Tag Archives: July

Hessen

A very popular wine stand… attended by Noyzi!

Last night, the weather was nice, so Bill and I decided to attend the wine stand hosted by the Feuerwehr Wiesbaden Breckenheim. They also hosted the wine stand at the weekly market this week, but I didn’t venture down the hill for that.

I probably shouldn’t go to the wine stands, given the state of my liver these days… On the other hand, I was on the proverbial wagon while Bill was away on yet another business trip. I will be on it again later this month, when he goes to Texas for work and then visits his daughter in Utah. So yes, we tried some wines last night, and Noyzi had a good time getting used to be out among the neighbors. He was pretty nervous for the first hour or so, but then calmed down and even relaxed on the pavement a few times.

One thing I noticed last night was that there were so many children at the wine stand. Normally, the community events in Breckenheim are very family friendly and popular, but last night, it seemed especially so. There were so many kids there, and they were so incredibly innocent and beautiful. As I watched a group of them playing with toy dinosaurs, I noticed how they managed to be so effortlessly gorgeous. Then I realized, there was probably a time when Bill and I were like that… In fact, it seems like it wasn’t so long ago that I was young. And now, I am well into middle age, starting to experience the “joys” of chronic health issues. Time flies!

At one point, this very ethereal looking little boy, maybe about two years old, came over and obviously wanted to pet Noyzi. He warmed my heart with his platinum blond hair and blue eyes, and his obvious affection for dogs. I noticed his mom was similarly dog friendly. She’s to be commended for teaching her children to respect dogs as well as they did. The little boy has an older sister who, I swear, looked like a literal angel in her white cotton dress. Like her little brother, she had big blue eyes and blonde hair. I imagine that she will be quite stunning when she’s older. The kids were all very well-behaved, too.

I hope these effusive comments about beautiful children don’t seem weird or creepy to anyone. I was really just observing that moment in time, remembering how it doesn’t seem that long ago that I was still a child, untouched by the relentless march of time and the sins against my health. But, unlike most of the children I saw last night, I was a bit of a terror. 😉 See the below early 80s era photo of me with my cousins at our Granny’s house in Virginia…

I’m the one in the red nightgown. I look kind of devilish with my bowl haircut and baby toothed snarl.

Below are some photos from last night. You can see that it got crowded. I love watching Breckenheimers at wine stands, interacting with their friends and relatives. So many of the people in this village act like they’re long lost relatives. Some of them probably are… as this town seems to have a lot of families within it. It reminds me of my own family in the States, back before politics ruined everything.

I took this a couple of days ago. One of my neighbors has interesting taste in decor.
People never want to sit with us, until there’s no choice…
Noyzi was a little nervous a few times, but he settled down.
Noyzi was so good! He’ll always be my kid.
Always a provider.
I should have videoed this… Noyzi’s little tail was wagging.

I’m not sure what we’ll do today. There was some talk about visiting Darmstadt. Maybe we’ll do that. Maybe not. It’s nice to have Bill home again. I’m glad July is almost half over. It’s usually a terrible month for me.

One more development pertaining to travel… Bill made a deposit on our Iceland trip yesterday!

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castles, Hessen, Sundays

Bill’s 60th birthday…

We had a really lovely day today in the university town of Marburg. I will write a comprehensive post about it tomorrow, since Bill will be out of town for a business trip, and I’ll need something to do. But I did want to make a comment today about how we spent our Sunday.

Marburg is a beautiful town a little over an hour’s drive from Wiesbaden. I’d been wanting to visit for awhile, because I knew it’s a pretty city, but also because it has an important place in public health. A very nasty virus was named after Marburg, because there was a breakout there in the late 1960s (which also included Frankfurt and the then Yugoslavian city of Belgrade, now in Serbia). Marburg is related to the deadly Ebola virus. I don’t pretend to know a lot about what happened, but I’m sure I’ll learn when I write more in depth about today’s visit.

We had perfect sunny weather with very nice temperatures. That allowed us to see the castle and walk around the old town before we had a delicious lunch at a Weinstube. I got lots of pictures and learned a few new things, but right now, I’m still coming down off the wine. So, for now, I’ll just share a few photos and the promise that I’ll be back tomorrow with a proper post.

