Yesterday afternoon, it was cloudy and damp, and the skies were kind of dark. I wasn’t really in the mood to venture out, but changed my mind when I realized that it had been ages since I last left our neighborhood. I had considered going to the Globus, but realized how huge and overwhelming that place is, even when it’s not days before Christmas. I thought about going to AAFES to pick up some skin cream, but Bill also mentioned going to the commissary to buy groceries, which I really didn’t feel like doing.
So, although the Wiesbaden Christmas Market pretty much looks the same every year, we decided we’d go there and get some photos… We did that, and also visited BrewDog for a late afternoon lunch. Below are some photos from our outing. The sandwiches we had at BrewDog were good, but I see that I didn’t even take photos of them, which is a rare thing for me!
Love these hats!Dude, where is your shirt?!
I wore a heavy coat, which I didn’t need to do. I thought it was colder than it was, because there was a stiff breeze at our house in Breckenheim. But, as you can see in the photos above, there were people who wore short sleeves and shorts. One guy, which I got a photo of, even took off his shirt. I noticed him making a hasty exit as a group of stern looking Polizei got close.
I’m glad we went to the Christmas market. It was very pretty, especially when it got dark outside at around 4:30PM. I saw a lot of nice looking things– some of which were very cute and creative– and I might have been interested in buying some of them, but it’s hard for me to shop when there are hordes of people around. I guess the grandchildren will get an Epiphany box, instead of a Christmas box. But Bill already sent a box of stuff we picked up on our latest travels, so they’ll have something to unwrap on Christmas day.
We might end up going to AAFES today… Lord, give me strength. I would like to go to Globus, too, but it’s Sunday… Maybe next weekend, when it’s sale time. The market was crowded yesterday, but I’ve seen it worse. At least we didn’t have to hunt too long for a parking spot.
Although it was chilly, foggy, and misty yesterday, Bill and I decided to go to the Dorfplatz and check out the 2025 Advent Market. Every year, our little village of Breckenheim has an Advent Market to raise funds for clubs. It’s just for a night, and different clubs sell food and crafts. Last night, they had a guy with a “barrel organ” who was playing old songs and hymns. He didn’t have a monkey– just a little elf that one finds in Germany and France at this time of year.
We didn’t stay long… I just wanted to get some photos and enjoy some Gluhwein. They had two kinds– red wine and rose. The rose was better than the red, in my opinion. It was very fruity! I think they had a church service, too, but we didn’t stick around for that. We did go to it last year, and it was very nice, though all in German. I found the pew a bit uncomfortable to sit on. It wasn’t quite deep enough for my ass. 🤭
We saw one of our American neighbors and caught up with her. But then she wandered away, and the smell of raclette was overpowering. So we went home to enjoy the evening before Bill’s journey back to the United States for the upcoming work week. He’ll be back early next Sunday morning, God willing. On our way back to our house, we ran into two of our next door neighbors, to include our landlady, who is always so pleasant and friendly!
Anyway, we were once again reminded of how much we have enjoyed the last seven years in Breckenheim. This is the place we’ve spent the most years of our marriage so far. We have been warmly welcomed here. Once again, I’m reminded that it was a good decision to leave Jettingen for this place. Almost everything is better here. The only things I miss about our old house are the pretty views and the proximity to the Black Forest. But even those things aren’t so far away… and we get treated with basic decency, respect, and a spirit of welcome. We are so grateful for that!
Christmas is now officially here. I think Germany is the best place to be at this time of year! And every time there’s a festival and we’re welcomed by our neighbors, I’m reminded of how people in my homeland are treating newcomers, visitors, and immigrants. It makes me sad, but it also fills me with gratitude that I’m not being treated that way in this country. At least not yet. 🤔
A whole lot has gone on since I last posted in this blog. The biggest thing is that my husband’s fifth grandchild was born on Monday. She’s tiny, but feisty, and very beautiful. The next biggest thing, of course, is that we’re celebrating anniversary number 23 today. And to be honest, we were kind of “meh” about it, mainly because there’s so much happening right now.
My husband’s new granddaughter is a big thing, but so is everything in the news… and the fact that tomorrow, Bill and I are both flying to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. He’s going there to work, and I’m tagging along. I’ve been to Istanbul before. It was about 30 years ago! But even the idea of going to to Istanbul is kind of overshadowed by everything else right now! You’d think I’d be excited about visiting Turkey again, so many years later. To be honest, though, I’m thinking about how it’s time to put up the Christmas shit and hunker down for the holidays.
