October 1, 2006

Yesterday was another busy day. Granted, the walking tour of Regensburg was not until 10 a.m. We made it as far as the Stone Bridge and the Old Sausage Kitchen before we broke with our group and went exploring on our own. It was a lovely Bavarian city with great pride in their history, and in Pope Benedict since he was a professor at their university. The Pope also visited the city recently. We also saw the Pope's old house in the afternoon - people were taking pictures in front of it. In our exploration, we purchased a scarf from H&M and I got a dried lavender and rose wand from a nice shop. We then found a Moroccan store, and I found a hip scarf for the evening’s Passenger talent show. We went to the Old Sausage Kitchen to purchase sausages on fresh rolls and ate them while we walked through the Saturday market. They were all types of vendors including one with guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens, and canaries.After lunch we went to the Weltenberg Abbey and the Danube Gorge. The church was beautiful! The Father gave us an overview of the history of the church. He started and ended with Gregorian chant. Talk about amazing. We found a few Christmas decorations, but never tasted the beer made at the Abbey. That was a shame because the brewery has been making beer for over a thousand years. The Danube Gorge tour was breathtaking. It was insanely beautiful. Upon our return to the ship we participated in the passenger's talent show. We performed ‘One’ and I did a bellydance. It was a fun night.

I slept most of the day today. Firstly, because I could. Secondly, because it was day one and I wasn't feeling too good. Aidan just let me sleep and woke me up for lunch. Again, Stefan, the head chef, made an amazing lunch. I think the hazelnut mousse was the best I have ever had!We boarded buses for the Nuremburg tour and honestly I did not expect much. The only thing I knew about the place was the trials after World War II. Well, the history and beauty of the place got me. The old town still had its city walls, many of its timber homes, and of course there was bratwurst! We visited the castle and saw the cityscape. After most of the city was destroyed during the war, they decided to rebuild the city with traditional rooves but with modern bodies. Therefore, the view from the castle reflected a medieval cityscape. We walked down into the city and pretty much waited impatiently to be let loose. You see, there was a market in the square with rows of vendors. We immediately went to the tourist shop for postcards and some Christmas decorations. We visited another shop and found Advent calendars, and I got a beautiful Swiss watch. We then purchased a pewter wedding cup to celebrate one week of marriage.Upon our return to the ship we sent our daily postcards to ourselves and wrote the postcards to our parents on World Cup postcards. We then went to a Bavarian beer tasting. Four beers, and four different types of glasses to enjoy them. I had double the amount since Aidan does not like beer. He took a sip and then would pour the rest into my glass. I didn't mind. I liked all of them except for the wheat beer. Dinner was great as usual. The vodka in the sorbet was quite interesting. I also enjoyed the crème caramel. So yummy. We ended our evening in the hot tub. Good Lord, we need one of those! It was a great place to relax.Well, we're a week in and have a week to go! I hope the rest of our honeymoon will be relaxing and enjoyable.