One of my favorite things about being in Regensburg is that all I ever need to do to find something interesting is to take a different path.  For example, yesterday I was feeling Noble and I turned left instead of right.  I had originally wanted to check out the posted menu of a nearby restaurant, and instead I discovered the remains of an old Roman fort.

Specifically, I stumbled across the Römermauer, a section of Roman wall from the original Castra Regina (“fortress by the river Regen”) which was built around 179 AD during the reign of Marcus Aurelius.

I’ve seen little sections of Roman walls all over town-  many of the ancient Roman structures survived the bombing of World War II, and they pop up all over town.  It’s fascinating to see the ancient stone speckled throughout the more modern architecture of the area.

This is the first time I’ve seen this much intact fortress though, and it’s even more surprising because it’s sandwiched between the McDonald’s and another restaurant.  I’ve walked past this point dozens of times,but I never realized that it was there because it’s down a slope and not visible from the street.  If you walk down the stairs, there’s a little sign explaining it:

Right across from the sign is another small stair that allows you to climb up into the turret which is still intact.

I hope I never become so complacent that I stop finding fascinating little things like this.