My sister felt I should do something more constructive than merely hang around the flat or go out for occasional undemanding walks through the nearby woods during my stay there in Munich (actually, just outside the municipal boundary) - so I was asked to name another Bavarian city and one morning off we went by train for a day-trip to Regensburg, roughly an hour and a half to the north.

I liked the look of the place at once. Exactly the proper size, quality and vintage of architecture to get lost in - particularly while looking for the Danube. (And a rather noteworthy achievement in itself, this getting lost, given that the river cuts clean across the town. Fortunately, the achievement proved not to be a lasting one.)

In the end we went through what I remember as an unpromising opening in a brick wall and thus stumbled right onto the riverbank. We looked up and down, then made our leisurely way towards what was obviously the most scenic bridge. It was over thirty years since I had last seen the Danube, and I was glad to find it in such undemonstratively good health. In fact, since all my previous sightings had taken place during a visit to Vienna, which lies much further down the river's course - (could it somehow still really be in Vienna even at this precise moment? What? Budapest too?) - here in Regensburg, much like the pre-fame ...