Friday, May 29, 2009

The Garden in May

We were lucky enough to inherit a beautiful peony bush... and I got it staked just in time!


And I just planted this hydrangea, I know it's not the French variety - but I'm not sure what variety it is...




Some dahlias behind the fading forget-me-nots...







and one of our little bee garden helpers...






I think this is Catmint...


The bees LOVE it. There are always four or five working away at it...



Look at those wings!


I think we have about 8 rose bushes that are about to pop, too! Stay tuned...!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Regensburg

This weekend we decided to visit Regensburg, which is just southeast of Nuremberg, about 100 km from here. The Dom (cathedral) St. Peter's there has a boys choir - the Chor Dompatzen, so we went to their 10 am service, and although it was in German, we really enjoyed the choir.

The Cathedral was begun in the 13th century, and is made of limestone, which erodes easily, and consequently is constantly under refurbishment.


After church we stopped to have some apfel kuchen, and Luna found a place to play.




It seemed like such a nice photo op, that I decided to get into the shot as well. Luna didn't think that was such a good idea - as you will see...













This is the altes rathaus (old townhall). It is Gothic and was also begun in the 13th century. It has a Reichssaal (Imperial Diet Hall) where the Perpetual Diet sat from 1663 to 1806. Isn't that funny? A perpetual diet! It also still has it's dungeons and the torture chamber is preserved in it's original setting.

Gargoyles on the cathedral.




This is the Porta Praetoria - which is a remnant of the Roman occupation, but has been preserved in the facade of this building.


It was erected when Marcus Aurelius was in power! (That's seriously old!)

This is the Wurstkuche, which is celebrating it's 854th birthday this year. Therefore it is the oldest - operating fast food joint in Germany.



The Wurstkuche sits just on the river (Danube) with a fine view of the Steinerne Brucke (Stone Bridge) which was built in 1146 with 16 huge arches, and has been in continuous service for more than 800 years.




















Bas spied this elderly couple having a stroll along the river.




Wall mural of David and Goliath.



This was a Romanesque chapel near the Dom that was chanced upon. It has impressive frescoes.



Luna having fun on the Dom Platz.



and insisting on walking...



Regensburg had lots of little streets like this - all full of shops. I will certainly be going back to explore them!

We found this fun fountain.




And one last shot of the Dom!