The Rhein, Rudesheim, and oh yeah....a Torture Museum!! Sep 6 2015

The Rhien river is the longest and most important river in Europe. Starting in the Swiss Alps (from a glacier!) and ending in the Netherlands. It was and still is used for transporting. Way back in the day false knights or "robber knights" illegally built castles along its shore to tax those transporting goods.
Most were destroyed in the 30 years war and also burned down by some kind of saint....So there's your history lesson.

We took a ferry from Bingen to Rudeshiem (Rude-es-hime) and toured the city there. They have a famous street that is only about 2 meters wide and is filled with shops and restaurants.

 

We walked through the torture museum - so cool -

 

 

 

 

 

 
 


Also we took the Seilbahn (cable cars) to the top of the "mountain" to Germany's equivalent of the Statue of Liberty, the Niederwald Monument, which was constructed at the beginning of the German empire after the Franco-Prussian war.

It's only about a 30 minute drive from our house, which makes for a quick Saturday excursion.