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24.3.60
Hi Darling
Well tonight we're really on the Rhein - we staying at the hostel
in Honnef about 15 km south of Bonn on the east shore Actually the
hostel is located high in the hills above the river overlooking the town and
the valley below with the peak of the ridge of the valley close behind It's
a beautiful view (we arrived about 6:15 when most of the light was gone from
the sky so it should be even better in the morning with the sun up) It's a big
hostel here especially for such a small town- 225 beds with an emergency
capacity (mattresses on the floor, etc) of 425 and in the summer its always
full! The Rhein is a very popular spot and not just for wealthy American
tourists.
The ride from Koln to Bonn this morning was nothing special - mostly
out of sight of the river through several small towns The road was up
and down a little more and there was a strong wind against us almost all
the way This means that each stroke of the pedal takes full power the legs
can give and for all your work you go quite slowly So 20 km and 3 hours
of this can be pretty tiring From Bonn here there was little wind and
even though we climbed the last 4-5 km we made the whole 15 in a little
over an hour; that shows what a difference the wind makes! We're hoping not
to have much inthe next few days wish us luck! Anyway with the sun
out it's warm and lovely - and more and more we're seeing blossoms on the
trees as spring peeks out.

We didn't make a big effort to sightsee in Bonn - ate lunch at the student
cafeteria - good cheap food always, then sat in a lovely park for a while right
next to the old university. Then while Bridge spent the afternoon on business
for his father, I sat on a bench in the sunshine on the shore of the Rhein,
with a bed of pansies beside me _ watching the boats moving past and
reading economies. It was a quiet and yet productive afternoon, and more
fun that riding frantically around with guidebook in hand.

Tomorrow we ride up on the Rhein to Koblenz - about 50 beautiful kilometers
There are two highways down the Rhine, one on each side, and bridges are
far aprt (though ferries are frequent): so we chose to travel down the east
bank (down = southward, but its upriver, for the Rhein flows north into Holland
through Konigswinter, Linz, Neuwied, etc. The road is less heavily traveled
and follows almost always right along the river bank, so the view is splendid!

So will cross over at Koblenz and Mainz to see the center of those two cities,
otherwise follow the east bank. There are castles or old monestaries or
estates on the top of every hill as we go along, and as we move into the valley,
with the "mountains" closer to the river (it's miles wide mouth of Bonn, [unsure]
from these south to Mainz) the villages nestled more at the rivers edge, become
older, more appealing and peaceful looking. We have a great 3 days ahead to