The Romantic Rhine

Monday, September 5, 2005 was my lucky day. I was fortunate to have a good friend, Abby Thompkins, from Colorado Springs travel through Bonn. She was travelling around for a week or so meeting up with old friends and I was one of the lucky ones.

That evening, Abby and I went to dinner. A co-worker of mine let Abby borrow her extra bike. So, first, Abby and I rode bikes and explored. It is so much more fun to have someone to explore the city with. Upon our exploration, we saw a giant ferris wheel in the distance. So, Abby and I decided to go and find it. To our surprise, the ferris wheel belonged to a giant carnival that was being set up. It had a water roller-coaster, your usual carnival rides and a GIANT beer hall. Unfortunately, it wasn't set up yet. Abby and I had to laugh a bit at the site of all of the workers. All of those setting up the rides, etc. had campers that were being pulled by nice mercedes and bmw cars. It's amazing the types of vehicles people drive over here.

After watching the "carnies" (as Abby called them) do their work, we decided to go to dinner. We ate at the Rhinelust. It was a crowded little beer garden. Abby and I had a difficult time knowing which table to sit at so we could order food. Apparently, only certain tables were for food and beer and the others were only for beer. After switching tables 3 times, we were fortunate to find a "food" table, and luckily we had a waitress who was very patient with us and spoke English. Again, my lucky day! (Don't get me wrong...the German is coming along, but I have a ways to go).

The next day, Tuesday, September 6, 2005, I had to work. However, Abby was going to tour around Bonn for the day and then meet back up with me when I was finished with work. However, I then convinced Abby to travel up the river to some of the little villages and then take one of the Rhine River Cruises back this way. The Rhine river flows backwards (South to North) in Germany, so if I become directionally challenged throughout this Blog, I apologize. Anyways, after being jealous of what she was going to do, I talked to my boss and I took the afternoon off and went with her. I am so glad I did too. We had such a fun day.

We took the train from Bonn to Bacharach, Germany.








This picture isn't the best, but it gives a nice overview of the town from high in the wine vineyards.


Bacharach became a town in 1356 under the reign of Emperor Charles IV. It was famous for its vineyards and wine trade. Vines were planted here in the time of the Romans, and in the middle ages, Bacharach was the main trading center for the vines of the Middle Rhine River.

Bacharach is such a great little village. I hope to make it back down there to spend more time, try out some of the restaurants and sleep in the castle.



A view of the town from the bottom near the river


A Veiw from the top















The signs in the tunnel pointing you in the right direction
















A View from the tunnel


The Posthof is in the center of town and is the former seat of the Knights Templar (for all of you DaVinci Code readers, you know what I'm talking about). The Posthof also has the post horn on it's sign which symbolizes the postal service throughout Europe. In the olden days, when the postman blew this horn, all traffic stopped and the mail sped through. This post station dates back to 1724 when stagecoaches ran from Cologne to Frankfurt.






The Altes Haus is one of the Rhine's most famous half-timbered buildings. Many poets have written about it and it has been the setting in several films. The house dates back to 1368 and is the oldest house in town.






















Burg (Castle) Stahleck was formerly a fortress and since 1925 has been a youth hostel. I can't wait to go back and stay there. I was told that it was first mentioned in old records in the year 1135.

















After touring the town for a few hours, Abby and I took the Koln-Dusseldorf Boat Cruise back down the Rhine. We got to ride on the 1913 Steam Engine Boat with a working Paddle Wheel. It also had a viewable Engine Room. The name of the boat was the Goethe.

Abby and I















Our Boat















The River Cruise gave us a tour (along with my guide book) of the castles along the Rhine between Bacharach and Koblenz. To see a map visit this website: http://www.k-d.com/englisch/index.html. At the bottom, it has a map of the river with the cities. For future reference, "Burg" in German means "Castle".

The first castle we saw was Burg Gutenfels.




















Next down the river was the town of Oberwessel. This was a celtic town in 400 B.C., then a Roman military station. The castle in the background is Schonburg.















Notice how ornate the train tunnel entrances are.
















Next was Burg Katz (Cats). This castle was built in 1371. Together with the castle on the other side of the river in St. Goar, they controlled traffic up and down the river. Katz was destroyed by Napoleon in 1806 (as Napoleon did with many castles along the Rhine) and it was rebuilt in 1900. Today it is under rich and mysterious Japenese ownership. It is technically a hotel because Germany wouldn't allow its foreign purchase for private use. However, I think I heard that it is so expensive that nobody has ever stayed there =)
















You can see the town of St. Goar behind Abby and I. I will someday make it back down to St. Goar to explore the town and the castle.















Burg Katz played a little game with the castle down the river. Can you guess what this castle's name was? Burg Maus (Mouse)! That is how this castle got it's name. It shares the same story as most castles do. It was built in the 1300s, destroyed by Napoleon in the early 1800s and rebuilt in the early 1900s.















The next two castles are Burg Sterrenberg and Burg Liebenstein. The "Enemy Brothers". Burg Sterrenberg is quite older than its "brother". It was built most likely in the 12th Century. There is a wall inbetween the two castles which was actually built to improve the defenses of both castles. Both castles are open for viewing and Burg Liebenstein is now a family hotel.



Burg Sterrenberg















Burg Liebenstein
















The last castle was Marksburg. I would say out of all of the castles, it is the best looking. It is the only surviving medieval castle on the Rhine. Because of its position, it was never attacked by Napoleon.
















There were so many great views from the Rhine river and so many neat little towns/villages. I hope to be able to expolore of the river in the months to come.

I hope all is well on your end. Keep me posted on the happenings in your life. Thanks for all the great emails and friendly notes. They definitely keep me smiling during the rough days.

-Betsy =)
PS - Don't forget that you can double-click on all pictures to enlarge them. Enjoy!