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.