Looking Down River

This is from the Burg Rheinfels looking down the Rhine River. This Castle is the largest on the Rhine River, but is a ruin.

The picturesque places with their towers, turrets, dungeons and torture chambers were once the homes of robber barons whose sole source of revenue was the heavy tolls exacted from ships and barges floating down the Rhine. Chains were stretched across the river and cannons were trained on ships and stubborn captains who sought to run the gauntlet.

Violent conflicts marked the relationship between enterprising princes, each knight vying to extort ever more marks than the next in order to build bigger and stronger castles.

St.Goar

This is he final port where we got off and walked around a little, ate, then took a tram ride up to the castle ruins Burg Rheinfels.

Cruise Ship

This is a cruise ship with sleeping cabins. It stops at various ports and lets you get out and tour the city, then keeps on going. This ship is going upstream.

Busy Rhine River

The Rhine in Switzerland is often referred to as the High Rhine (Hochrhein), especially for the section between Lake Constance and Basel. The source of the Rhine is in the Swiss Alps with the two initial main tributaries known as the Vorderrhein (Anterior Rhine) and Hinterrhein (Posterior Rhine). From the south of Switzerland, the Rhine flows northwards to the Bodensee (Lake Constance). On the way, the Rhine forms the border between Switzerland and Liechtenstein and Switzerland and Austria shortly before reaching Germany’s largest lake. From the lake it mostly, but not continuously, forms the Swiss-German border.

The Rhine is navigable from the Swiss border town Basel all the way to the North Sea and often very busy with commercial traffic. From Basel past Strasbourg to near Karlsruhe, the Rhine River forms the border between France and Germany.

This is the picture you see all the time on the Rhine, Hugh barges, probably 100-200 yards long going all day and all night. This is also a "very" fast moving river. We saw jet ski riders and thought if they fell off they would loose their jet ski because of the swiftnes of the river. Probably best to ride in twosome in case that happens.

City on the Rhine

Here you see the old castle, modern housing, old housing, the steepness of the vineyards on the mountains. Very picturesque.

Rhine River Transportation

The Rhine River is the busiest River in the world. HEre you see three barges. Two coming up and one heading down the river. The barges are loaded to the maximum with oil, sand, coal, etc. Some of them are sitting only 12 inches out of the water. Click on the picture to see how low some of them sit in the water. The one in the middle is empty and is going upstream.

Our Cruise Shp

Elder Glissmeyer, with Elder Miller nd Sister Miller. They are at the Darmstadt Institute and are from Hyrum, Utah. The ship is heading down the Rhine River.