Germany 01: Bus to Regensburg and Touring Nuremburg

Monday, January 27, 2025

Overnight I received messages from Thinh that he had arrived in Taiwan and then Hanoi safe and sound. I was happy that he was back home now so he could spend Tet with his family.

I woke up at 07:30 so I could shower, finish packing, and then head out to the bus station. Now that Thinh had taken the larger bags back to Vietnam with him, I was left with my small suitcase and backpack, which were easy to take on public transit. I took the metro over to the bus station, where my bus was due to depart.

At 09:20 I boarded the bus and headed off for Regensburg, Germany. I would be spending nearly a week traveling through Bavaria, visiting several smaller towns that I have never been to before. I was excited for this part of the trip, not least because I love Germany so much. It would be a hectic week though, with daily train rides to the various towns. I had planned to use Nuremburg as my base, but the price of hotels there was far too expensive. Instead, I found the nearby town of Regensburg which was much more reasonably priced.

The bus pulled into Regenburg at 13:00 and I then walked over to a nearby shopping mall so I could hang out at Starbucks. It was too early to check in at the hotel, so I spent a few hours at Starbucks before walking to the hotel. My hotel was located about ten minutes away from the train/bus station, and also an easy distance from the town center. After checking in at the hotel, I took a nap before waking up for dinner.

When I left to find some dinner, it was raining quite heavily. This was the first time since the wedding day that the weather had truly been awful. I had found a Serbian restaurant not too far from the hotel that served cevapi, so I hurriedly walked over there, ducking under whatever cover I could find to help stay dry. Though I had an umbrella with me, I was still getting wet from the torrential downpour. The tiny restaurant was empty when I arrived. The guy working there warmly welcomed me and I ordered a plate of eight cevapis with pita bread.

Cevapi is grilled minced meat (lamb, pork, and/or beef), served in small pieces (something resembling sausages), with onions and a sauce on the side. They were astoundingly delicious!! It had been years since I last ate cevapi and these really hit the spot tonight. When it was time to pay, the machine wouldn’t take my card, so I had to rush out to a nearby ATM to get cash. The guy running the restaurant was very understanding and friendly; I apologized several times for the hassle, but he was not bothered by it at all.

Full from the large dinner, I returned to the hotel so I could dry out my clothes and get to bed early.

 
Tuesday, January 28, 2025

My whirlwind tour of Bavarian cities began today with a day trip to Nuremburg. I woke up at 07:00 and soon left the hotel to walk over to the train station. Thankfully the rain from the night before had ended and today was just cold, rather than wet as well. I bought myself a butter pretzel for breakfast, which is one of my favorite things to eat in Germany. Every chance I get, I buy a butter pretzel at one of the many bakeries throughout the cities.

My train to Nuremburg departed at 08:27, arriving into the city about an hour later. I had last visited Nuremburg back in 2009, when I had spent several weeks traveling throughout Germany on my first solo international trip. I was excited to revisit the main sights in town and to see what had changed in the intervening years. By the time I arrived in the city, it had started to lightly rain, though not nearly as hard as last night.

The train station is located just outside the historic town center, making for a short and pleasant walk this morning. I began by walking over to Konigstraße, which is one of the most important streets through the town center. Nearby was one of the old town gates and towers, the Frauentor, dating back to the 14th century. The area is now home to a medieval shopping area, full of shops and restaurants aimed primarily at tourists.

I continued walking along Konigstraße until I reached the St Lorenz, a Gothic-style church. As with much of Nuremburg, the church was heavily damaged during the Second World War, but had since been restored. The stone carvings atop the main entryway were quite intricate. Next to St Lorenz was the equally impressive Nassauer Haus, a 15th-century residential tower that is thought to be among the last remaining such towers from the Middle Ages. Near the top of the tower are sundials on either side of the building, just below the turrets at the corners.

Further along Konigstraße, I came to the Museumsbrücke, a small bridge crossing the Pegnitz river. While the bridge itself was rather unremarkable, the views along the river were the main draw. To the east was the Kreuzigungshof, a stone building jetting out into the river with two arches waterways underneath. I walked over towards the building after crossing the bridge, but found that I could not access anything of interest. I did, however, pass by a couple of interesting statues along the way. The Narrenschiffbrunnen (Ship of Fools) is a statue of a small boat, overcrowded with various figures and animals. Nearby is the Stockzahnbrunnen, which resembles an unexploded bomb that is stuck in the ground. It is dedicated in remembrance of the bombings of January 1945, when the Allied bombing destroyed roughly 90 percent of the city.

Up next was a lovely square where the Frauenkirche was located. This Catholic church was built in the 1300s and is yet another example of Gothic architecture in the city. The main façade of the building facing the square is one of the most unique that I have seen, complete with a golden clock and statues. At the opposite side of the square stood the Schöner Brunnen, a gold-covered fountain dating back to the 14th century that resembles a Gothic spire. The square itself had several market stalls around it, selling various crafts and snacks.

