A wine tasting adventure

On Friday we had a new experience that I would consider unique. Our friends, Barbara and Stephen Emmel, took us to Jacque's Wine Depot. Sound like a wine selling WalMart? Not nearly. It's way out in the country - only 15 minutes from our place. And it's a working farm - you drive up the long gravel driveway to three large barns. There was a goat hanging out in front, and a small shed where they sell fresh eggs. (No one attending - just a collection bin with a list of prices) The smell is overwhelming! Steve calls it "home" from growing up in Lancaster County, but it is not altogether pleasant. In any case, you have to wonder where all the wine is and whether you have to try to enjoy it in such a ..... perfumed area.

One of the barns opens up to a nice, large, well-lit room, with bottles of wine displayed on two of the walls. Try to imagine a shelf lining two walls in the room - on it are baskets of crackers and... spitoons, for lack of a better word. At the back of the shelves, bottles are lined up. Above this line of bottles is another narrow shelf with the same bottles lined up - only these are carefully labeled with the country of origin, region, kind of grape, (any other pertanent information) and, of course, price. The prices (hold on to your chairs) varied from 3 - 8 or so Euros! A very few were 9-10 - the rest of the more expensive wines (15-30 Euros) were along another wall. Ok - here's the really cool part. They have an attendant hanging around to open bottles for you. That's right, at NO cost - they'll open any bottle that you'd like to taste. So you can compare wines from France to those in Spain - a Burgandy to a Bordeau! The wines are arranged by region, starting with France (complete with huge map on wall of all the various locales), then Italy, Spain, Germany, then South American, African, and Australien varieties.

We spent about an hour and a half trying a sip of that one, and then another of another. Our friends were, of course, more comfortable throwing words like "perfumy" or "full-bodied" around, while I was just learning what "dry" actually meant! Barbara brought food - crackers, bread, and then she bought some gourmet chips and truffles they had there just to complete the taste sensations. It was a wonderful education, and we came home with six bottles of really yummy wine - no guess work! One would think we'd all come home pretty tipsy - but we were only drinking a tiny sip at a time. We had perhaps, a full glass each? (All said, my lips were numb and tingly at the end!)

We got the kids a movie - left at around 6:30 and came home by 8:30. It was a lovely way to "get away" for a bit. Perhaps someone reading this has had similar experiences with wine tasting? I've heard of wine stores offering a "wine-tasting" party - but this was all the time, whenever, and no expectation to buy. Fun. We'll go again!

Rain and church bells

We've heard of a saying here - that it's either raining or the bells are ringing, and if it's both, it's Sunday. We have been enjoying very much shortened, rainy/cloudy days here in Germany. And lots of church bells. I passed my fortieth birthday two weeks ago, and we were able to celebrate with our friends, Barbara and Stephen Emmel and their neighbor, Heidi Ziraou. Have I mentioned how much pork they eat here? Well, we went to a restaurant and had the best filet mignon! Mmmmm, it was so good. We've gotten pretty tired of pork.....

While I'm writing this, Steve's Grandma Teddy (his mom's mom) is having surgery to have her gall bladder removed. She's 93, and it has really hit us (again) how awful it would be if something happened while we're over here. Please keep her and Steve's parents in your prayers - they are struggling to determine how to proceed with her care now.

We have been attending a church just yards from our apartment - a free evangelical one. I guess this is a Lutheran off-shoot, sort of congregational in politics, and a bit more conservative than what we're used to. (I can tell this from the blank stares we've been given when the subject comes up of my studying theology next year...I asked one of the first women we met if she was an elder because she basically led the whole worship service, and she replied, "but I'm a woman!") However, the people have been quite welcoming! I have joined the "choir" - but I use the term loosely. I think it's more of a worship team - they only sing for special occasions. But I'll enjoy singing in such a small group - I've heard them sing for a service that was broadcast over the airwaves (quite a production! and only done once in a blue moon for a local station) and they were VERY good. I've really missed singing. The German is a bit tough to get, of course, but sitting through sermons we cannot understand is something we're quite used to! (And German is so much easier than Arabic!) It is very informal, which we like quite a lot, and there are anywhere from 100 - 150 there every week. I can't tell you how great it is that we actually leave our front door at 9:57 and arrive on time for the 10 am service!! (sigh)

The Sunday that they put on the radio was quite an experience. Weeks before hand, they told everyone (and made sure we understood) that people could not come late! They put up an overhead with RULES two Sundays in a row during the service. We found out afterwards that they had to give a minute by minute play to the recording people - scripted down to the second. (They must have order!) It was actually a great service, not very spontaneous, of course, but great music. We sing a combination of hymns (many, in fact, from the hymn writers I'm studying from the 16th and 17th centuries!) and worship songs on overhead, many of which we are familiar with having been originally in English. This area of Germany is very Catholic, but we are hoping to visit a Lutheran Church before long just to have a point of comparison. I am really interested in hearing the music, in particular.

Well - all for now. Tchuss!

