RHINE RIVER TRIP: CASTLES, CASTLES, CASTLES!

This will be a rather short post word-wise, but full of photos.  I've been down and out for a couple of days this week with a cold...not too nasty, but exhausting and not able to figure out the medications we are used to seeing in USA.  I'd love to have cough med, but Doug only went by a photo and brought back more vitamin C and zinc drink...it will do.  I'm better.  The photos are of our trip up the Rhine from Mainz to Koblenz.  You'll see that we started out nice, went almost immediately to fog and couldn't see a thing, but cleared up before the major sites of the castles.  It was a real nice trip with Doug's co-worker Pat from Australia accompanying us.  Nice to converse in English...and I found a family from New Mexico because they had Keens on!  HAHA!  I may not put captions on these photos because it probably doesn't matter much which castle is which...and it will keep my frustration level down!  Most of the photos will be Doug's because his camera has a much better zoom than mine. 

The entire valley is full of grapevines and vineyards and wineries.  Most of the castles that were in ruin are now hotels or wineries or in the process of being renovated.  The castles were one right after the other.  It is not that they were originally built for protection, but since before medieval times the Rhine has been an important avenue of commerce and all these castles were literally "toll booths"...each "lord" of the castle made some of his living from charging a toll to go along the river...who decided who got what is a question no one could answer. 

When we got to Koblenz (the furthest we could go by boat before we would be too far to return in one day), there was a gondola cable car system going across the river to a castle ruin that was being changed into a youth hostel, museum, etc.  It was to be finished next year.  It is vast.  When we got to the top of the hill, a storm began to brew, but we were able to stay about an hour, climbing up a real narrow original stairway to the upper level before taking the cable car back to Koblenz.  Then we finally found the train station and took an Inter City Express (ICE) train back to Mainz.  It was not one of the bullet trains which we want to experience before we leave, but it took only about 45 minutes to return to what took us all day by boat.



GEEZ!  I'M GOING TO TRY ADDING PHOTOS AGAIN...WHY IS THIS SO DIFFICULT FOR ME?  WHY DON'T THEY END UP WHERE I WANT THEM? GRRR! 

front end of our boat