I began walking in the direction of the Nuremburg castle and along the way I spotted a building that reminded me of a similar one in Munich. The simple white exterior had several painted figures on it and the tiny tower at the top had what resembled a smiling face. Just behind this building was the St Sebald church – yet another Gothic church, but this one is now a Lutheran church. The Rathaus (town hall) was just behind the church and quickly became one of my favorite buildings in the city. The symmetry and style of the building was particularly appealing to the eye.

I reached the castle shortly thereafter and set off to explore the museum. The castle complex dates backto the 11th century and it was expanded upon over the succeeding centuries. The German kings and Holy Roman Emperors used the castle as one of their main residences. The emperors had no permanent capital city, but rather traveled from castle to castle during their reigns and Nuremburg Castle was one of the most important. To enter the castle, I had to walk up a very steep stone pathway and was rewarded with some great views over the entire city as the castle stood atop a small hill.

The castle contains an extensive exhibit about the Holy Roman Empire and the German rulers, chronicling their reigns and life at the Imperial court. I spent quite a bit of time wandering through the exhibits, learning a lot about that period in history, which I find fascinating. The museum had dozens of artifacts on display, including an old crown and several suits of armor worn by knights. When I finished at the museum, I went over to the Sinwellturm, a tall stone tower, where I climbed up a lengthy flight of stairs to reach the observation platform. From there I was able to get a full 360-degree view of the city. I could see the spires of the various churches sprouting up throughout the city.

After leaving the castle, I walked over to Tiergärtnertorplatz, located just below the castle and where another of the old city gates is located. There were several beautiful old buildings in the area, as well as some interesting statues – the one of a rabbit was interesting, to say the least. There was a bierhall nearby where I considered having lunch, but it was nearly empty inside, which is always a questionable sign. I decided to walk back through the city towards the train station instead.

I retraced my steps through the city, though taking a slightly different route. I ended up stopping at a Starbucks to get a coffee and a light bite to eat. I then returned to the train station, where I caught one of the S-Bahn trains to head further outside of the city. The journey took only 20 minutes or so and now it was time to explore the darker history of Nuremburg.

Nuremburg had been the site of the mass Nazi party rallies during the 1930s and 1940s, and there are still several buildings standing from that period. I first walked over to the Kongresshalle, which is the gigantic – though unfinished – planned Nazi party rally grounds. Resembling the Roman Colosseum, the building was intended to house 50,000 spectators once finished and is the largest Nazi-era building that remains. Nowadays there are two museums documenting the horrors of Nazism at the Kongresshalle. Outside of the Kongresshalle is the Große Straße, the intended “Great Road” that stretches 2km (1.2mi) in length and 60m (200ft) wide). The area is now used as a fairground, though that has caused some controversy due to the proximity to the Kongresshalle.

When I arrived, I didn’t get too close to the Kongresshalle itself as there was some construction work being done and much of the area was fenced off. I took a long walk around the building though, walking along the Große Straße as I circled round the hall. I then reached the Dutzendteich, a large pond to one side of the hall, where a public park is now located. I spent some time strolling through the park, where I was able to get some amazing views of the Kongresshalle across the pond – made even more beautiful in the afternoon’s setting sun.

The final destination on my walk was Zeppelinfeld, which is where the Nazi grandstand stands in front of the marching grounds which were used by the Nazis. The famous video of the Nazi swastika being blown up was done at the grandstands. When I visited in 2009 the area was poorly maintained, and the marching area was used as a parking lot (primarily for large trucks). It is understandably a difficult thing for the Germans to preserve: on the one hand, one doesn’t want to have anything that could glorify the horrors of the Nazis, while on the other hand it’s important to not forget the sins of the past. I was pleased to see signs displayed around the site stating that the area would soon be opening as a documentation center, allowing visitors to learn about the Nazi crimes, putting the site into its proper context.

Large fencing surrounded much of the grandstands, but there were gaps left open for visitors. Signs around the area said that you entered at your own risk, but nothing prohibited me from fully exploring the stands. I climbed up the ruins to the center of the grandstands, where the smaller platform was located. It was from the platform that Hitler himself once stood to deliver speeches to the masses of Nazis – it was eerie to be standing in the same place as one of history’s greatest monsters. Gone was the large parking lot of trucks, which I was glad about because it now allowed visitors to really take in the size and scale of the party rally grounds. To see such a massive open area and know that it was once filled with thousands of devoted Nazis is unsettling, which I think is the point of preserving such a place.

The sun was quickly setting and so I started off back to the S-Bahn station. Along the way I was able to snap some photos of the stunning sunset – a strange piece of beauty at the site of such evil. When I reached the main train station again, I had a short time to grab a snack before it was time to take the train back to Regensburg. Nuremburg had been a last-minute addition to my travels throughout Bavaria and I was glad that I had ultimately decided to revisit the city. I was able to better explore it on my own this time and see both the good and evil sides to the history of one of Germany’s most important cities.

Once back in Regensburg, I returned to my hotel to relax for the rest of the night – I needed to get some rest because I had yet another full day ahead of me tomorrow!