We traveled 88mph and made it back, back to the medieval times, in the town of Regensburg.

“I travel light, I think the most important thing is to be in a good mood and enjoy life, wherever you are.” Diane Von FurstenbergWe traveled back, back to the past…. well more so than we have yet on this trip. Up and over the hills surrounding the town of Passau and out into the country past fields of maize, wheat, and barley as we ventured with a bus driver that spoke no English, nor German, nor any tongue spoken by anyone aboard. This led to some interesting happenings. Some passes in the road we took would barley fit the bus and yet were two lanes of traffic, there was a lot of chicken going on, as a result you could probably pull Alex’s finger prints off my arm until the new skin grows in. In a convoy of buses the cotton army arrived and us along with it. We walked up the hill toward town and to the famous stone bridge which they said was just finished being rebuilt, although they were still working on it, a theme here is that everything is always being worked on. This town really was something else, due to its size it was never completely destroyed even though it was captured in several wars including by Napoleon and thus stayed consistent with the medieval architecture. Another cool thing we passed on our way in to town was a retirement home I wouldn’t mind landing in myself in my cotton years, they had their own private beer garden and get beer with every dinner!

While we thought the roads and ally’s were small up till now, we knew nothing. Apparently in medieval times you would build your house practically inside your neighbors house. I’ll put it this way, some alleys I’d find hard to even pass with a horse, let alone mobs of people and buses! One such ally we were squeezing through and while my face was pressed against the glass of a small shop, letting some old ladies pass, I happen to see inside and a lady was sitting at a sewing machine and making clothes, little kids clothes and this dark back ally was her shop! The clothes were sooooo cute! They had little wooden buttons and very unique patterns, little booties and hats. Looking through the small window reminded me when I was young at Disney in the part where you could go into Mickey and Minnie’s house and see all the little items as they were small houses, if anyone else remembers that. It was like looking in the window at a theme park exhibit of an ancient times taking place in 2018. At the end of the ally I found a hat shop full of the types of hats everyone told me not to bring and wear as “Europeans don’t wear hats like that Erroll, you’ll stick out” well guess what everyone, I stick out anyway, Europeans are like little people, I feel like Dorothy in the munchkin village half the time, high little voices and all. At the end of the ally we found another church and the guide said something about tax and how tax goes to the church from the state? I don’t fully remember but, totally different than the U.S. That’s for sure. I think there was something about 8% and the elected officials. We went into the old church and holy darkness in the bat cave Batman! I used the low light function on my camera so I could see because in real life it was like walking into a closet with the light off. The center piece of this church was a solid silver alter. Yup you read that right.

We walked around the town checking out little nooks and crannies, adorable little courtyards with gardens and unbelievable old structures as we made our way to a restaurant in a building dating back to the 13th century. We had a lovely meal with pork and potatoes, gravy, apple strudel and ice cream and many beers, Alex didn’t care for the beer which is ok because it preferred my belly anyway. After lunch we stuck around the restaurant because we were taking part in a traditional white sausage making class. We went back to one of the old store rooms where they had tables set up and had to place workshop lights around the room as there was no lighting in the stone and plaster ceiling or walls. We watched the butcher as he explained the ingredients and procedure with his tricks of the trade in how to make this well known meal. Well known here I suppose because I had never heard of white sausage before. He explained the importance of keeping the temperatures right, because of the high fat content, and about the spices, one of which was called mace. It was an interesting smelling spice and I was unfamiliar with it but apparently it is a coating that is found on the outside of nutmegs. It kinda smelled like a peppery nutmeg I guess? He prepped some of the ingredients and mixed them in a chopper/mixing machine that bellowed against the stone walls when he turned it on. Everyone partook and helped with different aspects and then some even filled the casings. More weird than that, some of these crazy people tried the raw filling after it was mixed! I guess they like to spend more time seeing their toilet than seeing the sights. After the class was finished we went back to the dinning room and again had more food! Sausages, pretzels, and beer this time and the ones we made none the less! They had a local mustard they used in this town for their pretzels, it was a lot like honey mustard but with lots more mustard seed. I really enjoyed it but it didn’t really cut the mustard for Alex.(wink, wink) That’s been an interesting reoccurrence on this trip so far I’ve been trying so many different types of foods and for anyone that knows me I eat like a five year old, so very picky, but apparently I’m in my element out here, weird meats and starches with sauces and gravies galore!