Saturday we headed to Regensburg to spend the day at the expat meet-up organized by Christina. Regensburg is a cheap (on a Bayernpass) and easy 1.5-hour train ride from Munich, so it makes for a good day trip.
After wandering around on our own for a while, we joined the group for a guided tour of the city in the afternoon. It’s been a while since I’ve taken a guided tour of any city, and it was quite fun, even though the overarching theme (Regensburg might not look like much today, but in the past we were super important! really! Oh, and we’re very, very Italian, too!) was a little depressing.
Then it was off to a lovely biergarten for drinks in the shade before our herd of expats headed to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. It was fabulous to meet Cliff and Sarah of Regensblog, Tammy and Matthias of Coffee from a Cardboard Cup, and Tim and Heather from the Sprocket Spot, and several other non-blogging expats, too (it only seems like all of us blog…).
Us big city folk (ie., the four in attendance from Munich) left dinner on the early side hoping to catch a certain train, failed, and ended up watching most of the second half of the Russia-Netherlands game in a sports bar near the station. We were the only ones there over the age of 18, but at least we recognized the 80s music that was playing too loud for our delicate old ears.
Regensburg might not look like much today
Those your sentiments or ones from the tour guide? Just curious.
Oh, and we’re very, very Italian, too! Culo la balena!
I’ve lived here for four years and I can’t figure out what that particular dysfunction is.
– Is it HRE-yearnings of yesteryear?
– Is it a deep-seated jealousy of towns like Bozen/Bolzano?
– Is it clinging to those big old stones in the Porta Praetoria from 79 A.D. so that they can say “Freistaat Schmeistaat! We’re the home of the perpetual diet (thus our slim womenfolk)! We are an imperial city! How do you like that cheapo bookrate for international surface mail? That’s us, baby! Our serving wenches produced the son of Carlo il Cinci* whom he treated quite nicely such that he went on to be known as Don Juan D’Austria, who beat the snot out of a foreign naval menace, thereby keeping the Turks out of the Western Europe you know and love forev…well, for a good long while there!”
I bet it’s that last one.
I enjoyed meeting y’all too.
*Is that how you say “Karl der Fünfte” in Italian? I was really reaching there.
Thanks for making the trek all the way up here to hang with us!
And although I made fun of the whole “we’re Italian” thing at first, I can kinda sorta see it if I squint really hard. There are a lot more people hanging out on the street and in the squares (like Bismarckplatz at night) than in any of the other German cities I’ve been to. That part of it does feel a bit Italian.
Cliff – that was more the tour guide than me. I thought Regensburg was perfectly lovely, although just a tad disappointing (only because my expectations of quaintness were quite high).
And I think it would be Carlo (il) Quinto.
Christina – thanks for organizing! I’ll have to put together at least an evening in Munich one of these days.
When we announced we were moving to Munich, several people (including some Italian friends) commented that we’d love Munich because it was the ‘most Italian city in Germany’. This appeared to be based more on the cafe culture than on family towers and loggias, though…
several people (including some Italian friends) commented that we’d love Munich because it was the ‘most Italian city in Germany’.
I’m still having a hard time with that. I’m not trying to be contrary. I know pretty much everyone digs that place. Ask around…”does anyone here not have a deep and abiding love for the country to the South of Austria and Switzerland?” Blank stares of incredulity will follow. It seems like there’s a helluva lot of sunshine dumped all over anything remotely related to Italy. Food, art, architecture, language, etc. Why? Is this some kind of EU inferiority complex?
I’ve been to Northern Italy a couple of times. You know what my favorite part thus far has been? Bolzano!
Maybe it’s time to try out Southern Italy or die Toskana to see if that sheds some light on it for me.
I can’t help you there – I’m one of those whom Italy charms the pants off of. Although it is a bit of a mystery why a non-Italian city would want to compare itself to Italy… the non-Italian city will always look like a failure in comparison. Best to stand on other merits…