Maybe Regensburg is not that bad

May 9, 2007 · Filed Under An American Expat in Deutschland 

Regensburg is a perfectly lovely city with its intact, medieval, UNESCO World Heritage site, old town, but visiting a town and admiring its offerings is very different from actually moving there and starting a new life. I’ve been quite homesick for the Berlin-Potsdam area for the last six months (perhaps you’ve picked up on this).

Maybe this had something to do with moving here at the beginning of winter?

Spring has come; the trees have leaves, the lilacs perfume the air, and the first peonies of the season have opened. Like the busy little bees, I’ve been out and about enjoying the show.

I’ve also slowly been making friends down here, and that always helps. Two of our neighbors have du‘d us now (that was a bit surprising, since I had work colleagues who still used Sie after working together for a year and a half).

Blah! This post is dull. Or maybe it’s that it’s 4:20 am and I can’t sleep so I’m up rambling incoherently to you instead. I’m uncomfortable and Oliver is waking me up several times a night; nothing really seems to help (I’ve got a body pillow and I ordered a belly support pillow which should come later today, maybe this will help).

But I digress… tonight I actually thought, Regensburg is not that bad. So what’s brought this on? I think it was two busy days on the town.

Last week, I met up with Cindy for shopping and picked up some cute, strappy, yet comfortable sandals that it’s ever since been too cold to wear (and my feet have grown two sizes, egads!). After Cindy went home to meet the kids after school, I wandered the town and decided to try my luck at one of the hair salons/day spas (Andrea Garburg at Kohlenmarkt). They had an opening and I was in for a cut and dry, and everything went well. I’m happy with the results and my (19 year old!) new hairdresser actually lives down the street from me here in Laaber (once she found out I lived here, she slipped into speaking Oberpfälzisch, luckily, I’ve gotten to the point where that’s not really a problem for me anymore). On Tammy’s recommendation (a new virtual friend), I then went to L’Osteria for lunch and discovered that their pizzas cannot possibly be meant for one person, but the half I was able to eat was very delicious. After lunch I headed over to Cindy’s place for coffee and cake, then picked Rainer up and had dinner at Kneitinger Keller. Rainer raves about this place, but I just found it okay. Maybe you’ve gotta be German or a beer lover.

Today, well, that is, yesterday, was another busy day. I met O-tay for lunch and tried one of the restaurants here (the Gasthaus) in Laaber, which was good. Then the not so good part. I walked in the house to discover that Charlie had messed on our hall rug, then walked through it so that the mess was smeared up and down the hallway. Luckily, the doors to all the rooms were closed, but this was still a serious mess to clean up and the six month old area rug is unsalvageable. As soon as the cleaning and sanitizing was done, we were off to dinner with a bunch of bioinformaticians at Hofbräuhaus. Rainer also raves about this place, mainly I think, because they serve steak tartar. I thought it was incredibly stuffy and smoky. I also thought their schnitzel was good, but not the best I’ve ever had, Rainer says I’m spoiled now from living in Bavaria - don’t I remember the schnitzel in Berlin? BUT, it was on walking back to the car after dinner that I thought, “You know, Regensburg is not that bad.” Here’s hoping it will just keep getting better and better.

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6 Responses to “Maybe Regensburg is not that bad”

  1. Andrea on May 9th, 2007 9:59 am

    Spring will hopefully help make it better. Also once little Oliver joins you, you’ll find lots of things you’ll like. I’m going on 15 mths in Bonn now and I am “maybe” starting to like it. Some anyway. :)

  2. Maria on May 9th, 2007 10:32 am

    Ooo— double whammie! New shoes and a good haircut! Two things that always cheer me up!

    BTW— my feet grew two sizes during my pregnancy too…and four months later, I am back to my regular size! Whew! I have a shoe collection and would hate to have to replace them all!!!

  3. Heza on May 9th, 2007 3:20 pm

    Bayerisch is still a big problem for me. You’re so brave to listen through a conversation.

    Regensburg is quite cozy. We like Mirabelle Restaurant on Drei-Mohren-Str. 11, French that isn’t too expensive.

  4. EuroTrippen on May 9th, 2007 9:22 pm

    We came so close to living/working in Regensburg. It was actually our first choice, but the lack international schooling and a forced move to asia after only a year in Regensburg put the kibosh on it. Overall, though, I’d rather live there than here… but Berlin probably trumps both places.

    LOL… did any of this help? Probably not.

  5. Tammy on May 10th, 2007 12:08 am

    I should have warned you on the L’Osteria pizzas. The great thing about it is that the pizzas are for two people (everyone shares) and it still only costs 6 - 8 Euros!

    Have you discovered Westbad yet or the cloister in Kielheim? It’s probably too cold for West bad, but the cloister is a great place to walk around in the spring!

    Here are some other random things to know about Regensburg. The VHS has a lot of classes on just about anything. The Frauengesundheit Zentrum has a lot of resources for women and children. You can rent DVDs from the library in the Stadt. If you are a member of Fitness Company, you can rent DVDs for free from there too. Zarik has some good produce (but like anywhere in Germany, it’s highly variable). I have yet to go to the Stadt Theater, but I have heard good thing from Sarah.

    Hope that helps to inspire. Hope you sleep better tonight.

    Your virtual friend :-)

  6. Christina on May 10th, 2007 12:26 am

    @Andrea: Good to hear that you’re starting to enjoy Bonn too. I think being stuck inside for much of the winter had a lot to do with my feelings of homesickness.

    @Maria: Oh good! One of my books says that your feet can become permanently bigger. It’s good to know that that may not necessarily be the case! I really don’t want to get stuck with giant size 41/42 feet!

    Heza: It has nothing to do with bravery. Living in a rural Bavarian village of 3000 people means I’ve got no choice! ;-) I’ll have to try Mirabelle, I love French food.

    @EuroTrippen: I don’t think it was Regensburg really, I think it was that it was a new place where people are a little different and it was far from the friends I’d made in my 4 years in the Berlin area. It’s also partly that I’ve moved to a tiny village and don’t go into the city often. I should go more.

    @Tammy: Thanks for the additional tips, I’ll be sure to check them out - and it’s 12:25am and I’m still sleepless, so sadly this night does not look any better than the last few!

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