What started out as an expedition to procure a few necessities turned into a morning of disappointment - everything closes on Sundays in Germany. Only some restaurants, a few gas stations, and chruches remain open. No hotpot. No clothes hamper. No pillow (the hotels are not good). Nothing.
Instead of moping, I decided to explore Regensburg - a city which traces its founding settlements back to the Stone Age - to see what sights I could explore. The city itself has blossomed into a beautiful patchwork of modernity elegantly colliding with the Medieval. Home to approximately 135,000 inhabitants, Regensburg (pronounced Reagan's Burg - I love it!) escaped the bombings during the World Wars and has maintained its historic architecture, narrow stone streets, and Medieval heritage.
The centerpiece of Regensburg's history is the majectic St. Peter's Cathedral nestled between shops, homes, and at least 5 other churches in the city's center. The gothic design of the building envisioned in 1280 betrays the site's true history - the first church on the site was founded about 600 years earlier in c. 700 A.D. Nonetheless, the current structure is awe-inspiring, inspirational, a testament to the Gothic Period, and quite chilly. Inside the massive stone structure, the temperature was probably 20-degrees colder than the ambient outside - I could see my breath inside, but not out.
Adorned with reliefs, massive gargoyles, and intricate stonework, the building itself is a work of art. I was lucky enough to arrive just as a Solemn Mass, replete with the cathedral's choir, the "Regensburger Domspatzen," was beginning. Though I can't yet understand German, the mass sung by the priests was artful. Outshined by only the 700-year-old stained glass windows, the choir performed to a caliber one would expect from one of Catholicism's oldest cathedrals.
My little venture to Regensburg turned out to be not so bad after all.
Instead of moping, I decided to explore Regensburg - a city which traces its founding settlements back to the Stone Age - to see what sights I could explore. The city itself has blossomed into a beautiful patchwork of modernity elegantly colliding with the Medieval. Home to approximately 135,000 inhabitants, Regensburg (pronounced Reagan's Burg - I love it!) escaped the bombings during the World Wars and has maintained its historic architecture, narrow stone streets, and Medieval heritage.
The centerpiece of Regensburg's history is the majectic St. Peter's Cathedral nestled between shops, homes, and at least 5 other churches in the city's center. The gothic design of the building envisioned in 1280 betrays the site's true history - the first church on the site was founded about 600 years earlier in c. 700 A.D. Nonetheless, the current structure is awe-inspiring, inspirational, a testament to the Gothic Period, and quite chilly. Inside the massive stone structure, the temperature was probably 20-degrees colder than the ambient outside - I could see my breath inside, but not out.
Adorned with reliefs, massive gargoyles, and intricate stonework, the building itself is a work of art. I was lucky enough to arrive just as a Solemn Mass, replete with the cathedral's choir, the "Regensburger Domspatzen," was beginning. Though I can't yet understand German, the mass sung by the priests was artful. Outshined by only the 700-year-old stained glass windows, the choir performed to a caliber one would expect from one of Catholicism's oldest cathedrals.
My little venture to Regensburg turned out to be not so bad after all.
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