John, our tour director, pointed out the Rhine flood levels in Boppard
A crest decorated one of the buildings.
We set off on a cruse on the Rhine river.
It wasn't flooding but the current was swift and boats going upstream were working hard judging by their bow waves and slow progress.
Every town along the river had a church sometimes several.
And of course there were castles.
Castle Sterrenberg has the white tower and the other is Castle Liebenstein.
Together in legend they are called the Hostile Brothers castles though there is no historic record of armed conflict between the owners.
Grapes along the river destined to become a good German wine.
The Maus castle. In English Mouse castle.
And nearby the Katz castle.
This one has become an upscale hotel.
Ruine Rheinfels at St.Goar.
Here is another view of the Rheinfels castle in Sankt Goar.
The Loreley is a rock high on the bank at the narrowest part of the river in the Rhine Gorge.
It gets it's name from the murmuring of the river originally attributed to dwarves and later to a female sitting on the rock combing her hair and singing.
Boatmen traveling through the rough water were so distracted by the beauty and song of this siren that they crashed and sank.
The river gorge, the Loreley rock high on the cliff, and a sculpture of the lady
We disembarked at a park with a bed of tulips and behind it our boat.
The name may have given me pause if I had thought about it when we were on board.
This was claimed to be the world's largest beer stein.
At 35 liters it may be.
More castles guard the way as we travel.
King Ludwig the Bavarian had a fortification known as the Pfalzgrafenstein Castle built on a tiny island in 1326 to serve as a toll station on the river.
A chain across the river, solders and a dungeon in the castle provided the enforcement of the required payment.
A small square in the eastern part of Heidelberg with the castle on the hill above.
The city of Heidelberg was founded in 1196 and has had a university since 1386.
We crossed the Neckar river to the main part of the city where we found students in traditional costume for a celebration.
And the beginning of a bachelor party for one of their group who was soon to be married.
Looking back across the river we got a better view of the castle.
Next to the old bridge across the river there was this sculpture.
It was positioned so that if you wanted to you could put your head inside so you looked like you were one of the monkey people on the other side.
This was one of the insults folks on both sides applied to their opposite numbers.
Mannheim's water tower is an architectural highlight of a major crossroad and minor park.
Along the road between Mannheim and our next stop in Munich we saw what appeared a Concorde SST on display and a similar plane but without the droopy nose.
Sorry about the banner at just the wrong place.
We passed the BMW headquarters as we entered Munich.
This archway was along Frauenstrasse part of the ring road around the old town in Munich.
Outside the arches a firetruck had just pulled up but didn't seem to be on a fire response.
This picture is here mostly for the firefighters in our department.
The Altes Rathaus, the Old Town Hall in English.
The sundial decorates one of the faces of the tower.
It was cloudy when we were there so we had to rely on the mechanical clock on another face.
This decoration took advantage of the breeze through the archway to power its mechanism.
And the New Town Hall, Neues Rathaus.
That houses the Rathaus-Glockenspiel in its central tower.
The unmistakable domes of the Frauenkirche
People don't wear lederhosen just during Oktoberfest.
Though it may have been another special occasion judging by the shield one of these guys is carrying.