I think for now, we need to do a little more celebrating.

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Uncategorized

Kelten-fest! Nagold, July 2017

Today, Bill and I decided to go to Nagold and visit the Kelten-fest.  Seems to me Kelten-fest is held every other year, but I could be wrong.  We were here for the one in 2015, but we never managed to get there when it was happening.  Since we are of Celtic origin ourselves, we made a point of going this year.  The fest is held in a large area near the river in Nagold.  One area is host to tents where crafts are made and sold.  Another area is where Highland games are held and musicians play.

In order to take part in the fun, you have to pay an entry fee.  A regular daily ticket is 6 euros, though if you buy the “Festkarte”, it’s 10 euros.  Go after five o’clock, and the price drops to 4 euros.  Kids under age 18 who are with their parents are free.

After we paid and got our blue wristbands, we wandered around and checked out the sights and scenes.  Celtic music played on a sound system as lads and lasses in kilts and other Celtic garb took part in the games, drank beer, ate food, or otherwise cavorted.  I kind of wished we had kilts.  Next time we go to Scotland, we’ll have to get outfitted.

The “kasse”, where you purchase your tickets.  If you go now, you won’t pay full price for today.

Helpful map points, not that it’s easy to get lost.

I was feeling too shy to pull out my good camera at this point, but it finally came out later.  These folks were participating in the Highland Games.  They had several different ones going on…

A pig was roasting nearby.  There were also people smoking salmon on wooden planks.  Those who preferred wurst and sauerkraut were also in luck! 

They were carrying this pole and running through a maze of trees…

And in this area, there were folks tossing poles.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to watch much of this event.


Across the way, there were craftsmen and women creating and selling their wares.  There were even a few animals.

Chilled out goats and a cow.

Blacksmith, doing it old school style.

Chickens!  There was also a very lazy pig in the next pen, but I didn’t manage to get a shot.

As you can see, lots to see and do and plenty of people dressed the part.

I had to take a couple of wildflower shots, too.  Time to update my Facebook cover.

Bill buys us a couple of black beers made by Hochdorfer, the local brewery.

We got larges.  Be warned, the pfand for these beers is very high…  five euros!  If you get a small beer, it’s only one euro.  Bill gave this guy twenty euros and when we turned in our glasses, we got ten euros back.  

Cool glass, though…

This was a “steak” sandwich.  I think it was pork and it had ketchup on it.  It was pretty good and not too much.  It pays to remember that steak is actually a cut and not necessarily a hunk of beef.

Now this was the culmination of our fun…

Obviously still photos wouldn’t do, so I took a video.  See below.

And a video of the Battle on the Water!

If you have young kids, you might enjoy taking them to Nagold’s playground.  It’s pretty cool.  Literally, it’s cool…  There’s also mini golf and a really awesome public pool that wasn’t too crowded and looked really inviting.  Hmmm… maybe we should go back!

 

After we walked around a bit more, we headed to Der Weinladen and picked up a few bottles of wine for the weekend.  Then we had some ice cream at Panorama.  While we were eating these ice cream sundaes, which were loaded with liqueur, by the way, we ran into a lady who always walks her pug along the same route we do with our dogs.  I felt like a total native as we said hello!  And tomorrow, we’ve been invited to a neighborhood party… our first in three years of living here (and in fact, we were not invited to any parties last time we lived here, either).

These hit the spot!

On the way out of Nagold, we stopped by the Edeka and I ran in to get some tequila and ice cream.  While I was standing in the “schnell line”, which wasn’t actually very “schnell”, I had the chance to check out the cigarette packages.  I noticed that here in Germany, it’s not enough to put warnings on the labels.  And it’s not enough to make the labels huge.  They have to put pictures of people with stomas, cancer, and other cigarette induced maladies on the packages.  I must say, it make me laugh ruefully.  People will still buy their cigarettes.  Seriously, if you live in Germany or have a chance to visit, check out the cigarette packs.  Crazy stuff!

I think Denis Leary says it best about smoking, right?  Although I am not a smoker myself…  Just so you know, this video is probably NSFW.  

 

We had a great time at the Kelten-fest.  I’m glad we went.  I hope we’ll be around for the next one.  Maybe then, we’ll even wear kilts!

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