On Friday, September 13th, the AIB took us to a small village about an hour and a half away from Bonn where we boarded a ship on the Rhine River. We all rushed to the front of the line in order to secure the prime spots on the top level of the ship, only to get up there and see there's a built in slide and playground for us to enjoy!!! So, being the mature college students that we are, we instantly lined up to slide down over and over. The cruise took us about 2 hours up river and we were able to see all the beautiful landscapes that Germany has to offer. We passed by a famous rock, Lorelei, which is about 120 meters above water. Folklore states that a beautiful mermaid once sat upon that rock and sailors would get distracted by her beauty and crash their ships into the rock, when in reality it was simply the strong currents in that area that took the ships by surprise right into the rock. Once we left the ship, we walked through a small village full of beautiful medieval looking houses and buildings, and ate lunch at a delicious restaurant.
After lunch, we hiked up about 20 minutes to a castle named Marksburg. We were given a tour of the castle, which was extremely interesting. This particular castle was structured very similarly to other medieval castles, but was unique in that it lines the Rhine River and therefore had access to many more opportunities to attack intruders who were coming in ships. They would shoot huge cannon balls from the top level of the castle into the river which became a huge advantage for them. We ended the tour in the torture chamber where we were given some of the torture devices to try on for size…. it was unpleasant but awesome at the same time. After the tour we were brought to a winery where we were given a tour of the wine cellars and told the basics of how the wine is made. We learned that the wooden barrels that people believe that wine is left in to age have become outdated because they cannot hold enough wine to keep up with demand. Wine is now aged in huge stainless steel containers, which is not as romantic looking but equally tasty. The winery then gave us a traditional dinner of bread, cheese and meats to eat along with five different grape juices to taste. They taught us how to properly taste the grape juice to get the most out of the flavors. We then got back on the bus to Bonn where we performed a classic "Bohemian Rhapsody" karaoke sing along which I'm positive the bus driver enjoyed more than anyone else… Overall, it was an amazing day filled with beautiful German sites and delicious German food!
Written by Ryan Alkire
