I used to wonder what the Rhine River looked like. I'd heard so much about it. But nothing could prepare me for the reality of my first sight of the Rhine River at Remagen last June. We booked a balcony room at the Hotel Overwinter. From that vantage point we took I don't know how many photos of the slopes planted in grapes, quaint Old World churches, and small villages also on the slopes immediately leading upwards from the banks of the river. Right up ahead was a very picturesque bend in the river with a castle-like structure lost in a forest of greenery half the way up the slope. In the near distance we could see the tall, pointy spires of St. Apollinaris in Remagen. Not far from that --- and we visited it the next day --- you could see the famous Bridge at Remagen which made its name during World War 2. The bridge held up long enough for American troops to cross in the liberation of Germany. Then it collapsed and left only the darkened towers that stand today on either side of the river next to a museum. We certainly didn't expect all the gay and colorful barge traffic either. Some barges were shaped and colored like fish! There was always something passing by to make you want to snap another photo and another.