Friday, July 17, 2015

Crystal ship - Regensburg


Inspired by our elderly countrymen and their Danube cruises, we set out from Regensburg on a river boat trip of our own.

We headed to a place called Walhalla, but more on that later. 
When I went to buy tickets for our boat ride, the woman in the ticket booth glanced at the screen and her eyes lit up. “You are in luck,” she explained, like maybe I’d won a door prize. “Today the Crystal Queen is cruising to Walhalla.” The Crystal Queen, she explained, was the flagship of the fleet. It is inlaid with Swarovski crystal elements and even has an on-board crystal museum. I guess many people would be amazed at the luck we had. Brian was not impressed. He looked longingly at the creaking wooden ship with picnic tables on its deck.

When I was a freshman in college, some of the guys on my floor built a ship out of some old boxes and dorm furniture. They called it the crystal ship and sailed it down the hallway every night for about a week. They were taking a lot of drugs. I don’t think that ship could have made it to Walhalla. 

The  Crystal Queen lived up to her billing. There were crystals in the stairs, on the walls, encrusting the bar, and even a strobe light in the bathroom stall to show off crystals on the stall door. It was a lot more bling than I am used to seeing in Germany. Would this have been a hit in Texas?

Aboard the crystal ship

Crystal stairs

Creepy bride mannequin in the crystal museum


Walhalla is a monument built by a king of Bayern, King Ludwig I. He’s the grandfather of crazy King Ludwig II, who built the Cinderella castle at Neuschwanstein and bankrupted his kingdom in the process. Like his grandson, Ludwig I liked to build things big, and shiny, and impressive.  I imagine him wearing cowboy boots and a huge crystal-encrusted belt buckle.

Walhalla is named after a Norse temple and built to look like the Parthenon (it's also the name of a town in Texas).  It’s filled with busts of important Germans in history: scholars, scientists, writers, politicians. Most impressive is the location - it stands on a steep hillside overlooking the Danube.

After a picnic and a some time to enjoy the view, we boarded our boat and sparkled all the way back to town. Unlike with the crystal ship of my college days, it was smooth sailing.

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About Me

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Thanks for coming to my blog. It started as a way to keep in touch with family and friends, and now has become an ongoing project. I'm an American living in Germany and trying to travel whenever I can. I write about my experiences as an expatriate (the interesting ones and the embarrassing ones), and about my travels. There are some recurring characters in this blog, particularly my husband Brian and several of our friends. The title comes from the idea that living in a foreign country means making a lot of mistakes. So the things you used to do easily you now have to try over and over again. Hopefully, like me, you can laugh at how idiotic it feels. If you have happened upon my blog, then welcome. Knowing that people are reading what I write makes me keep going. Feel free to write comments or suggestions for future posts.