Valhalla Closes at Quarter to Six

Day three, Germany. Valhalla.

I saw it years ago on a Porsche calendar, where it stood behind a 911 doing nothing in particular. I remember thinking: is that in Greece? It is not. It is near Regensburg, above the Danube, and I had wanted to go for years. I got there on the second day of the journey, which tells you something about how far Germany actually is.

It is enormous. The columns are exactly symmetrical and I have no idea how they managed it. A person standing next to them looks like a mistake in the scale. The reliefs and the figures in the gable must have cost the stonemasons half their lives.

I wondered whether we could still do this, if we wanted to. I decided we probably could. Then I wondered when we last wanted to.

The gates of Valhalla stayed shut to me. Visiting hours end at 5:45 p.m.