Deutschland, Part 1 (Berlin and Regensburg)

Be patient with me, liebe freunde. It will probably take me a while to get all of the pictures from my recent trip to Germany up. For those of you who have concerns other than my vacation plans, some background: My brother Anthony lives in Berlin with his wife - they are both in graduate school there - and my father, mother, brother David, and I flew out to visit them. I was the last to arrive, and after just one day in Berlin, we piled into an enormous purple van and drove south. Regensburg, was our first stop.

Believe it or not, this photo of the painting in my parents' rented apartment is the only picture I took in Berlin, thus I had to include it. 

Regensburg is a very old city. It used to be walled, and the Altstadt, or Old City, has very narrow, cobblestone streets. It is famous for being on the Danube River, having a very old, very beautiful cathedral and Rathaus (city hall) and being picturesque in general. One of the highlights of our trip was having dinner at the Alte Linde (Old Linden), a beer hall/garden recommended by my friend Michael who used to live in Regensburg. It is right on the river across from the city, so it has a great view of the skyline, which is punctuated rather dramatically by the cathedral spires. Another cool thing we saw were the padlocks lining a bridge with pairs of names carved in them to signify the strong bond of the lovers' relationships. I'm not sure if this is a German thing or if it's specific to Regensburg, but I thought it was pretty cool. (We spotted one that said "Dirk [heart] Bier" (Dirk loves beer). David bought a hat, in an attempt to blend with with the Germans. I don't think it really worked.

Don't you hate how you can never get far enough away to fit the whole cathedral in one frame?

Before we could stop her, Jane ordered a Mass (a one-liter tankard) of beer for everyone at the table. Well, when in Regensburg... 

Dapper Dave

It's less blue than you'd think, considering the song and all.