Early raisers took part in a hash-like run along the shore line of river Rhine, organized by Michael Zoeller. The majority however assembled again around 10 am in Uhlhof to settle their bills, say good-bye and pose for the group photo.
Those who could afford the time set off by 11 am to climb Drachenfels Castle – by train www.drachenfelsbahn.de, you can see the arrival of the Drachenfels-Bahn here. The view from the top, both down- and upstream the river, is phantastic. There was however an underlying reason linked to choosing this location.
The engineer Mr. Kuntze, who was responsible for the technical design and construction of this rack-train in 1883, was the same person who did build the railway line from Padang to Bukittinggi. He was contracted by the Dutch Railway Company and arrived in Padang with his family by end of December 1887.
Their daughter Franziska noted down her memories still at a very old age published for future generations as “Mein Leben in der Kindheit”, a report worthwhile to read in our section Documents.
After lunch in the Drachenfels restaurant our Alumni meeting came to an end and by 4 pm we all set off to our final destinations, being it Jakarta, Padang, Manila, Lusaka, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Nagold or just only Bonn.