kid, the nostalgia hit him hard! But when we started discussing where we would hang it and if the cuckoo and songs might start to get annoying (and end up being turned off and, thus, ignored) he changed his mind. We planned to visit the huge gothic cathedral but it started raining pretty steadily. It was the kind of cold that gets into your bones so we gave up, went back to the boat, and enjoyed a hot cup of tea. (We also skipped the afternoon excursion to a monastery. Just didn’t have it in us!)
One more city awaited before we disembarked. But first, that evening, we attended the Captain’s Gala, where we celebrated this incredible vacation and the crew members who worked so hard to make it possible. Afterward, one of the crew members played guitar and we all laughed and danced until late into the night!
The next and final stop before we disembark would be Roth, Germany. I’ll be back soon to tell you all about it!
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~Jeanine