Spiers: Memoranda of an autumn tour in 1836

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CONT. AUG. 25. THURS.

(about £11). This must have been before our compatriots were accustomed to flock hither, or it would not have been long without a purchaser. It is finely situated & bears out well its appellation of the proud rock. From its towers we saw the moon burst from behind the hills in great splendour, and before we left there it had risen high & reflected a beautiful pillar of light in the river below. The steeple of Oberlahnstein was also reflected in front of it & the light appeared through its windows.

At our inn which was a comfortable one we met with 2 Germans from Berlin with whom we had a very agreeable chat. They were pedestrians like ourselves, and bound for Frankfort viâ Mayence, but their hour of rising, 7 in the morning, would not suit us or we should have rejoiced in their society.

24 miles

AUG. 26 FRIDAY At 1/2 past 4 we left our inn & a few miles after, the sun gradually rose above the hills on the opposite side of the river. Quiet & darkly bright was the fair scene everywhere greeting us. The peasants are early at work & many a guten morgen saluted us. Through Rhense we passed and at Braubach crossed by the ferry to visit Marxburg castle. We reached it by an easy path on the other side of the hill, for it is situated on an isolated rock & on battering its gates with our sticks were informed by the commanding officer, who put his head out of [a] window without removing his nightcap, that we must wait half an hour. This was annoying, but we amused ourselves with Mrs Trollope's notes on visiting the same place wch infd us that it was a fortress belonging to the Duke of Nassau, the only perfect one & used as a prison for political offenders. That it was the last stronghold of the Rhenish nobility & until it was seen the tourist would in vain picture to himself what these castles

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