I grew up in this town. I lived here in the years between 2 and 5 years old, and was sent here for holidays until I was 14 or so (Mom wanted to have some fun which meant I couldn't have any ;-). But in all those years I think I took the ferry to Linz once and I never ever was down here where the 2 land pillars of the Bridge at Remagen still stand (there were 2 pillars in the Rhine and the last one was sold brick by brick to tourists by the city council of Remagen).
What was so special about this bridge? It was the only major bridge across the river Rhine the Americans captured intact at the end of WWII. Which enabled the Americans to 1) cross the Rhine without using boats and being duck-hunted by Germans and 2) push towards Berlin much quicker. Naturally the Germans were not too happy about that. So they sent floating mines, frogmen planting mines, bomber planes, a railway gun, and even 11 V2 rockets to destroy that darned bridge. None of those attaches seemed to succeed, but the bridge just spontaneously collapsed without apparent reason a week later.
A script that just screams to be made into a movie? Well, it did ;-) Also, when I was a wee lad living on the hills bounding the river valley towards the west, US or German Jetfighter pilots were still practicing the bombing run on the Bridge at Remagen. They flew so low that I could see the helmet of one pilot. No wonder I'm deaf ;-)
For anyone looking to stay around here, I can highly recommend the Hotel Rhein-Ahr in Kripp. I have a large clean room with breakfast included for 47 Euros. While mine is a smoking room, they also have non-smoking rooms ;-) The owner/restaurant operator is a typical local: When I was typing on my food in the restaurant, he exclaimed: "Isn't hat crazy? The food is on the table and there is the STUPID computer!" Gotta give him points for being Ernest ;-)
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