Stanford Student Letters and Memoirs

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the maximum yield.

The third, and at first most surprising observation, was that there is a tremendous amount of industry in the valley. Every town has several good sized factories with huge smoke stacks as prominent as the church spires on the skyline; also in many of the small side valleys there are mining or factory operations. This is really not surprising when you think for a moment of the excellent, cheap transportation available. Not only the river barges, which are seen loading all along the way, but also a steady stream of freight trains running back and forth on sides of the river.

The composite picture I formed in my mind of the Rhine valley is of lovely natural scenery in a romantic, historical setting- the green hills and old towns and castles aspect- plus intense; energetic human acticity [activity]- a busy, active, industrious but jolly and cordial people. They work kard [hard] and well but they like to relax over the good wine too and in Mainz and Coblenz each year they have the best fasching carnival celebrations in all of Germany. Obviously the Rhine is many things at the same time and thus all the more interesting.

If Friday was the day for noting the unexpected, Saturday certainly fulfilled the Rhine's romantix expectations. Actually, this began with the hostel Friday night in Coblentz- actually a part of an old fortress located on a high bluff overlooking the Rhine and the Moselle as it flows into the Rhine, and the city. The old walls, passageways, dark cold rooms etc were right out of the medieval days. And the view of the city was absolutely splendid. About 10 miles south of Coblentz we came upon the Marksburg Castle, the only unruined castle on the Rhine dating in part from the 11th and 12th centuries, last really used in the 18th century. We climbed a path up to the castle- about 400 feet over the river- and spent about 2 hours there. Ate lunch on the walls looking out over the river, wandered around etc. Then we took a brief but fascinating 30 minute tour through the inside of the castle itself. We saw living rooms with walls 9 feet thick (they are 18 feet thick in the cellar) old tables, clothes chests, portraits of former "residents" etc with the dim lighting and chilled air giving the final authenticity. Also a small chapel room with the paint now fading badly from the walls. The kitchen with a fireplace large enough to roast a whole ox. The torture chamber with a stretching rack and other ingenious devices. It was really fascinating and so much more meaningful than seeing all of the items in some museum. This way we really got a total picture of a way of life. As we rode on southward, the towns thinned out and the mountains rose straight up from the river (still planted in many parts with vineyards even so.). The stretch from Braubach to Rudesheim- between Coblentz and Mainz- is the most beautiful for scenery on the Rhine. Many ruins, rugged hills, with the river winding and turning often, the famous Lorelei bend where the river narrows to 350 feet with a sheer rock cliff. All of it was magnificent, even in mostly overcast weather.

We spent Sat. night at the hostel in the town of Lorch, about a mile up the valley of the Wisper river. With a view of both this and the Rhine valley- really a splendid location. After dinner in a small cafe, we went to a local wine house and sampled some excellent Rhine wine and bought

27. 3. 60

Dear Folks,

To begin with - a by now belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mom! I'm going to send a telegram tomorrow to sort of specially note the occasion, but since its words are expensive, I can say it easier and at more length this way. I've had a special present picked out for almost two months now, but you'll to wait until June for that! For now I can just send a special bundle of love!

Tonight is a good night to write since it marks the end of one unit of our trip - the journey down the Rhein (or Rhine in America) from Köln (or Cologne in America) to Mainz. It's been a thoroughly fascinating four days, and in some ways the scenery was quite different from what I expected.

We left Köln Thursday morning and made the 20 km to Bonn by noon. The countryside was not especially interesting - small plots of farmland and small towns; and the trip was really hard work because of a constant heavy headwind. In Bonn we ate lunch in a park beside the old university, and then while Bridge spent the afternoon on business for his father, I sat for about 3-4 hours in the warm sunshine on a bench at the shore of the river, read economics and watched the people strolling along the bank and the barges moving up and down the river. It was a leisurely and productive afternoon (I might even finish one of our three econ. texts before the vacation is over). Then when Bridge finished about 5pm, we rode across the Rhein and about 15 km down (south, although upstream of course) to the town of Honnef. Here we left the river and climbed for about a mile up to the youth hostel, situated on a high hill overlooking the river valley and looking across to the first of many castles the Drachenfels ruins. By this point we are into the more characteristic Rhine country (for this particular trip, but not characteristic of the whole course of the river by any means) - with hills rising rather steeply up from the river, broken here and there along the way by valleys formed at the entry of a small tributary into the Rhein (some - the Moselle, Emo, Lahn, Main - are not really small at all, but large, navigable rivers).

