Skip to main content

Donaustauf Castle

 

Guten Tag!

It's a partly cloudy day in the 50's Fahrenheit, and a good day to make an excursion. I tried going on one yesterday to Landshut, but I guess I didn't do my research thoroughly enough, for it turns out that the train station is over a half hour's walk from the Altstadt, where all the interesting sights are. It's not that an hour's round trip on foot was too hard, but my time was limited and I wanted to spend my time and steps in the Altstadt, where they have a castle and a church with a very tall brick steeple. Alas, when I got there, I could find no tourist info office, or anyone who could tell me whether my Deutschland Ticket was good on Landshut city buses. So, I went back into the train station and caught the next ride back to Regensburg, and learned that from now on, I need to find out a few more things before I make an excursion. At least it was a short ride of less than 50 minutes each way. 

In the meantime, I was in the mood to visit a castle, even if it is in ruins. A fellow American in my German class told me about this place months ago. It's about a half hour's bus ride from Regensburg and was well worth it. Donaustauf Castle dates from the early 10th century, and was commissioned by the Bishop of Regensburg to defend the area from Hungarian invasion. It's located on top of a hill that requires some brave walking to reach. 

There have been modern improvements to the site, mostly for preservation purposes, and to make it safe for visitors. 


Up on top there is a great view of the Donau (Danube) in both directions, and it's obvious this site was chosen so long ago for its strategic value. If I were a photographer, I would recommend someone do their wedding photos on this site.


This sign at the entrance to the site shows what it looked like a thousand years ago. 

Birds serenaded me the entire time I was there, from the bus stop and back again, and I have another bird that's found a place in my heart: the Eurasian Blackbird. They sing a sweet melody, very thrush-like, and indeed, they are a type of thrush. They look and act like an American Robin, but all black, save for a bright orange beak, and a yellow ring around their eyes. 

Bis bald!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Feelings of Relief

  Guten Morgen! Now it's winter. They say it's early to have snow here, but they're prepared. There's barely 2 inches and the plows are out, and they even clear and sand the sidewalks and bike paths. The photo is a view from our balcony. Our big event of the week was going early this morning to the Foreigner Affairs Office and submitting our paperwork to stay for the language course. It went off very smoothly, even though we had to show up over an hour before opening to get in line. Seems a lot of foreigners want to stay in Germany. We had our friend Christopher with us as an interpreter, and he was also invaluable as a guide to the whole process. We have our official permit, and even an appointment to come back if we want to extend our residency. It is a huge relief! Now we can get a regular bank account here, which they don't let you do until you have a residence permit.  And not only a bank account, but I can also get a library card now!! And they have English la...
Post a Comment
Read more

Slow Days

Schönen Tag aus Bayern! This is what fall looks like in Bavaria at our favorite park, the Baggersee Park on a quiet Friday afternoon. I wore only a light jacket, that wasn't quite enough at first, but after warming up on the walk, I eventually took it off and tied it around my waist. The sun kept coming and going from behind the clouds, and literally moments after we got home after a 2+ mile walk, it started pouring. It was one of those spot storms, but if we had been 5 minutes later, we would have gotten good and wet. Ordinarily the lake hosts a multitude of waterfowl, but today only the coots were to be seen. They are the black duck-like birds with a bright white streak between their eyes and down their bills. Pretty distnictive. Since it's been raining on and off most of the week, we haven't been doing many excursions. Instead we've been doing the paperwork required of foreigners living in Germany. But the sun teased us out this afternoon. I went back to the doctor o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Visiting the Doktor in Germany

  Gruß Gott! Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day, but today it's raining in Regensburg, and is forecast to be rainy all week. It's time we used those umbrellas we rushed to purchase the first week we were here because we were told it rains a lot.  So, I have no photos for this post, as going to the doctor isn't particularly photo-worthy. I wasn't sick; I just had to renew my regular prescriptions. I had been putting it off and putting it off, but as the supply in my bottles started to dwindle, I knew I had to do it. I found an English-speaking doctor right on my bus route, just outside the Altstadt. But going to the doctor in Germany isn't quite the same as going in the US. For one, although the Herr Doktor speaks English, that doesn't mean his staff does. It seems most people around here don't speak English, or speak it less well than I speak German. I think it's in the big cities that you find Germans who are fluent in English. Of course, that's pro...
Post a Comment
Read more