BONN is 21 miles from Cologne, has a beautiful location, and is chiefly
noted for its University, housed in the Electoral Palace built
1717-1730. It was a great Roman fortress and suffered many sieges. The
Cathedral was founded by the mother of Constantine. In its cemetery are
buried Niebuhr, the historian, Schlegel, Schumann, Arndt and Bunsen.
BEETHOVEN’s birthplace in Bonn was at 20 Bonngasse. There is a bronze
statue of the great composer in Münsterplatz.
GODESBURG CASTLE. A fine mediæval castle on a hill overlooking the
Rhine. Splendid view.
ROLANDSECK is half an hour’s sail above Königswinter on the right; and
high on the hill above is the fragment of the castle said to have been
built by Roland, paladin of Charlemagne, and rich in legends. See
Bulwer’s “Pilgrims of the Rhine” for the story, which doubtless
suggested Schiller’s ballad of “Ritter Toggenburg.”