Anyway, because it’s our anniversary, we decided we should go out. And because Villa Im Tal always offers us excellent service, great food, and a relaxed atmosphere in a beautiful area, we decided that’s where we’d go. And they didn’t disappoint today. As usual, we had wonderful, warm, friendly service, and we spent a luxurious afternoon enjoying delicious food in a gorgeous setting. In fact, they even gave us the prized table in the corner turret…
Right now, it’s goose season. Christmas is just around the corner, and Wiesbaden has already put up decorations. Since the menu had a lot of items that had mushrooms and truffles in them, Bill and I both decided to have the special goose menu, which offered delights that featured goose. Below are some photos from our amazing repast…
Champagne for me, and a non-alcoholic house cocktail for Bill.The bread came with rillets and the local cheese spread. It was delicious!Delicious salad with goose…A wonderful Austrian Pinot Noir that had a smokey essence that reminded me of a succulent ham.We brought about half of the goose home for dinner! It was delicious, but so filling!He was at the next table and was a perfect gentleman.Chocolate mousse and mango sorbet for dessert…And some Spanish brandy for me to help digest everything…One of Bill’s trademark mushy cards… He is so wonderful to me.
I didn’t ask how much Bill spent on lunch, but I feel sure it wasn’t as much as what he spent on dinner at Pizarro Fine Dining last weekend! And this time, their credit card machine was working, so we won’t get a bill.
The very cool wine decanter that looks like a snake…
Tomorrow afternoon, we’ll board a flight from Frankfurt to Istanbul. It will take about three hours, and we’ll debark at about 8 PM Turkey time (two hours ahead of us in Germany). Then we’ll spend four nights in Istanbul. I’ll do my best to get some good photos, and Bill will work… and maybe we’ll do some shopping. It’ll be good to see Istanbul again since 1996. And I’m glad I’ll be there with Bill, who can share the memories. Today, more than most days, I’m reminded that we must enjoy the time we have together and never take it for granted. You never know when it will all be over on Earth.
Watch this space for my reports on Istanbul! Here’s to 23 more wonderful years with my Bill.
Hi y’all. I am currently living life on my own, as Bill has gone on another one of his marathon business trips to Bavaria. But I wanted to pop on here for a moment to write about a first time experience I had yesterday.
A couple of days ago, I was on Amazon.de shopping for a new capo for my guitar. The one I’ve been using has a rubber pad that comes askew sometimes. I start playing, and the guitar sounds shitty. It’s because the pad has doubled up on itself and the capo isn’t seated properly. Yes, I could probably fix the capo with some super glue, and it’s easy enough to straighten out the pad in the meantime. I guess I just felt like shopping. I actually meant to go to the music store last week and pick up a new capo, but we never got around to it.
As I was shopping for the capo, it occurred to me that I also needed a new razor. I had just thrown out my old one. I don’t actually need to shave much these days. I don’t grow much hair anymore, and what I do grow is blonde or silver. But I don’t like seeing or feeling the long hairs, especially in my armpits. So since I was already going to buy a capo, I went looking for a razor, too. I wound up putting what I thought was a razor in my virtual basket, but it turned out to be just a box of razor refills. I still needed the actual razor. 🙄
So, as I put the razor refills away, I looked in the bathroom to see if I could find a new razor. I didn’t find one then, even though late yesterday, I found one, plain as day, in the top drawer of the chest of drawers in our bathroom. I don’t know how I missed it– it was in a big pink box, and exactly the kind I needed. But I did miss it during that first search, so I was left with the wrong impression that I needed a new razor handle. And it couldn’t be just ANY razor. I required one that would work with the box of eight razor refills that I got from Amazon.
So I went back to Amazon, and somehow, I found that the only way I could buy a new razor through them was to use Knuspr, which is an online German Supermarket-Hofladen. In retrospect, this was pretty dumb thinking on my part. I could just go to the Rewe, which is a ten or fifteen minute walk from our house. They would probably have what I needed. But I’m lazy, and I figured I could write a post for this blog, so here we are.
The razor was about 10 euros, give or take. To get free shipping, I needed to spend 39 euros. I actually found it rather hard to do that. Bill left me well-stocked with groceries before he left, so I really didn’t need much of anything. Knuspr offers all kinds of products, though. They do actually have a dedicated Web site that is independent of Amazon, but they also have lots of stuff on Amazon, which ends up becoming a separate Knuspr order.
I still didn’t want to spend 39 euros, or pay several euros for shipping and handling, so I tried repeatedly to find another seller, other than Knuspr. I was unable to do it. So I resigned myself to shopping on Knuspr for the very first time.
