Another full day in Munich and we made the most of it. Started with a 9 AM start for a day trip to Regensburg, Germany. This small city, about ninety minutes away by train, had been suggested to me since the last Europe trip by several Germany families. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site with way fewer tourists than most of the places we’ve stayed or visited. We enjoyed walking around and doing a little souvenir shopping. We had intended to eat at the “world’s oldest restaurant,” but instead dined at a great place that dates back hundreds of years so maybe it was the second oldest restaurant in the world. That was old enough and the food was delicious. We continued on our walk through old town after lunch and crossed the Danube River. The Old Stone Bridge is currently under repair so we walked across on a temporary pedestrian bridge. Apparently the Old Stone Bridge is the oldest and first solid bridge over the Danube ever built. We looked in awe at the Cathedral of St. Peter. This cathedral has to be one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen.
After crossing the river the boys enjoyed some horseplay and just play along the river in a local park. On the way back towards the train station we stopped to take a look at the restaurant we missed, the “world’s oldest” just so we could say we’ve been there. It’s specialty is bratwurst and we’ve sure had that plenty of times in some great restaurants.
We returned to Munich and took a 20-minute breather for regrouping and then took the S-Bahn to Marienplatz, a lively square filled with shops, restaurants, tourists, and more. Its centerpiece is the Neues Rathaus, (New Town Hall) a twin-towered cathedral. It has a 43-bell clock (Glockenspiel), which comes to life with full-size characters a few times a day. Perhaps we’ll see it on our last full day in Munich. Boys divided into smaller groups and went to dinner on their own. They enjoyed this opportunity a lot. We will return to this area tomorrow evening for our last dinner of the trip.
It was another great day.