Just outside of Bonn there lies a group of hills, of which seven stand the tallest, and upon which once stood great castles. These castles were home to the wealthy who looked down upon the splendour of the Rhine Valley and its villages below. Now the hills are home to guest house. Visiting dignitaries and diplomats were whisked up to these resorts perched in the hills when Bonn was still capital of Germany and today they open their doors to tourists like myself. I met Liviu in Cologne, got on the subway, and headed to Bonn to meet Kivanc and a Yugoslavian trainee (Jadi). (I can't believe the subway goes all the way to Bonn, this is the pinnacle of mass transit) The weather was hot and sunny, perfect for pictures, but perhaps not ideal for walking up hills…. We were pretty hot by the time we made it to the first of the seven hills, and by the time we made it to the second it was pretty clear that we weren't going to make all seven. None of them are over 400 metres (less than the CN tower) but still, we're lazy. On the second one we climbed, we visited the old state guest house. It's a beautiful old building, with a yellow-brick outside and a fantastic view of the Rhine valley. On a clear day you can even see the giant Cologne cathedral, but it was a little too smoggy that day. We looked over at the other five hills we had yet to climb, and realizing that it had been many hours since any of us had eaten, we decided to make our way back to an Italian restaurant in Bonn that Jadi suggested.
