Munich; Tuesday, 04 October, 2005

My friends had to catch the 7 a.m. flight back to Gatwick, so at something horrible AM they left the hostel, hours before breakfast was ready and into the morning drizzle. By the time I got up nearly 4 hours later (to another stunning breakfast) the drizzle had stopped and there were the odd blue patch in the sky.

I packed my bags, stripped my bunk and checked out of the hostel, took my bags to the Hauptbahnhof and stashed them in the Luggage lockers before heading off for the day in Regensburg.

After catching the bus from the station right into the heart of the old town, I spent some hours wandering around the medieval streets, squares and bridges of the city. Once one of the most important cities in the region it fell into hard times in the 1600's and only really started to recover with the coming of new technology industries from the 1970s onwards. Consequently the city was untouched by most of the wars of the last 400 years, including escaping W.W.II without any damage, and consequently escaping the 1950's 60's and 70's rebuilds that have blighted many other European cities.

There are a large number of ancient buildings, churches and other structures dotted around the city including parts of the old Roman city walls. After visiting several of the churches and having a look around the outside of many of the other buildings (sadly most buildings only allow you to look round on guided tours, which after October 1st are infrequent!) I wandered out to the palace at the back of town. This again is a place where you can only look round on a tour but you can get an idea of the splendour from looking at the outside of the building.

After stopping for a late lunch in the cafe at the palace I headed back into the centre of town, and with too many early starts and late nights starting to take its toll, headed back to the station and the train back to Munich.

I retrieved my bags from the luggage lockers and walked the short distance to the third hotel of the stay and checked in.

Dotted around the edge of the city centre are three of the old gates to the city. After having settled in at the hotel this is where I headed to. I spent some time wandering around the centre of Munich taking photos of the gates and lots of the architecture and sights of the city. With a quickly scoffed bratwurst from the Hauptbahnhof in my stomach I headed back to the hotel and a very comfortable nights sleep.