Regensburg

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Regensburg

The medieval centre of the city of Regensburg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site - a testimony of the city's status as cultural centre of southern Germany in the Middle Ages.

Regensburg was home to both a Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft factory and an oil refinery, which were bombed by the Allies on August 17, 1943, and again on February 5, 1945, during the Oil Campaign of World War II. Although both targets were badly damaged, Regensburg itself suffered little damage from the Allied strategic bombing campaign. The city's most important cultural loss was that of the Romanesque church of Obermünster, which was destroyed in a March 1945 air raid and was not rebuilt (the belfry survived). Also, Regensburg's slow economic recovery after the war ensured that historic buildings were not torn down, to be replaced by newer ones. When the upswing in restoration reached Regensburg in the late 1960s, the prevailing mindset had turned in favour of preserving the city's heritage.

The stone bridge, built 1135–1146, is a highlight of medieval bridge building. The knights of the 2nd and 3rd crusade used it to cross the Danube on their way to the Holy Land. However during our visit it was swathed in canvas and netting as part of a restoration project, and impossible to see it.

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Thurn & Taxis Castle

The Princely Palace Thurn und Taxis is located in a green belt that surrounds the old town of Regensburg. It is just a few minutes on foot to the Regensburg Cathedral. It was originally a Benedictine monastery founded in about 739 in Regensburg at the grave of the itinerant Frankish bishop Saint Emmeram.

In the 15th century, Franz von Taxis (1459–1517) assured his place in history by setting up the first European postal system, which remained a monopoly until the 19th century. In 1812 the monastic buildings were granted to the Princes of Thurn und Taxis, who had St. Emmeram's Abbey converted as a residence known from then on as Schloss Thurn und Taxis. It was soon one of the most modern palaces in Europe, and featured such luxuries as flushing toilets, central heating and electricity. Tours include the Basilika St Emmeram. The palace complex also contains the Schatzkammer (Treasury). The jewellery, porcelain and precious furnishings on display belonged, for many years, to the wealthiest dynasty in Germany. The fortune, administered by Prince Albert II, is still estimated at well over €1 billion.

A quarter-century after she married the man who was said to be Germany's richest aristocrat, her distant cousin Prince Johannes von Thurn und Taxis, when she was 20 and he was 53, and became notorious for her wild parties and punk hairdos, Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, now a widow, still knows how to turn heads. But her antics were tame compared with the behaviour of her husband, who in his bachelorhood was unapologetic about his free-swinging bisexuality.

Prince Johannes died in December 1990, following two unsuccessful heart transplants, and left debts totaling more than $500 million, mostly from unwise investments in North American commercial real estate. Gloria announced that she was selling off a large portion of the family silver and jewelry. The auction, held by Sotheby's in Geneva, brought in $13.7 million. A second auction staged by Sotheby's at Schloss St. Emmeram in 1993 fetched another $19.3 million. Gloria spent the rest of the decade holed up in Regensburg, raising her children and turning their financial situation around. She sold the metallurgical companies and the bank, trimmed the palace staff, and gave up 24 of her 27 cars

Twenty years ago the Schloss was entirely private, with every room perfectly maintained, down to the crystal ashtrays on every side table, for the exclusive use of the princely family, who regularly gave seated dinners for 80, with a liveried footman behind each place in the white-and-gold Hall of Mirrors. Now the staterooms are open to the public, with daily tours at 10 euros per person; there are strings across the Hall of Mirrors' red velvet chairs; and smoking is verboten.

It costs $5 to $10 million a year to maintain the Schloss, according to Gloria. In addition to the cash flow generated by tours, office rentals, and corporate events, a Christmas market that Gloria runs there brings in revenue. This summer she will hold her annual music festival, which she took over from the city of Regensburg and turned into a moneymaking venture by personally promoting it.

The abbey church became a parish church, to which, on 18 February 1964, Pope Paul VI accorded the status of a basilica minor.

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Prinzess Cafe

I did my homework and ascertained that the Prinzess Cafe was the place for cakes. So when we got our free time we made for it - actually finding it did take some time.

Confiserie Prinzess, is Germany’s oldest confectioner’s shop. As long ago as 1676, sweets and chocolates were made here and sold to the ambassadors attending the Perpetual Imperial Diet. And customers can buy chocolates with names like “Barbara’s Kisses”, “Smart Gloria” or “Danube Shells” that reflect Regensburg’s history. This shop also supplies sweets and confectionery by appointment to the House of Thurn und Taxis, owners of the eponymous castle in Regensburg.

In fact it is known as much for its chocolates and truffles as for its cakes, but I had enough difficulty negotiating permission to purchase a gooey cream cake, that I thought it wise not to try for chocolates as well.

Here you need to know the etiquette, you grab a table, then proceed to the shop counter. There you hop from one leg to the other whilst you decide which of the cakes to order. You then point to it, and the assistant gives you a ticket to take back to your table. This you give the waitress when she gets to your table, and the cake appears. I washed the cake down with an iced coffee.

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