Be my valentine

Today is the official day of love - you're either preparing a Valentine breakfast for your beloved - or hiding under the sheets wishing it would all just go away. Saint Valentine's Day was established in 496 AD and named after numerous early Christian martyrs, but the holiday only became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages.  In victorian times the popularity of valentine's cards began to flourish and once the Americans took up the tradition in 1847 the Valentine's day love connection was truly on a roll.  The Germans have taken to Valentine's somewhat reluctantly, as with Halloween - but now that retailers have seen the potential cash cow in these otherwise "foreign" holidays, they now have a fixed place on the annual retail calendar.  But you don't need to spend loads of money to be romantic - you just need to spend a little extra time with your loved one or do something unexpected to show you care.  Take a walk along the Rhine and bring along two glasses and a bottle of sekt to toast your love by the river.  Put a love lock on the Hohenzollern bridge in Cologne and then throw the key into the Rhine.  Have a picnic at the top of the Drachenfels. Proclaim your love across the rooftops of Düsseldorf by taking your beloved to the top of the Rheinturm.  It doesn't have to be much - but it's never too much to tell that special person in your life that you love them. Happy Valentines Day - from the hopelessly romantic team at Rhine-online.