Tuesday, 7 August 2012

 

Start: Strassen (L) 11:00

Arrival: Regensburg (D) 17:15

Total: 559 km

 

 

 

 

A new day, a new journey! After a healthy breakfast, we set out on the road. Not too early, as we didn't have far to drive anyway. It was all German highway, so we knew we would arrive in good time to visit Regensburg. The road to Bavaria was familiar and predictably uneventful. We drove by Trier, Kaiserslautern, Mannheim, Heidelberg and Nürnberg, and in the late afternoon, we reached our hotel at the outskirts of Regensburg.

 

After check-in, we drove into the city centre for some sightseeing. Regensburg is a pretty old city, with a gothic cathedral, cosy cobble-stoned streets and narrow alleys with cafés and souvenir shops. Even though it was August, there weren't too many tourists around. We took snapshots of the belltower and the old stone bridge, and enjoyed the view over the Danube, with the odd raindrop splashing romantically into the water.

 

It was starting to rain and so we decided that we were getting hungry. We had set our sights on a promising-looking and, apparently, renowned restaurant near the cathedral, but unfortunately they were booked out for the evening. The same at the second and third restaurant we popped in. Smashing. Now what?

 

By now the constant drizzle had turned into a pretty annoying rainfall. It was probably best to head back to the hotel and get something to eat there. We raced along the streets to the car park, when I suddenly spotted a tiny little Thai resto. We were the only patrons, which – seeing how fully booked the other places were – got us a bit worried about the place. But we need not have fretted. The food and drinks were delicious, and very cheap to boot. My cocktail contained a very generous amout of alcohol and so we were in an excellent mood when we finally drove back to the hotel. Our trip to the East was off to a good start.