Regensburg, Bavaria

Many European river cruises call on the Bavarian village of Regensburg, Germany, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Easily accessible from the Danube River and remarkably beautiful, it's easy to understand why.

Regensburg came through both World War I and World War II relatively unscathed, preserving the medieval architecture.

The industrial age essentially bypassed this village which had once been prominent in Bavaria's political history, so it had no military value as a target for the Allies.

As someone who worked in Huntington Beach's Old World Village for years, it was interesting to see what could easily have been the template for that California mini-version.

On the warm evening we arrived and throughout our stay, it seemed most of the people in town were either drinking beer and eating meals at sidewalk cafes or strolling through the cobblestone streets eating ice cream.

That first evening, we took seats at one of the sidewalk cafes and enjoyed cold beverages

Beyond the quaint historical downtown, Regensburg is a sprawling community of 140,000, but you couldn't prove it by me.

We stayed at a clean, modern Hotel Ibis next to the train station and never went any place that wasn't near the river and easily within walking distance.

We primarily explored the main village on the same side of the river as the train station, occasionally strolling across the Old Stone Bridge or along the lovely Danube.

Being there to get more first-hand knowledge of river cruising, we took the time to walk past the line of ships anchored along the shore, including Viking, Avalon, Uniworld, Tauck, Emerald and several European brands, informing our opinions about which had better "curb appeal."

And yet, with all these ships in the same port, the village was not overrun with tourists as far as I could tell, a testament to its size and scope.

There are many churches in Regensburg with magnificent interiors, and over our two days there, we strolled past and into several, but our favorite place turned out to be the courtyard of the Ratskeller.

In about every German village, city hall is called the Rathaus, and beneath it there's usually a bar called the Ratskeller.  I remember going to a similar basement bar in Denver, Colorado, when I was in the Air Force, as well as the one in Old World Village, a mixed use community in Huntington Beach, California, where my dad once lived and operated businesses.

Of course, I was immediately attracted to the Ratskeller, but the smell of beer and sauerkraut overwhelmed Julie's senses at the doorway to the traditional cellar, so we tabled that idea the first evening, instead going to a nice sidewalk cafe within sight of its front door.

While looking for a place to eat the next day, however, I looked in a beautiful door arch which turned out to be the Ratskeller's side door, and there I saw an unlikely pink courtyard, soothing and airy.

It proved to be the perfect place for a delicious meal.  Julie ordered the wiener schnitzel, which was her go-to meal throughout our vacation and never left her disappointed.  I ordered the sausage platter.

What gigantic meals they turned out to be!

Each of Julie's two wiener schnitzel fillets were the size of the sole of my shoe, and my sausage platter had easily a pound of sausage plus sauerkraut and potatoes scalloped and fried with pepper the way my mother used to make them, plus a salad.

Later, we saw a statue of Bavarian King Ludwig I, who I mistakenly thought was Mad Ludwig, who built lots of amazing castles including Neuschwanstein before his untimely demise.

King Ludwig I immortalized on horseback, however, was Mad Ludwig's grandfather, who first fought on the side of Napoleon Bonaparte (supposedly against his better instincts) and then against Napoleon's France when the tides of war turned in late 1813.  Ludwig I went on to have a long, productive reign as king of Bavaria.

Before that came to pass, Napoleon's French forces had so thoroughly defeated the Holy Roman Empire that it folded in 1806, ending the central European branch of the Roman Empire that had begun with the crowning of Charlemagne in the year 800.

The last Holy Roman Emperor was Francis II, the grandson of Maria Theresa.  While the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist, Francis II had taken precautions by founding the Austrian Empire in 1804.

He was crowned Emperor Francis I of the Austria, and for two years, he was the only Doppelkaiser, or Double Emperor, in history.

Also in 1804, Bonaparte declared himself Emperor Napoleon I of France, famously taking the crown from Pope Pius VII and putting it on his own head, symbolically implying he was above the Pope and therfore the only one fit to crown himself.

If it seemed Napoleon took the spotlight from the Habsburgs permanently, consider that in January of 1810, Napoleon I had his marriage to his first wife, Empress Josephine, annulled, because she had failed to give him an heir, although that was not the official reason.  

That freed Napoleon to marry his second wife, 19-year-old Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, the great-granddaughter of Maria Theresa, on March 11, 1810.

A year and nine days later, Marie Louise gave birth to their son, Napoleon II.

By the next month, however, Napoleon I's army had been defeated, forcing the Emperor to abdicate with the Treaty of Fontainebleau on April 11, 1811.  The terms of peace required Napoleon to live out his days in exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba.

On June 18, 1815, however, Napoleon met his final defeat at Waterloo, and he spent the rest of his life exiled on the remote Atlantic island of Saint Helena.

A few months later, Napoleon I escaped that exile with 700 men and reclaimed his title, soon building an army of 200,000.  

After losing at Waterloo, Napoleon fled to Paris, naming his only son, Napoleon II, as his successor.  

The 3-year-old great-great grandson of Maria Theresa was officially Emperor of France for two weeks. Napoleon II had been known as "King of Rome" from his birth, so if Napoleon I had been successful in his comeback, and if Napoleon II had children, then perhaps Habsburg descendants would still be Holy Roman Emperors.

While Napoleon's nephew Napoleon III would become Emperor of the Second French Empire, the family didn't come close to matching the staying power of the Habsburgs.

Following the defeat of Napoleon I, Habsburg holdings were for the most part restored and Austrian Emperor Francis I's ancestors went on to rule for another century.

For our stay in Regensburg, however, we didn't get embroiled in the history of the region or take any tours. We just relaxed and enjoyed the scenic village.