European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 5, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Ober Wesel has an attractive town Square Busy shopping strip and an impressive fortress called the schonburg. A continued from Page 3 were forced to accept. It has been a major trading pipeline for thousands of years. Hitler s tanks militarized the Rhineland As the storm Clouds of world War ii fathered on the horizon. And nearly 1,500 Allied air raids rained destruction on the Rhine Valley when those Clouds broke into storm. But now the Rhine has retired As a Battlefront. Its fighting ships have been replaced by barges and the business of War has yielded to the sometimes fascinating sometimes Garish Trade of tourism. Boats packed with tourists cruise up and Down the River carrying visitors Between neatly packaged towns and through a twisting Green Valley studded with castles. Many of these travellers begin at Rudesheim a Small town just North of Mainz and Wiesbaden. It appears that for every Home in this town there is a cafe for every inhabitant a tourist. One of its biggest attractions is the famous Drossel Gosse a restaurant packed 10-foot-wide alleyway in the Center of town packed with browsers. In the evening the Street blazes with Neon signs and fills up with nightlife seekers who head to bars and restaurants featuring wine served in special goblets called . Overlooking Rudesheim anti the River is the Niederwald Monument built in 1883 to commemorate the reestablishment of the German Empire in 1871. It can be reached via a chairlift or a Short walk from a parking lot. The Monument is topped by a 30-ton statue of Germania lifting her Crown with one hand and Dut Chinga 10-foot sword with the other. Time and weather have turned the Oike Blat k statue to Lime and Gray hut it still fascinates Germania s hair seems to blow so loosely in the wind it is hard to remember that it was once a Multi ton Block of Ore. The nearby Refuge for Birds of prey and the View Down to the River Are enough to turn a 10-minute visit into hours. Beyond Rudesheim the Rhine takes on a new character. As the River Narrows the sides of the once wide Calm Valley steeped so that Brown crags of Rock jut out of the near vertical Green Walls. The water at celebrates As he Nahe River enters from the East. A a Hen the castles begin in this is tits an average of one Crape vines flourish on the Steep terraced hillsides every 1.7 Miles a the highest concentration in the world. The first is Ehrenfels Castle a Brown walled stronghold standing on the right Bank of the River past Rudesheim. The roof has fallen in and grass grows from its crumbling Tower. But Ehrenfels age old presence is bound to inspire photos by newcomers to the Rhine. Rhine veterans however know Ehrenfels is Only the beginning. Each Castle along the River tops the one before. The Walls grow higher at Rheinstein Castle the towers More the Loreley occupies a special place in German Tore. Ornate at Katz Castle the grounds More expansive at Rheinfels Castle which during an assault by the French army in 1692 packed in 4,000 men. Lore As Well As Beauty surround the castles. Sooner Castle downstream from Ehrenfels houses the legend of Veit a medieval Archer who was a great shot in Battle and a hit with the damsels. The envious Baron sooner the Story goes threw Veit into his Dungeon and seared his eyes with a hot Iron. 4 stripes Magazine september 5, 1991