Biking and Bridge of Remagen

The weather this week has been incredible! Now, I’m not one of the people who holds to the idea that the existence of good things depends on the bad (I mean, ice cream will taste great whether or not you’ve ever eaten brussel sprouts), but after having such a long cold winter, the warmer temperatures have been especially welcome. Although it got a bit colder towards the end of the week, we were still able to venture out on the 25K bike tour to Remagen. I really enjoyed the long ride and picturesque scenery all along the Rhine. It just seemed so stereotypically European with beautiful cathedrals and buildings interspersed with wooded areas and long stretches of nothing but the river.

Once we all made it to Remagan, we had lunch at a great Italian place and made our way to the Bridge of Remagan/Peace Museum. We were given the tour by the ex-mayor and founder of the museum, himself! He was really passionate about how the atrocities of past wars could be used to create future peace. It was really interesting to see how WWII had influenced him in this way, and to think of how what we think of as only history—fit to fill a textbook that we might grudgingly open to fulfill a university requirement—can have such a meaningful impact on one’s personal philosophy. Anyway, after the tour Megan, Cameron, Austin, Joanna, Andrea, Candy and I decided to bike back instead of taking the train. The additional exercise was great, although Candy ran into some unfortunate chain trouble, and it was a great start to the weekend. Tchüss!