Friday was the day we really began to get acquainted with the Rhein - we went from Honnef to Koblenz down the east bank. There are good highways down both sides of the river, but there are only 4 auto bridges south of Koln including one in Mainz (though there are frequent car ferries), so we pretty much had to choose one side and stay there. We chose the road down the east bank, because it is less heavily traveled, goes through fewer large cities, and stays generally more right along the river. As we rode along, many things were as I had expected - there really is a castle (or old monastery, etc.) on about every other hilltop, and the rolling hills and colorful river barges were right out of my tourist anticipations. But we noticed several things which did not fit with the typical tourist description, and to me these elements made the Rhein a much more interesting place.

If Friday was the day for noting the unexpected, Saturday certainly fulfilled the Rhein's romantic expectations. Actually this began with the hostel Friday night in Koblenz - actually a part of the old fortress Ehrenbreitstein, located on a high bluff overlooking the Rhein (and the Moselle as it flows into the Rhein) and the city. The old walls, passageways, dark cold rooms, etc were right out of medieval days, and the view of the city was absolutely splendid. About 10 miles south of Koblenz we came upon the Marksburg castle - the only unruined castle on the Rhein, dating in part from the 11th and 12th centuries, last really used in the early 18th century. We climbed the path up to the castle (about 450 feet over the river) and spent about 2 hours there, ate lunch on the walls looking out over the river, wandered around the old walls, etc. then we took a brief but fascinating 1/2 hour tour through the insides of the castle itself. We saw living rooms with walls 9 feet thick (they are 18 ft. thick in the cellar!), old tables, clothes chests, portraits of former residents, etc, with the dim lighting and chilled air giving the final authenticity. Also a small chapel room, with the paint now fading badly from the walls, the kitchen with a fireplace large enough to roast a whole ox, the torture chamber with a stretching rack and other equally ingenious devices. It was really fascinating, and so much more meaningful than seeing all the items in some museum - this way we really got a total picture of a way of life.

As we rode on southward the towns thinned out and the mountains rose straight up from the river (still planted in many parts with vineyards even so). The stretch from Braubach to Rudesheim (part of the distance between Koblenz and Mainz) is the most beautiful for scenery on the Rhein - many ruins, rugged hills, with the river winding and turning often, the famous Loreley bend (where the river narrows to 350' wide) with its sheer rock cliff, all of it was magnificent, even in mostly overcast weather.

We spent Saturday night at the hostel in the town of Lorch - about a mile up the valley of the Wisper river, with a view of both this and the Rhein valley - really a splendid location. After dinner in a small cafe, we went to a local wine house and sampled some excellent Rhein wine - bought a bottle to take back to the Burg with us to share with Dr. Boerner too, since he helped us plan our trip and is anyway a generally great guy.

Sunday (it is now Monday morning 28.3.60) we had a few more miles of the rugged Rhein to Rudesheim, then mostly flat, slightly rolling country on into Wiesbaden and across to Mainz. The most interesting incident was in passing Bingen, where there is a stretch of shallows and very dangerous water. Just at about the time we rode by a large barge had run aground and damaged its rudder, tying up traffic behind it as effectively as a big accident on the bay bridge. We stopped for about half an hour to watch as the damaged ship drifted carefully backward through the line of companion vessels to find safe anchorage for repairs; then slowly the waiting boats moved single-file, cautiously through the narrow safe water channel. While all this was going on we fired a constant line of questions to an old man standing beside us, and in that half hour we learned a lot of river lore. Once again traveling by bike (and thus seeing so much more of what we pass) and speaking German made