Today, we spent the day in Regensburg and took a short trip to see Walhalla.

Regensburg is a very interesting medieval city on the Danube River, and the fourth largest city in Bavaria. While there, we walked across the oldest stone bridge in Germany and took in the medieval architecture.

I found it interesting to hear about the purpose behind much of the architecture, such as displaying wealth and status. It was also amazing to know that all of the architecture we were seeing was completely original, as the main city was not destroyed at all due to bombings during World War II.

After grabbing some food at an Italian restaurant named L’Osteria, we hopped back onto our bus and made our way to Walhalla.

Walhalla, which was built by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, serves as a memorial for influential Germans (meaning people who spoke the German language, not necessarily people from Germany). It is filled with marble busts of these influential Germans, and the monument itself looks like the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. It was fun to look at each bust and see which influential Germans I noticed! I ended up recognizing musicians like Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms, the philanthropic Jakob Fugger, and scientists like Einstein, Gregor Mendel, Carl Gauss, Max Planck, and Leibnitz.

It was incredible to see the sheer number of German people who have made deep impacts on the world.

I’m excited for what the rest of this week has in store and am glad you’re following along!

– Juliana Alvelo-Davies