Becoming modest travelers

Would never have thought, that it would make us happy one day to get out and visit a German city. At least, a city, we've never been to before. Out of principle, our opinion to date was/is, that we can always travel in Germany when we are "old and fragile" ,,, Nevertheless, last week we got a severe attack of cabin fever and took the car to drive to Regensburg with its famous cathedral (Dom) and its protected old town.

Regensburg - founded in Roman times as a legionary fortress has some interesting relicts - as Porta Praetoria on the photo – from these times and brought us back to our roots. Same for Eining/Abusina, a Roman auxiliary fort, to the Southwest, where we stopped by on the way back home (pic below).

Mainly, Regensburg is a city of (catholic) churches, the famous castle/monastery/church St. Emmeram and unusual tower houses for the wealthy families in the past. Being situated on the river Danube, the city was always a hub of trade and commerce. Nice compact old town, on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and an interesting new museum: HDBG (Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte), dedicated exclusively to Bavarian History.

On the way back, we also stopped in Weltenburg where the Danube spectacularly breaks through rocks and where the famous Asam brothers, one architect, the other painter, were responsible for the monastery/church with its famous baroque paintings.


Well, what I also wanted to talk about is, again, "traveling in times of COVID-19". Social distancing has become unknown to many people in the meantime, especially while standing in line and on the streets/pathways. Recklessness is back full swing. Masks are often leisurely hanging around the chin, the biceps, or, the nose is left free. But, in general, moral to wear masks is still pretty good. Rules remain strange in many regards: In a beergarden we visited, every other table/bench was left empty, but they put two parties with a max. of 6 people around one table! Waiters mostly wore fancy little plexiglass visors –, wondering how effective they are,,, No masks at a gelateria, but for the five steps from the entrance of a restaurant to the table.

The IBIS hotel we stayed at was brandnew and a good deal. In contrast to our Garmisch hotel, they had real glasses in the room and their bar was open all day. But, same as before: rooms are not cleaned anymore automatically. I do understand that cleaning personal shouldn't be in the room at same time as the occupants, but what against cleaning a room thoroughly every day, like before? Isn't it even more important now?