Castles on the Rhine - pictures below

Our next stop was the Rhine River - taking the train past steep vineyards once again, past castles, and all the while following the river, was just breath-taking! We stopped on the way down in a little town called Boppard where we spent the afternoon trying to find a trail and just giving up and going on a little "there and back" hike that we loved. Then we hopped back on the train to our final destination - Bacharach. (And yes, I did sing "I'll never fall in love again" to myself once or twice.) The picture below with the castle is where we stayed - Castle Stahleck, built in the 1100's and converted this century into a youth hostel! The picture of the river with flowers in the foreground is the view from the courtyard. This was by far our favorite part! However, there was a 20 minute, grueling up-hill hike to get there, which certainly was an incentive to just hang out and not to the touristy thing. However, since we were there three days, we were able to do both. During our second day, we took a Rhine boat ride up to St. Goar - where we visited the Castle Rheinfels. This was a ruin jaunt - lots of paths and underground passageways to explore. The picture below with Steve sideways with his legs up, Harrison and Ev - was taken after a really fun, pitch-black tunnel route. Rowyn and I took the upstairs route and met them, miraculously, at the other end. (A little too scary for us- but apparently we really missed it!)

On the boat ride, the kids hooked up with a very nice boy named Gareth (or Garrette - we have a disagreement going about what his real name is) who was touring with his dad and step-mom. He was really nice, and it made the trip home great for the kids that afternoon. It's strange how you meet people when traveling - you can really strike up a good relationship, albeit a temporary one. He is, I guess, living in Germany for the next couple of years with his mom. I gave him the blog address - I hope he reads this! If so - hello Gareth/Garrette!

Steve and I tried to get out to see an organ concert (Bach) for that evening in Bacharach, but couldn't find the church and ended up hiking forever. After a long day of hiking up to the castle in St. Goar, I was exhausted. (Keep in mind that we had to hike up to our lodgings as well! I felt as if I had muscles that haven't been in use for quite a few years working over time!) Steve and I, after the kids went to bed, went down to the cafeteria to share a light meal and glass of wine. There is a special kind of wine they make here called a "Riesling" - we ended up sharing our very first entire bottle of wine! This amounted to two full glasses each, but I had to wait a bit before walking up stairs to our room. We considered this our little mini-celebration of my birthday that following week. Those of you who know me well, know that I have no head for alcohol, and I was officially "tipsy"!

We left the next day, and spent the day in Cologne (Koln) - before the girls and I heading back Monday night. Steve and Harrison spent Tuesday(my 40th birthday!) in Cologne in order to see an NBA exhibition game (Philadelphia against Pheonix, and then the top two European teams played as well, Russia and Isreal, I think) that night at the stadium there. Harrison was in HEAVEN! He just loved it - I guess it made up for the fact that he and Steve had to take the train Tuesday night at 2:30 - or rather Wednesday morning!

Well, I warned you all that it was quite an experience for just five nights/six days! (six/seven for Steve and Harrison) And we have a lot to remember and are already planning for our Christmas break!

Bis balt! (until soon)

Castles on the Rhine

A trip down the Mosel and Rhine

Where to begin? We left on Wednestday, Oct 4 and returned on Monday, Oct 9 - just six days, and yet so much accomplished! The pictures are all out of order, but I assume you can figure out which is which. Our first stop, after an awesome train ride seeing the steepest vineyards in Europe, was Trier - a city very near Luxemburg, and what used to be a very ancient Roman city. (The gateway into Germany during Roman times.) After checking into a very nice hostel - Hilles - we took in some ancient sites: The amphitheatre(see pic) and the baths. (The outside picture of the four 'windows' is the baths built for Constantine - but never used by him, I guess. Lots of cool underground passageways!) Then we went to the Basilica - which pretty much made the trip to Trier worth it. It's history, which was posted along the 200 foot long wall inside, is simply amazing. Originally a throne room for the emporer, it eventually became a palace for the resident bishops, and then a protestant church. A lot of detail was provided of how the church was destroyed during WWII - as were most of the buildings in Germany it seems - and how the congregation, sympathetic to the Nazi regime, came to terms with the aftermath. (see picture)

Another very cool aspect of our stay in Trier was the hostel - we had a communal kitchen, and we were able to save a lot of money having extremely cozy dinners there. There was a grocery store nearby, and we had hot soup, fresh bread and an assortment of cheeses everyday. (heaven!) The next day we took in some more sites, another bath, the famous "Blackgate" - one of the surviving gates to the city - and the main church there. The kids and I went to see a local toy museum while Steve visited an archeological museum. Just a lot of fun! I kept seeing a skulpted foot outside the basilica that really distracted me. Take a look - the toes are just too long for the rest of the foot! It bugged me.

We left Trier on Friday for our next stop - the Rhine River. But that will have to wait for tomorrow! Stay tuned!

We are hooked up!

Hello all!

Now, after only two and a half months of our being in Germany, we are FINALLY, officially hooked up to the internet. This means that I can write emails and blog entries on the "other" computer, and not have to wait endlessly for Steve to vacate his. Hooray! Much has happened since I've been able to write - we've been on our first vacation here: a trip down the Moselle and Rhine Valley Rivers, ancient Trier, and some very cool castles. The kids are now nearing the end of their two week October break, and I finally get to begin my classes in German this next Monday. So my next posting will be the full description of our trip and some various explorations and discoveries we've been making.

But first, a collective sigh of relief that our battles with German (Deutsch) Telecom are (hopefully) over and we have new machinery to prove it. HOORAY! We were also able to equip this "other" computer with wireless capability - BONUS. I should be more faithful with my entries from here on out.

Bis Bald!