Munchin' in München,

Our last stop on our River Cruise was Regensburg, a small city that is both a UNESCO historical site and one of the oldest cities in Germany, being founded by Romans in the first century. The city did not sustain much damage during WWII and the center of the town retains many of its medieval buildings. They have a very old stone bridge, 1137-1145,  that is so low that the cruise ships stop here so Regensburg is usually the start or end of cruises on the Danube. 

many of the wealthy had towers built adjacent to their homes.  These were not used for anything other to to show their wealth.

The Goliath Haus mural is about 5 stories high, painted in the 12th century (retouched many times since) on one of the largest city mansions in Regensburg.

We next took a train and spent our last few days in Munich, sampling the many breweries & biergartens, touring the great Marienplatz with the famous glockenspiel clock that have moving figures during the chimes.  

the Hofbrau Haus brewery.  I was here 50 years ago!

the famous liter mugs, or Maßkrug holds a Maß (Mass)-most biergartens serve the beer in these and you have to ask specifically for a smaller amount. 

this is the "new town hall" built in the 19th century!

We took a day long bike tour through the city with Mike's Bike Tours.  They describe this tour as the best balance between fun, edutainment and history, covering a lot of history from the period of the Nationalsozialismus.  Hitler's rise actually started in Munich.  

Our group learning about the historical events that formed Hitler's Third Reich in the Odeonsplatz square

 slack line walking over the Isar River.  The Globetrotter World Slackline Masters takes place in Munich

 Surfing on the small channel of the Isar River that runs through Munich's large park.  Since the 1970's people line up to try their skill on the continuous, ice-cold ONE wave that rolls through the channel. 

The Chinese Tower- or Chinesischer Turm- is the second largest beer garden in Munich in the English Garden.  We stopped for beer and sausages here

We finally have true veal schnitzel at yet another outdoor beer garden

Well our travels have come to an end for this trip.  After 2 months it's time to head back.  This has been a great trip that took us to some countries where we were exposed to different religions, cultures, wars, languages and peoples.  I think what we learned was that the people who live in these central European countries are very proud of their ethnicity and cultural traditions.  Borders and countries change but the people remain strong to their culture. 

 guess it was time to end our travels with a hold in my walking shoes!

Good-bye - heading back to the USA on three different airlines.....