Regensburg

20 kms out of Regensburg we moved from the man-made Main-Danube Canal into the Danube River. Late yesterday we passed through the final lock which took us to the highest part of the canal; this lock is one of the three largest in the area and lifted the ship 24 meters up so it was level with the next section of canal. It is fascinating how it all works and the thought that has gone into getting these boats up hill! The photos were included in last night's (Friday) blog but we forgot to say what they were.

 

Later in the afternoon we started the decent and locks were used to lower the boat down; the first one 20 meters. It is actually quite creepy as this huge vessel pulls slowly into the lock with walls only centimetres from the edge of the boat, a massive concrete wall in front and then the wall behind us closing in while water is let in to either lift or lower us. But such an amazing feat of engineering.

 

We left the boat at 9am and had a 90 minute guided tour of the city; another very old cathedral and the remains of Roman houses and walls dating back 2000 years. The walls now form part of other buildings but enough is showing for us to be able to see it.

 

A stone bridge which was built between 1135-1146 crosses the river but is covered with scaffold for renovation so was hard to see. Bavaria is the sausage capital of the world and today we ate sausages and sauerkraut at a kitchen which was built at the same time as the bridge and used to cater for the men building the bridge.

We have seen several pictures of a Stork carrying a baby; our guide today explained that the stork represents Mary and motherhood, hence it is depicted worldwide now as the symbol of the arrival of a new baby. 

Oktoberfest is on here, so after some free time wandering around the town John and I went down there to see the stalls. It was very tame considering what we've heard of other Oktoberfests!

 

The boat leaves Regensburg at 7.15 tonight and tomorrow we will be in Salzburg.

 

The old bridge - John has taken a photo of a postcard...trying to make a liar out of me saying it was covered in scaffold :-)