One of my favorite things about living in this city is all the strange little bits of history that surround me. I’ve written before about how Johannes Kepler lived here, and about how there’s a section of Roman fortress wall next to the McDonalds. The last Pope taught theology at the University here.
Napoleon Bonaparte also spent some time here after the Battle Of Regensburg which was fought between the Austrians and the invading French in 1809. Napoleon was wounded during the battle, shot in his left ankle. According to local legend, he recovered for a short while here before moving on to Vienna.
This sign is on the corner of my street, mounted on the front of the building. I pass it every day, as I leave my apartment. It says, “Hier ift Napoleon I am 23 April 1809 bei der Beschießung der Stadt verwundet worden.”
Translated it means, “Here Napoleon Bonaparte was wounded in the bombardment of the city on April 23, 1809.”
Yup, I live on the street where Napoleon was shot in the foot. History is amazing!
Does your city have any interesting historical significance?
Whimsy. Tacos. The DMV. 
Yes – I live near the town where Napoelon was wounded the only time ever! 😉
Btw, the second letter in “ift” is an old-style “s”, so that would mean “ist”.
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Regarding ift=ist. Yes, I knew that. Getting an accurate translation would have been impossible for me without that knowledge.
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I live in Tuebingen. We have a wonderful sign about Goethe:
http://www.tuepedia.de/index.php/Johann_Wolfgang_v._Goethe
(Hier kotze Goethe)
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I still read the old-school “s” as an “f”, it’s just something my brain does automatically. I amuse myself with thoughts that everybody must have lisped in the olden days, but then I’m easily amused.
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I mentally pronounce the f as an f too.
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Hehe, happens to me as well. 😉
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Oh, regarding the question about famous people (apologies for the double post, it seems to be a bad habit of mine): here in Mainz they simply can’t get enough of good old Gutenberg. There are several streets and squares named after him, there’s an entire museum dedicated to him, my local shopping centre is named after him, heck, they even have a statue of him, and all that for the small trivial matter of having invented something called the printing press (though I suspect the Chinese got there a couple of thousand years before him, as seems to be the case with virtually every invention from the pre-industrial era).
Needless to say, Goethe also stayed in Mainz (it seems he stayed everywhere in Germany). In fact, the guest house from where he apparently watched Mainz burn during the Napoleonic wars (there’s that pesky Napoleon fella again) is just down the road from my apartment.
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Steven: I have visited your wonderful city twice and have walked several of the local battlefields from this campaign. Being a Napoleonic Wars history buff, I have studied the history in detail. Napoleon’s army (consisting of French, Bavarians, Wurttemburg, Saxon and other Rheinbund troops were actually expelling the Austrians who had invaded Bavaria. His army expelled the Austrians and then captured Vienna the next month. Napoleon was “wounded” by a spent ball which actually only raised a knot which was fortunate for the French/Allied cause in 1809.
BTW, I continue to enjoy your blog, specially local information regarding local information and places to visit.
Doug
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