Monday June 4th

I was up at four getting pictures posted because again the internet speed was sadly lacking. It took 10 minutes to download one picture. It is so much better in the early morning.
Because of that I saw another beautiful sunrise.

We were on the balcony enjoying the scenery and the river when up on a hill out of no where appeared the Parthenon.... or at least a replica of it. I have no idea why it is there and there does not appear to be a way to get to it.

There was the ruins of an old castle on the hill just a little further down the river. It made quite the contrast.

A little later a swan family swam by. They have lots of swans in almost the same way that we have Canada Geese. We enjoyed the swans while Cuckoo birds serenaded us. I did not see the birds but their song was lovely, a lot softer and melodic than the clocks.

 It was another bright hot and sunny day, not the cool day in the seventies that they advertised. I brought a lot of clothes that I will not need. I should have brought more shorts.

We went to breakfast and I had French Toast and fruit. The fruit has been sensational. Our tour left at nine and our guide was Suzanne.

 She was from Australia and is a native of the area so she was very interesting and informed. There must have been 6 other groups doing the tour at the same time. She kept making slight detours to avoid them. Bicycles have the right of way here and they do take advantage of it.You have to get out of their way or get run over. I don't think they or the car drivers like having throngs of tourists in the old city.

This city can trace some of its structures such as the old stone bridge all of the way back to Roman times.It is very interesting indeed, especially if you have a guide to explain the history of it all.

The Old Stone Bridge

Suzanne showed us a set of "brass cobble stones". On each one was the name of a victim of the Holocaust. Apparently these plaques will be placed through out Europe to remember those who were lost.

Our tour ended with a visit to St.Peter's cathedral.

This is a prime example of Gothic architecture. It is also known as Dom St.Peter or Regensburg Cathedral. The church has existed since about 700 AD. Due to several devastating fires the church was rebuilt and the current high-gothic style building was completed in 1320. The cathedral is 279 feet long and 115 feet wide. The nave is 105 feet high and the twin towers are almost 350 feet high.

The interior of the cathedral is covered with sculpted imagery depicting Saints Peter and Paul. Everywhere you look you will see stained glass windows, most of which were installed in the 14^th century and survive to this day.

At the end of our tour we headed back to the ship. Very tired and more informed.