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One weekend, I decided to take advantage of a bunch of train discounts and take the
train down the Rhine to Bacharach and St. Goar, two towns on the Rhine, south of Koblenz.
There are castles and ruins all over the place on this section of the Rhine, and it's really
beautiful. There are vineyards everywhere - Bacharach was established by the Romans and
named in honor of (you guessed it) Bacchus. St. Goar is home to Burg Rheinfels, a castle which
was built in 1274 and stood until 1794 (when French troops conquered the castle and blew it up).
It's an impressive ruin, and one you'd better have a flashlight to explore, since you may end up
wandering off into some pitch-black cavernous room now inhabited by bats (or down into the old
mines). I took a boat between the two towns, up the Rhine from Bacharach to St. Goar, past the
(in)famous Lorelei - a rock face at the narrowest point on the Rhine and the death of many
ships in the past. (Heinrich
Heine wrote a famous poem about the siren Lorelei, who lured men to their deaths, and the boat
tour guide plays a cheesy song based on the poem as you go by it)
Unfortunately, due to some bad wine I had the first night I was there, the second day of sightseeing
and picture taking was replaced by my "Vomiting Tour of Rhineland Train Stations", which I won't get
into, even if Mark thinks it's really funny. That'll be one to tell the grandchildren. Or not.
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