Regensburg

July 19^th, 2025

After 2 wonderful days in London, we flew to Munich and took the train to Regensburg.

I had been anxious about coping with all of our luggage on the train, but after a bit of confusion we were able to find the correct train, get our luggage on board and arrive safely at Regensburg station.

Things were a bit of a challenge there as the taxi drivers declined to take us to the hotel, telling us it was a short walk, and pointed us in the general direction of the hotel.

So off we set down the cobblestone streets, dragging our suitcases, and looking just like tourists, which we suppose we were.

Sometime later we arrived at the hotel Orphee. We enjoyed our 2 days there. It is a wonderfully funky hotel, with 2 great restaurants, and highly recommended.

Pam and Lawrence and Lynne and Dave joined us yesterday, and finally today we were ready to join the Viking Gullvieg.

After breakfast we requested taxis, and we had no problems getting to the boat.

We had been told that our rooms would be ready after 3:00 PM and that we could check in at any time and leave our luggage at guest services.

We drove along the dock and there were several river boats moored there, and of course ours was the one right at the end of the dock.

We climbed the short gangway to the lobby.

It was a very hot day, but nice and cool on board.

Check in took a few seconds, and we received our cruise cards. Our rooms were ready and we could move straight in. Yay1!

We walked past the library and computer area,

and down the corridor to our cabins.

Our cabin is quite small, but it is well organized and there is plenty of storage space.

There are US and European plugs,

There is a small balcony

and a great view of the river

the only downside is that only one wall is metallic, but we are only here for a week, so we don’t need many magnets.

We unpacked and went to lunch.

In the afternoon Brian and I headed out on our walking tour of Regensburg.

Our first stop was at a supermarket to stock up on snacks. I always like to check out the produce section in foreign supermarkets, and this one didn’t disappoint.

We even managed the self checkout

Regensburg is a wonderful medieval city with beautiful pastel colored buildings situated around pretty squares. It is very walkable, as long as you are OK with cobblestones.

 We stopped at the beautiful medieval Scots Monastery.

We went to the Palace of Thurn and Taxis, but couldn’t find the entrance, so we had a Coke and walked back to the boat.

We checked out the Aquavit Terrace at the front of the boat – it looks like a good place for an al fresco meal, or drink in the evening. We asked for a table for 6, but were told we could only have a table for 4 as the tables cannot be moved. Hopefully we will be able to work around this restriction during the week.

In the evening we were introduced to our very hyper entertainment director Kane, as well as the captain and head chef. Then, after going over the plans for tomorrow, we went down to the dining room for an excellent dinner.

However, there was one problem. They don’t have a dress code on board, but it seems to be expected that people are reasonably well dressed for dinner.

Well, a gentleman walked in to dinner without shoes. In all of the other cruise lines we have been on, I have not seen this before. None of the staff seemed to be concerned. I couldn’t think why he would not be wearing shoes. I know I had to leave the Queen Elizabeth in Cape Town barefoot because I had packed all of my shoes in my suitcase, and only discovered the error in the morning when I got ready for breakfast. I certainly would not go to breakfast without shoes on.

Even if he had something wrong with his feet, surely he could have found some kind of footwear to wear in the public rooms.

Anyway, that didn’t spoil our meal, which was delicious, and a good time was had by all.

After the dinner we went to the Lounge, and sat around watching the South Africa vs New Zealand rugby match on Lawrence’s computer.

We were very discreet. We had the volume turned off, and didn’t even shout and cheer as we watched the match.

It was lovely to sit and watch the river outside the floor to ceiling windows.

Then Mr No Shoes walked in to the lounge and sat down across from us. He was joined by a woman who did have shoes on, and was quite happy sitting on the sofa with her feet on the furniture. I am sure they are very lovely people, but this did seem like rather strange behavior. However, nobody seemed to be too perturbed by them, and we all had a great evening.

There was a pretty sunset,

And we sat back and enjoyed listening to Bobby on the piano.

Yes, this is not Queen Mary 2, but it certainly has been a wonderful day. I think I like river cruising already!