Bill and I were supposed to go to the first night of the annual Rheingau Wine Festival on Friday evening. His company had reserved a tent for employees and their families. We usually go to that gathering and have a good time. But this year, Bill decided he’d rather hang out at home with me instead of being crowded, hot, and breathing second hand smoke. We usually go to this particular festival on our own, on our preferred Sunday afternoons, when it’s usually a lot less crowded.
So, that’s what we did today… We had beautiful, sunny, relatively cool and breezy weather. The lovely weather made it even nicer to visit this yearly event, which always seems to herald the onset of the fall season for me. I know we have about a month to go before summer is officially over, but years of living in Germany has taught me that in about a month, it’s possible jackets will be necessary once again. On the other hand, I have noticed that things are warmer now than they were in 2007, when Bill and I moved to Germany together with the Army.
Anyway, I don’t have much of anything to report on things that happened today, but I did get some photos and a few recordings…
The first thing we did was go to the WC, where a very cheery Klofrau (toilet lady) was taking one euro per person. She was kind of funny, so I didn’t mind giving her the money. At least the toilets were clean and stocked, right?
We started looking for a place with plenty of shady tables, so we could have something to eat. I finally spotted a good table near some live entertaininers– a guy from Ocean City, Maryland who sang and played keyboards and his German sax player. They were really good, and played music I loved. Bill went to get some bratwursts and pommes (fries), while I drank Riesling. I wish the food had been as good as the live entertainment was. But, the wines were all decent, so there was that.
Just before the musicians were about to take their pause, a family sat at the table right behind us. I kept getting bumped by one of them, whose back was against mine. Then, someone from that table kicked rocks, and some wound up in my shoe. Next, a woman sat on the bench in front of me. She was nice enough not to block our view, but her husband then sat down and lit up a cigarette. It was allowed, of course, but pretty annoying. We decided to get up and move to the next booth, run by Barth Weingut, which is a local favorite of mine. When they saw that we were moving, the table muggers quickly moved to take our vacated spots.
Below are some more photos from the other booths we visited. I hope we’ll get to go back again, before the festival ends a week from today.
As for yesterday, we mostly spent it hanging out in the backyard, listening to music, drinking wine and beer, and tearing down the ivy on one of the fences. We didn’t quite finish the job, but now the yard looks both a little naked, and like a tornado hit it.
Bill loves the t-shirt. I ordered it for him a month ago, but it just got to us, along with a couple of others. This coming Saturday, we’ll finally be getting a new mattress, which means somehow hauling the 16 years old one out to be picked up. That will be fun.
I wish I had more fun things to report on… but it does look like I might be able to go somewhere with Bill soon. When the plans are in place, I’ll announce where.
Nice post! I especially enjoyed the gallery of photos from the wine stand. Wiesbaden looks like such a nice place to live in.
Interestingly, there are two different methods to mark the start of the seasons. The traditional one is the “astronomical season” based on the equinoxes and solstices. According to that one, this year’s fall begins on September 22.
The weather weenies, on the other hand, use “meteorological seasons” to mark the year’s quarters, and they begin on the first of the month at the start of each quarter-year. By this reckoning, fall begins on September 1.
I didn’t learn this until a few years ago, but I prefer the meteorological seasons approach simply because it’s easier to remember. The astronomical start dates “float” slightly, so I sometimes google “When does fall start this year?” if I need to write about the old-school seasonal observances.
Usually by the third week of September, it is decidedly autumn in Germany.
When I arrived in Seville, Spain (September 21, 1988), it was still quite warm during the day, but much cooler at night than back home in Miami. After that, the temperatures dropped gradually so that by mid-October it was cold enough to require at least a windbreaker whilst walking about the city. It wasn’t until I lived in Madison that I learned Seville is the northernmost point on Earth that I’ve called home, albeit temporarily.