European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 5, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Tony Alfter sits at the controls of a modern cd line passenger ship As it sails along the Rhine. Vineyard worker Walter peril inspects his grapes. At his birthday party some 50 years later sooner brought out the old Archer to entertain his guests jokingly giving the Man a crossbow and challenging him to shoot something anything. Seconds later an Arrow in his Throat sooner discovered Veit s sight was lost but his hearing was still Sharp. When the Rhine Roaches Koblenz the castles extravagance culminates in the Stolzenfels and Marksburg castles. The first is a red and Auburn fortress with battled enter towers exuding More Royalty than a chessboard. The second is a stronghold with 10-foot-thick Walls and a Tower poking out of the peaks along the Valley like a Church Steeple out of a town. But the castles romantic appearances can t conceal their unromantic origin a exc ept for Stolzenfels they were All Tollbooth. In the Middle Ages land Barons built the fortresses in order to tax the ships on Trade routes along the River. Which would explain the Pfalz a White Maroon and Black Stone stronghold on an Island in the Rhine downstream from the River town of Bacharach. The top half of the stronghold is a Bell shaped Church Tower the Bottom a Flat Stone Wall. The toll collectors inside the Pfalz would stretch chains across the River to stall Trade ships and leap aboard to do Battle with the Crew. Today a great variety of cargoes still moves up and Down the Rhine but one of the biggest businesses along the River is wine. The Valley Walls Are terraced like staircases to allow for rows of grapevines. The vines grow until autumn when a wave of tourists come to the Valley to taste the new Harvest. The Auslee wine is one of the top grades a made with Only the Best Bunches which sweeten on the Vine until autumn. The Chic can try the wines a a Vintage grown until Lite november so the grapes although shrivelled Are their richest. The smell alone of this wine is enough to shake the senses. Many say Germany s Best wines come from the rheingau Between Rudesheim and Wiesbaden. But the wine Supply throughout the Valley is so great a with pric e s As Low As $5 a bottle that one is hardly surprised to hear the lyrics of a Valley song Why is the Rhine so Beautiful it it because the girls Are pretty and the boys Are thirsty. Like nearly All Rhine towns St. Goar just North of Ober Wesel lives that song. This tiny town which seems to cling to the Valley Side As if it were about to fall into the River packs life into its every c Orner. On each Windowsill of each Black tile Steep roofed Cream coloured House Are boxes of Flowers shouting red and yellow. Outdoor restaurants and cafes near a pedestrian mall Bustle with activity. At times though St. Goar becomes a bit much. One souvenir shop boasts of owning the world s largest free hanging cuckoo clock. Above a 6-foot Mug in a window across the Street hang the words in illuminated plastic a world s biggest Beer and there is always the a Creley its image on nearly every postcard and to shirt in St. Goar. Don t feel alone if you shrug when you see the 400-Foo High Rock face cradled in a Sharp Bend of the River just South of the town. The Loreley s Fame rests not on its looks but rather its legend a still told in parents stories and schoolchildren s songs. It is about a girl a Mermaid in some versions who sat on the Rock Wall and Sang to the sailors of passing ships. The unwitting mariners would Bec ome mesmerized by her voice and smash their ships into the Cliff. This possibility seems Mue h less Likely now that the German navigation authority has blasted away the jagged rocks near the Loreley s shores and has set up 15-foot traffic lights for barges on both sides of the Rock. But boat passengers still Rush to the railing to View the Rock and a sculpture of the legendary Siren built near its foot in 1983. They May be Lucky that s All they see. According to Walter , author of the Rhineland one entrepreneur once unsuccessfully tried to build a giant brassiere atop the Roe k. One cup was to be a souvenir shop the other a snack bar. Such a building might lit Well in Coppard the next River town North of St. Goar. A yellow tour train resembling a kiddie ride in an amusement Park greets most visitors to the town of 18,000. Tourists Alro Ard the train t an Marvel at e on Struc Tion Sites on it Rete Banks or eve a another Quot world s Bigge St Beer Stein Quot an eat t reply a of the is. Oar Mug. The carmelite Church in thee enter of town saves Coppard. The thick c Ream Dolored Walls and twin steeples seem to lumber , fighting Tor every Vertu Al met h. Inside the Church the air is it ool even on a summer Day. Sunlight passing through stained Glass wed it it is t arts dim reds and yellows at Ross Short wooden pews and illuminates a Crucifix hanging a i Rove the Altai so it Apih ars to levitate. F Urther North the Mosel merges with the Rhine just above Koblenz a shipping town with in ail rat live tourist Cju Arter. As the River lows North to Bonn the Netherlands and the North sea the Valley Walls relax the let Ueni y of c Astles lessens and nearly slops. _ i he North bet it Unes less Mangilit enl ill in the 40 Miles Between Rudesheim Aid Koblenz. But it nothing else tourists finally gel enough Lime it give the River s sights the attention they deserve. Ivr haps there a voting passenger on a tourist t Cruiser t an be truly astounded by a it Astle Whit h in one is let i Liot the Rhine Volt it j Lei merely be september 5, 1991 stripes Magazine 5
