Castles along the Rhine

 We were anchored for a while in Koblenz which we had visited last spring. Still I would have looked around if I didn’t go back to sleep.  I think I just started getting sick. By the end of the trip the whole ship was sick. Some of the sicker ones were tested for Covid, negative but I did have a nasty cold for almost a week

We were bussed high up on a hill to the 800 year old Marksburg castles. Castles are for military purposes; palaces are for luxury. This place certainly was not luxurious and very hard for me to walk through as it had huge slippery cobblestones on a steep path. Still was nervous about my fall a few days before. After the castle, we sailed through the Rhine Valley covered with castles. It was too cold to stay on the top deck for long

Kitchen facilities. Maybe 70 people lived there at a time 

The road coming down from there

Another castle 

More peopLe died behind the cannons than in front of it. The castle was one of the few that was never attacked 

The Rhine below

Steve at the entrance 

Sailing early morning 

Sample of armor. Good until guns that could penetrate it were invented 

Cute town along the Rhine

Marksburg castle up close

Very old bathroom which locked from the outside. Important as invaders were known to crawl up the waste chute 

More sample armor 

Ceiling of the chapel

Marksburg castle from the river