186. Europe Bicycle Trip--Xervon

I  continued to cycle from Bonn area toward Cologne . The cycle path stayed nicely along the Rhine River but as with any big city, industrial parks are also in the outskirts and I approached Industrie Park Koln-Merkenich on the south end of Koln (Cologne).

St. Georg Church

The small village of Widdig

Approaching Cologne (Koln)

River front promenade

Here I must be on the leash

Industriepark Koln-Merkenich   Since 2002 it has been managed by Xervon. With approximately 8,100 employees, Xervon is a major international service company, especially in the process industry. The core sectors include chemical, petrochemical, energy and steel industry as well as construction and shipyards. It has sales of 580 million a year.

I cycled as quickly as I could away from here so as not to breathe in too much air.

Panorama of Industry Park

185. Europe Bicycle Trip--Schloss Drachenberg,Grand Hotel Petersberg, The City of Bonn and the Kennedy Bridge

As Day 64 went on, I started to feel a little better. The scenery along the Rhine was still beautiful and the bicycle path continued to be great.

I  came to a small place called Rolandshof.

In Rolandshof, all the buildings are WHITE.

Looks like a castle on the distant hill across the Rhine.

My zoom lens shows that it is the ruins of a castle on Drachenfels (Dragon's Rock), a hill 321 meters or 1,053 ft. in the Siebengebirge uplands between Konigswinter and Bad Honnef. The castle was built between 1138 and 1167 by Archbishop Arnold 1 of Cologne and bears the same name. The castle was damaged in 1634 during the Thirty Years' War and never rebuilt. Erosion due to continued quarrying undermined much of the remains and only a small part is left today. Quarrying ended in 1836. (the building material of the Cologne Cathedral came from here).  In 1956, the site was declared a national park.

Another castle is showing itself to the left of the ruins.

Schloss Drachenberg is a private villa in palace style constructed in the late 19th century. It was built in only 2 years (1882-84) on the Drachenfels hill in Konigswinter. Baron Stephan  von Sarter, a broker and banker , planned to live there but never did. Today, the palace is in the possession of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Another palace??  No....

Zoom shot of Steigenberger Grand Hotel Petersberg

Rowers taking advantage of the calm waters of the Rhine

Mile 650. I have come a long way!

Approaching Bonn

Bonn is best known as the capital city of West Germany from 1949-1990 (and of reunified Germany until 1990. It has a history dating back to the 1st century BC. Roman soldiers were stationed here and the largest known Roman fort was built at Bonn. The city's most famous son was Ludwig van Beethoven , born in 1770. a museum now honors him.

The Rhenus Rowing Club

Part of the old wall of Bonn

This wall was protection for the buildings from enemies an from the waters of the Rhine.

Fancy inlay on the wall

An archway entrance to an important building.

A church behind the wall

The bust of Royal Gardening Director Dr. Peter Josef Lenne who lived from 1789-1866 and was a landscape designer and urban planner.

The Kennedy Bridge connecting Bonn to Vilich (now Beuel). It is the middle of three bridges crossing the Rhine in Bonn (South, Kennedy and North). Since the 17th century there had been a ferry service. It was first built in 1896. On March 8, 1945 the fleeing Germans destroyed the bridge, which was called Klaus-Clemens Bridge. In 1949, the bridge was rebuilt on the same base pillars. In 1963, 10 days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Bridge was renamed to Kennedy Bridge. Corrosion problems have resulted in a new reconstruction finishing in 2010. The bridge is 394 meters long with 4 lanes of roadway.

Graffiti on the wall--too bad

Double wall with ivy

A little electric Bonn mail or utility truck

A shrine

North Bridge of Bonn-The Bonn-Auerberg Bridge

Solar World is a German Company dedicated to the manufacture and marketing photovoltaic products worldwide by integrating all components of the solar value chain, from feedstock(silicon) to module production, from trade with solar panels to the promotion and construction of turn-key solar power plants. It was founded in 1988.

