Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1955-05-20
= OUR
"a TOWN

on the good ship 'Koln" and
soon came to the part of the
river which looks much like
the old Ohio, except for the
ancient castles on the heights
above. Many islands dot the
river much the same as on
the Ohio or the Mississippi but
age adds a certain grace and
dignity which, in the absence
of industry along the banks,
makes the journey both peace
full and exciting. Our spanking
white vessel with aquamarine
trim and flying several beau
tiful flags is but competitor
among the hundreds of barges,
tugs and pleasure craft to be
seen on the great river. You
are in a wonderland of beauty
and the flags, bells and whist
les only add to the whole won
derful confusion.
The bargeS are hugh and are
painted every color in the
spectrum blue, black, red
orange, yellow, white -
every color and each is as
clean as an Irishman's wash.
Really these are wonderful
boats and the boatmen's chill
dren play on them just as you
would like to do. And over and
above all this are the castles
of the Rhein some built by
the Romans and others built
as protection against them.
1t all makes a fairyland of
thought and reverie. We feel
sure that come hell or high
water or the hydrogen bomb
the great river will continue
through it all. The Rhein is
a stream of dreams on which
the pixies play.
On the banks we pass Win
kel, Lorch, Oberwessel and
soon Die Loreley" or THE
Lorelei", a hugh mass of pro-
tubing rock where the boat
men were thought to have
been lured by a beautiful
maiden to destruction. 1t was
at this point that we met Nc
Keever. McKeever is a New
Yorker and he can recite the
poem about the Lorelei and
he did SO for me. All the,
while we are passing this en-
trancing spot the ships "P.
A" system was giving out with
Heine's beautiful song. Just
really special is all we can say
for this particular adventure.
But here's a twist on Nc
Keever he went to Princeton
with Bill Williams who was
born and raised across the
street from me on North
Main in dear old London
town, Ohio! I won't tell but
McKeever even knew Will
liams' middle name which be-
gins with a 3D.! Met Mrs.
McKeever too = charming
couple.
st. Goar, Bad Salzig, Bap-
pard, Braubach and thence to
Koblenz where the Moselle
joins the eddying, swift Rhein.
All along the river on the way
are signs whose numbers indi-
cate the distance in kilometers
from Bas ell, Switzerland,
where the Rhein begins as
navigable river. Thus, it is
easy to pick out the castles
whose names correspond with
the kilometer numbers on the
map. Compre?
We have luncheon on the
boat just before arriving at
Koblenz really a pleasure
to eat below decks at water
level and look out through de-
partment store sized windows
at the ancient and the new.
Perhaps the world is in an
uproar, maybe we are moving
toward oblivion, but you feel
that this must all go on some
how.
harrisburg castle dates back
to 882 A. D. but takes back
seat to the two castles OF
Katz and Maus (cat and
mouse, you guessed it,. Every
American gets a kick out OF
this and also many others.
But, like / say, the Romans
came all the way up here too
and you can say one thing
for them next to the Chinese
they liked to build walls bet
ter than anybody.
II was good to get,a away
from the depressing war dam
age as we came down the
Rhein to Koblenz but soor
our little dream is snapped as
once again we are back to real
ity and on our way by motor
to Cologne. On the way we
see the Remagen Bridge : the
only bridge on the river which
was not blown up by the Ger
mans as the Allies advanced
and for which oversight
German major was shot ful