Donau River Flooding, Monday Evening Pics

On June 3, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany9 Comments

Today was our fifth straight day of rain. Pictures from other places hit by flooding are trickling onto the Net now, and it’s clear that we’re doing really well by comparison. That being said, our water levels have gone up significantly since the pictures I took on Sunday. Here’s what the river looked like about 90 minutes ago. The first few are in front of the Historic Wurstkuchl.

The next batch are taken from the Stone Bridge.

…and finally, a couple taken from the street that runs along the river. I spent about five minutes with the other people crowding around the barricades before I realized that the water level was at this man’s shoulders and that if the barricades were breached, that was the absolute last place I would want to be standing.

The Great Flood of 2013

On June 3, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany25 Comments

If you grow up in Florida, you get used to hurricanes. If you live on the west coast of the United States, you know earthquakes. The folks in the mid-west of the U.S. know tornadoes. Every geographic region has an indigenous natural disaster. For places along the Danube river, it’s flooding.

High water marks are a common sight along the river banks of Bavaria- an indicator of floods long past. This picture is the corner of the outer wall at Weltenburg Abbey- there are high water marks from as recently as 2005, and as far back as 1845.

Because of this, it’s no real surprise that after four straight days of rain across Bavaria, Austria, and large swathes of Europe, there’s flooding going on. A few people have died, according to the news. Passau and Rosenheim have declared a state of emergency. Portions of Prague were entirely evacuated on Sunday night due to the flooding.

As of 9pm Sunday, Regensburg is on high alert, but hasn’t taken much damage yet. I went out on Sunday at around 5pm to take a look at the current state of things.

Large metal flood barriers and sandbags have been set up along most of the places that the river is likely to come washing over the banks.

Just for some perspective, here’s approximately the same view as above, from a past photo with normal river levels.

The flooded space is coming very close to the Historic Wurstkuchl, the world’s oldest fast food restaurant. They’re normally open every day, but they had to close today because the water levels are dangerously close to their doorstep.

The buildings that butt up against the river have to take special care to block off lower entryways and remove valuables from basements. The basements will be the first to flood.

Here, again, is a past view of the same batch of buildings from a less flooded time.

Metal barriers have been placed wherever water might seep in- I don’t know how much protection this really affords. The city has advised people to move their cars further away than the green vehicle in this photo.

Some of the structures that are the closest to the waterline are hotels. There’s usually a lot more grass around this one.

There’s an entire hidden island in this photograph. The water level is usually very close to the land line here, so it’s no surprise that the land is almost entirely obscured by water.

Have you ever seen a flood firsthand? What natural disasters have you experienced?

The Regensburg Classic Car Meet

On May 30, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany3 Comments

On the first Friday of each month between May and October, there’s a Classic Car Meet here in Regensburg. People with vintage cars bring their wheels out to see and be seen, and a different Rockabilly band plays each month.

It was still a little chilly for the May outing, but that didn’t stop people from coming out with their cars. There were a handful of right-hand drive vehicles, and a few European makes and models. For example, this marvelous golden Lotus Esprit.

There were also some really neat old utility vehicles like this Jeep, which was for sale.

For the most part, though, a fairly large majority of the cars I saw were vintage American cars. Here’s some pictures to give you an idea.

A pink Cadillac convertible. I so want to drive this down Route 66, stopping at all the roadside attractions along the way.

This taxi-hearse cracked me the hell up. It’s got a brilliant paint job.

Naturally there were a few tv and movie themed cars. For example, there was a KITT modification on this one:

…and there was the obligatory DeLorean DMC-12.

Naturally, this one has a Flux Capacitor between the seats.

One of the few right-hand drive cars I saw.

Have you ever been to a classic car meet?

Race Time!

On May 27, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany6 Comments

This weekend, I finally cashed in on my Christmas gift from Jenny- two races at Pro-Kart Raceland, in nearby Wackersdorf. (I don’t think that Wackersdorf will ever stop being a funny name to me.) Pro-Kart Raceland has two big tracks, one is indoors, in a giant warehouse type of space, and the other one is outdoors. We were racing on the indoor track.

I’ve been on go-karts before, but never quite like this. For one thing, these were a bit faster than any go-karts I’ve ever driven in the US. For another thing, helmets are required. There are shared helmets available, not unlike the bowling shoes you rent in the US. You can also buy a cheap balaclava (a head covering that just leaves the eyes exposed) to protect your head from other people’s head-cooties if you want. Some people bring their own helmets, racing gloves, and the like. Some people are really into this.

So here’s how the day went. We checked in, paid, and I got the aforementioned balaclava. The next several minutes were spent taking funny pictures of me in a balaclava. Then we went to the indoor track. There’s a short list of rules and then you get assigned to a numbered car. Everyone in that race is lined up, and the engines are started by a staff member. As soon as your engine is started, you floor it out of the holding pen.

Our races were ten minute heats, although there was a twenty minute race after we were done, so this varies. When you see the guy waving the checkered flag like so, it means it’s time to come in at the end of your current lap.

Once you get back in, all the engines are shut off and you get a print-out showing how well you did. There’s a lap time for each lap, and your best time is marked. Additionally, you’re ranked against everyone who was in that race. I was not in first place. Or second or third place. I wasn’t very fast at all, in fact.

I take pride in the fact that my overall lap times were decreasing as I went. The only exception was one lap where Jenny spun out in front of me and I braked hard to avoid hitting her. I braked a little *too* hard and my engine stalled. My time on that lap was 1:37. My best time was 51.575 seconds. And yes, these races were decided on hundredths of seconds.

For the part, there’s good sportsmanship here. The cars aren’t bumper cars, and you can be penalized or ejected for ramming people intentionally. That didn’t stop one kid from hitting me after I passed him, though. Of course he might have just been annoyed by my helmet- I didn’t realize it when I grabbed a helmet off the shelf, but I was giving everyone I passed a Trollface.

After we were done with our races, we spent a little while watching the outdoor races. These cars seemed to be faster even than the cars inside. They also had a more traditional race structure. They started out the same, with the staff members starting the engines, but the first few laps were a qualifying heat to put everyone in their starting positions.

Once everyone had a starting position, they all started at the same time, instead of going one at a time as before.

There’s an interesting side effect of doing this for two ten minute races on Saturday- the muscles in between my shoulder-blades were sore the next day. These cars have slick tires and no power steering, which means that if you turn hard, you’re doing it through strength and artful braking. The track is very curvy, and I was trying to turn without a lot of slowing.

This was a crapload of fun, but it was expensive- two ten minute races came out to around €25 per person. Still, I would do it again. Zoom!

Have you ever been go-kart racing?

MaiDult is here! (Have some beer…)

On May 23, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany15 Comments

One of the great things about living in Germany is that there are always beer festivals. You don’t have to wait for Oktoberfest in Munich to get your beerfest on. For example, Regensburg has its own festival twice a year called Dult. In May, it’s Maidult. In the fall, it’s Herbstdult. It has all the same things you’d find at Oktoberfest – beer, lederhosen and dirndls, live music, giant pretzels, and rides- minus the enormous flood of tourists.

Right now, it’s Maidult. This weekend is the last weekend of Dult, running until the evening of Sunday the 26th. There will be fireworks at the closing, probably around 10pm since it’s not fully dark by 9.

At Dult, we have beer: