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

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The Port of Bonn sign