Down the Rhine to Cologne

Relaxing on the river boat
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After a good night's sleep, we boarded a boat for a trip down the Rhine river toward Cologne.  Although it rained a bit, it was a wonderful day...vineyards  and castles to the right and left of us; at least 20 castles in all.  Many of the castles had significant history attached to them.  More than a few were occupied by robber barons in the Middle Ages who would extract tribute from Rhine River travelers.  The "Mouse Tower" was effectively a toll booth on an island in the river.  The local bishop, who was notoriously stingy, was imprisoned there and was said to have been eaten alive by mice.  The boat stopped at various picturesque little towns along the way and picked up and dropped off passengers, many of whom were riding bikes up and down the river.

One of the many castles
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We disembarked in Boppard, about half way to Cologne, and took the train from there to Koblenz, where the Mosel River meets the Rhine, then changed trains and continued on to Bonn, the former capital of Germany.  Hans Juergen met us at the train station and drove us to his home in Sechtem, where we will stay for a week.