We’d never heard of the Hotel Haus Oberwinter when we disembarked from the Queen Mary 2 on June 12. But by the 15th, only three days later, it had become a fixture of our trip to Germany. We wanted to stay at a place on the Rhine. But we didn’t want to be all the way at the top of a mountain with poor road access. Almost by chance we ran into our favorite hotel stay of the trip abroad. At first we planned to stay one night. We ended up staying three and had a hard time tearing ourselves away to continue our trip down to Trier. We even talked of cancelling the rest of it just to stay at this hotel along the Rhine at Remagen, not the Middle Rhine, but an unexpectedly scenic stretch of the river nonetheless. We discovered that we were right next to the Bridge at Remagen and its museum, famous during World War 2. In addition there was a scenic church across the river that serenaded us with music and tolled the hours. River barges in all shapes and sizes, including some made up to look like fish, entertained us for hours with their constant passage back and forth on the river. We had a front row seat on our own private balcony complete with chairs right outside our room at the Hotel Haus Oberwinter where we also had a palatial-sized bathroom with a shower, our own sauna, and a door to the balcony. Their restaurant served us the best meal of the trip, too —- a wonderful presentation of white asparagus, boiled potatoes, and a selection of hams along with hollandaise sauce accompanied by rolls with asparagus butter. Wonderful. Almost magical.