Down the Rhine by Oliver Optic

Apartments had been engaged at the _Riese_, or Giant Hotel, near the landing. It was too dark to see anything of the town, but the students wandered about the streets, looking into the beer shops, which they dared not enter, and observing the evening life of the Germans. To many of them this occupation was more interesting than visiting old castles, or even modern palaces, especially after they had become old stories. Paul, Shuffles, and some others found themselves more pleasantly entertained at the hotel.

After breakfast the next morning, the tourists made a business of seeing the place. The town occupies a tongue of land at the junction of the Moselle with the Rhine. It is strongly fortified, on the land side, with works which it required twenty years to build, and there are forts all around the city, which is intended to be a stronghold for the defence of Prussia against an invading army from France.