The Port of Bonn sign

184. Europe Bicycle Trip--HOORAY !! I Have GPS Maps Again !!

Lots of barge activity today

Lovely riding -The hills, the train tracks, the road for cars, the bicycle path an the river with the barges

Time for a selfie as I am all alone

Unkel is a town on the right bank of the Rhine about 20 km southeast of Bonn. Unkel is the seat of the Verbandsgemeine (collective municipality) of Unkel. It is mainly Roman Catholic and is at the edge of the Rhine-Westerwald Nature Park. The most important sights are the baroque palace (Freiligrathaus) built in 1760 and the Catholic Church, St. Pantaleon. The old town wall is well preserved.

Nice that the sign is visible

An interesting little secret door

I won't go that way!

Marina in Oberwinter

Interesting building

Since I was getting close to Bonn, I thought I would check my GPS and Lo and Behold , the map in it is now working. Hooray!!!!! I have not been able to use it for 2 weeks since arriving at The Boden Zee (Lake Constance) because my original Europe map was accidentally erased when Abe was downloading the knoop punten maps.

I hadn't been feeling one hundred percent today but the fact that the GPS now worked, made me feel much, much better!

183. Europe Bicycle Trip--Day 64--Friendensmuseum Brucke von Remagen

It is Day 64, June 19th, 2014. There are 26 days left of my 90 day trip. I woke up a little sick today as well as being tired. I was all stuffed up. I stayed in bed longer and didn't leave Camping  Klause in Bad Honningen until 9 am, almost 2 hours after my normal time. .

I came up to this stream flowing into the Rhine River.

The stream had a very nice covered bridge to go through over the stream.

Friedensmuseum Brucke von Remagen---The Ludendorff Bridge was a railroad bridge connecting the village of Remagen to the village of Erpel across the Rhine River.

At the end of Operation Lumberjack (March 1-7, 1945), the troops of the American 1st Army approached Remagen and they were surprised to find the bridge was still standing. It was captured on March 7-8, 1945 by the US Army during the Battle of Remagen of World War 11. This enabled the US Army to establish a bridgehead on the eastern side of the Rhine. It was  the only significant bridge still standing over the Rhine from the east into the heartland of Nazi Germany.  8000 soldiers crossed the bridge during the first 24 hours after its capture as well as tanks and trucks. The Americans tried to improve improve the stability of the bridge while the Germans continued unsuccessful efforts to destroy it via aerial bombardment, field artillery an the use of floating mines.

Later on 17th  March, ten days after its capture, the bridge suddenly collapsed into the Rhine killing 18 Army engineers who were working to strengthen it. It was not deemed important enough after WW11 and so it was not rebuilt.

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These plaques name some of the divisions of the Army that crossed the bridge during those days. Since 1980 the surviving towers on the western bank of the Rhine have housed a museum called " Peace Museum Bridge at Remagen" containing the bridge's history and ' themes of war and peace '. This museum was partly funded by selling rock from the two piers as paperweights. The two piers were removed from the river in the summer of 1976 as they constituted an obstacle to navigation. The Bridge at Remagen is a 1969 war film based on the book The Bridge at Remagen:The Amazing Story of March 7,1945.

Lots of people fishing by the museum

Along the river promenade of Remagen was this statue of Johann August. Otto  Caracciola. He was a wine merchant and hotelier who came from Andernach to Remagen in 1844 to open a new wine trade. He was the first president and founder of the International Hotel Association in 1869. He had a big hotel complex called Hotel Furstenberg Remagen.

As I cycled away from Remagen, I as able to get a photo of St. Apollinaris Church, located on a high promontory overlooking the Rhine River. It has been a pilgrimage destination for many centuries. According to legend, in 1164 the Archbishop of Cologne was sailing  by with the relics of St. Apollinaris ( a second century Roman bishop who was one of the earliest Christian martrys. The boat's rudder stopped working as it passed Remagen and would only become functional again when the relics were carried up to St. Martin's Mount as the hill was then called. Later the relics were stolen except for the skull which remains until today  in a crypt and twice a year there are pilgrimages and the skull is removed to bless pilgrims many of whom are seeking healing of head-related ailments. Visitors can come for retreats in the 15 room guesthouse.