St. Peter's Gate, part of medieval fortifications — on the way from the hotel to St. Rupert's church
Northeast corner of Roman fortifications of Castra Regina seen from medieval fortifications, near hotel (this picture taken on the morning of July 26)
On Wednesday, July 25, I got moving in time to get to the 9:00 Mass at St. Rupert's church. It is the parish church adjacent to St. Emmeram's basilica. After that, I was basically free until 8:00 p.m., the time of my s-i-l's concert. I began by buying tickets for a morning German-language walking tour of the
old city (much of which I had seen on my stroll the previous day) and an afternoon English-language tour of the
Old City Hall.
Although there was a lot in the talk by the guide of the morning tour which I did not understand, I could understand when she was talking about things I already knew something about, and I probably picked up a bit of new information as well.
Medieval patrician house in the Haidplatz, west of old city hall. The rich Regensburgers (patricians – Patrizier) adopted the Italian custom of building towers to show off their wealth, as well as to catch the breezes.
Part of the Arch Hotel on the Haidplatz. They stole my cousin's name.
Part of the gateway to the Stone Bridge (with the street leading down to it)
The top of the old tower adjacent to the north transept of the cathedral, where the organ is
Another patrician house and tower
Plaque commemorating Oskar Schindler's living in Regensburg for 4 1/2 years after the war. It's on one of the houses where he lived
A house where Oskar Schindler lived, with plaque attached
After the tour, I strolled around a bit more on my own and had lunch at the
Wurstkuchl, which bills itself as the oldest bratwurst shop in the world. It is said to have served laborers working on the
Stone Bridge across the Danube. As had happened at the Bischofshof the previous evening, some people came to occupy the adjacent seats. They were American tourists on a Danube cruise, and it was nice to chat with them.
After lunch, I strolled around some more until it was time for the tour of the Old City Hall.
A couple of pics of the Old City Hall. The building at the right was the original city hall; the one at the left was originally built to house a dance hall on the second floor. The section in between was added for convenience after the city acquired the dance hall.
Two pics of the assembly room of the perpetual diet (and a couple of my fingertips). Above,
the Electors' door. Below, the imperial dais: the emperor's commissioner presided, with the three sacred electors* on one side of him and the secular† on the other.
* The Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne
† The King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine, the Margrave of Brandenburg, and the Duke of Saxony (but with variations and additions from time to time, as explained in the article I linked)
I had an early dinner at
the Wiessbräuhaus, which was licensed in 1620 and brews their own beer.
Small fountain at one end of the street where the Weissbräuhaus is located
Looking away from the restaurant in the opposite direction (west)
Sundial and calendar on southern side of the cathedral (date at the bottom is 1487)
Then it was more strolling around until it was time for the concert.
The
organ in the cathedral (and
here and
here) occupies a portion of the wall of the north transept.
This section is free of windows because it was originally part of a tower of the older cathedral. (A picture in yesterday's post shows a bit of that tower from the outside.) Because it is even older than the rest of the cathedral, the organ builder was not allowed to drill into the wall to support the instrument. Instead, it is suspended on four large cables from the ceiling, and it accessible only by
a one-person elevator which is raised and lowered by cables. (Photo shows the elevator going up with my nephew in it. In the upper right of the photo are the bottoms of a few organ pipes.) A mechanism at console level actually draws it into the organ to give access to the console.
Well, the concert was amazing. My s-i-l began by playing three pieces by Bach. Then she switched to post-WWII Japanese composers — four pieces by three composers. Two of the pieces incorporate the melodies of some traditional Buddhist chants, and one of those also includes the tune of the Gregorian chant "Dies Iræ." My sister-in-law dedicated that piece to the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. I had heard the pieces with chant melodies before, but not knowing the traditional Buddhist chants, I could not recognize when they were played on the organ. But for this performance, she had about 7 Buddhist monks come from Japan to chant the chants in their place, while she played the rest. So the monks, dressed mostly in green, lined up across the front when it was time for the pieces they would be part of, took books from their sleeves, and chanted where it was part of the compositions.
We were told that the audience in the cathedral was larger than average for the series of Wednesday evening performances, and at the end they gave a very prolonged ovation. All in all, I'd say it was a triumph.
Afterwards we (s-i-l, nephew, monks, cathedral organist, photographer, friends of my s-i-l, etc., and I) went across the courtyard to the Bischofshof for a supper. My nephew and I had the Tellersulz (slices of beef in a jellied broth from beef bones, which one of my table companions had enjoyed the previous evening), and on my recommendation another person had the veal dish I had enjoyed the night before. I noticed that a lot of Wiener Schnitzel went to the adjoining table where the monks were.
On the way over from the cathedral, I was able to converse with the photographer, who was a pleasant young man who had visited Canada and the U.S.. I'd have liked to continue the conversation, but we got separated when people took seats in the "Bürgerzimmer" of the restaurant, which was done in traditional style.
It was certainly a very enjoyable day in historic
Regensburg.
I recommend clicking on pictures to enlarge them for better detail.
