Germany
We
left Belgium behind as we crossed the Rhine into Germany.
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.
Other countries we visited on our
European adventure. Just click and we
will take you there.
Austria, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy,
Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, United Kingdom
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