European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 18, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The quiet Beauty of the a Well dating from 1572 sits in a Square near braunfels Castle. Jolby mar Neth staff writer Germany s gentle Lahn River May be a Mere Rivulet compared with the mighty Rhine. But make no. Mistake it s no stagnant Backwater. Along the Banks of this twisting looping 139-mile. Rhine tributary Are towns important in history and literature. Perched on nearby Rocky hilltops Are castles to please the most finicky connoisseur and beneath one of its cities is Germany s Only underground waterway. In the summer Small boats Jam its Waters an bicyclists and hikers crowd its Green wooded shores As they take in the vacation scenery and make the most of the mild climate. The quiet River has another claim to Fame. It is renowned for a series of Ribald Limericks extolling the improper proprietress of the Quot Wirt Shaus an Der  if there was such an authentic inn it would be difficult to find today. A whole string of Lahn establishments bears the famous name. A a a a. A. The source of the River also has been somewhat of a. Riddle. Now however geologists have decided it begins at the Southeastern tip of Westphalia somewhere near. Lehnhof. A a a the 66-mile stretch of the lower Lahn from South of Koblenz to Wetzlar can be driven in a Mere three hours. But it is better to make it a leisurely one Day or weekend sightseeing tour. There is plenty to see. The first Stop might be bad Ems population 11,000, which lies along both sides of the River s Steep wooded Banks just beyond Lahnstein on the Rhein. Bad Ems is one of Europe s oldest and most famous spas and the setting of the infamous 1870 Ems dispatch that led to the Franco prussian War. A a it All began with a polite Garden path meeting Between. Spa guests Kaiser Wilhelm i of Prussia and France s ambassador to Prussia count Benedetti a by the time German statesman Otto von Bismarck completed his doctored press release of the meeting however it seemed to have been nothing but an Exchange of abuses. The insulted French lost the ensuing Battle. Victorious Wilhelm i became emperor of Germany and Bismarck its Chancellor. A \. The old town of Wetzlar climbs the Hillside. From the Banks of the Lahn. 6 stripes Magazine april id 1991