Yesterday morning, besides the razor, I ordered several bags of pasta, a bag of risotto, a couple of bags of Doritos, a pastry wheel, a jar of mustard, a couple of jars of different types of pasta sauce, and bathroom cleaner. Oh, and I also ordered a couple of fresh pretzel rolls, too…
Two hours later, the doorbell rang, and there was a guy standing there holding four or five paper shopping bags. He said, “Jenny?” I answered affirmatively and thanked him. Each bag had my name on it. And there was all the stuff I ordered. How very convenient… and dangerous!
Knuspr’s logo
I was impressed by Knuspr. The service was fast, accurate, friendly, and again, super easy! Will I use it often? Probably not… It actually does my heart good to go to the Rewe to shop when Bill isn’t home. It’s healthy for me to shop in person– forces me to drive the car and interact with people. If anything, I practice a little German and engage with the world. But if, for some reason, I ever need groceries delivered again while I still live in Germany, I would definitely use Knuspr. It’s totally legit!
And yes, I know some people have been using services like Knuspr for years, but I’m kind of a luddite. It takes me awhile to jump on these kinds of bandwagons.
It looks like Knuspr is available in cities throughout Germany, although I don’t know how many specific places offer it. I just input my old postal code in their search bar, and was informed that– tut uns leid– they don’t offer Knuspr there yet. But even in somewhat rural Jettingen, there was still an Aldi nearby, and a huge Real (which is now a Kaufland). So Knuspr is a great convenience, but if you can’t use it yet, you’re not gonna starve here. Jettingen also has a few great farms nearby, where one can buy super fresh milk and produce straight from the source. I think we have farms in Wiesbaden, too, but they aren’t quite as obvious. 😉
I didn’t actually need to buy the stuff I did. I didn’t even need to get the damned razor, because I found one in the bathroom after I already made the order. But the stuff I bought, by and large, won’t go bad. I can always use another bag of pasta or a jar of sauce. And it gave me something to put in this blog today, as I plow through this latest business trip. So kudos to Knuspr for that. One more reason NOT to get dressed in the morning!
Yesterday, Bill came back from walking the dogs and said our village was having some kind of event in the Dorfplatz. He looked it up on the town’s Facebook page, and discovered that for the first time since 2009, they were having a “Kerb” or “Kerwe” (depending on your preference). This is a regional term for a street or village fair.
They had a carousel for kids, a game booth, snacks, beer, wine, cakes, and live German music. They also had tractors pulling trailers that played music. I don’t know much about who organized the Kerb, or what it was about, but it looked like several youth clubs put it on. It was very well attended, so I have a feeling that it will be something they do more often.
One thing I really like about living in Breckenheim is that there are a lot of social events. They are family friendly, and promote community. And, as a foreigner, I never feel unwelcome, even if we are “Ausländer“.
Below is a video I made of clips I took. I wasn’t very steady with the camera, because I didn’t want people to think I was focusing on them. I also took some photos…
Eight minutes of German style community fun!
I don’t know how much longer we’ll get to enjoy this community, but I really have enjoyed my stay here so far. I love this about living in Germany. I wish we could do stuff like this in the United States and not worry about idiots with guns or people getting violent over politics. We could learn a lot from the Germans.
On the third Saturday in September, Bill and I took some more art to Kunst-Schaefer in downtown Wiesbaden to get two new prints from Hungary framed, and have some other art re-framed. Bill picked up the finished projects a couple of days ago. Below are some photos of the results. The first photo is of our new Hungarian acquisitions. I always wish I’d bought more art when I get new stuff!
The above photo is of two sketches we bought from Dariusz Milinski in Jelena Gora, Poland, back in 2008. They were originally in platinum with beige matting and plastic, instead of glass. I’m not even sure if they were actual sketches or copies. But our experience buying them makes them pretty special to us. It’s nice to have them in new framing. I wish we could get back there and buy one of Milinski’s paintings. They are pretty amazing, even if he’s a bit of a nutter.
The ones in the middle are paintings we got in Vilnius, Lithuania, all done by the same lady. She was pretty happy when we bought her art. I am happy to see the paintings in new frames, although I wish I’d asked the picture framer to touch up the edges so they aren’t white. But I got some magic markers, so I can fix that issue without too much trouble. Sometimes being the daughter of a professional picture framer comes in handy.
On Friday night, we went to the wine stand. It was kind of cool outside, and the sky was a bit cloudy, but we had a great time. It was mainly because of that friendly German couple who always sit with us, even though we speak little German, and they speak little English. Google Translate is very helpful in that situation. At one point, the lady asked how long we’ve lived here. She probably wonders why I don’t speak better German. I do actually know a lot more than I used to, but it’s hard to speak in German. I have no one to practice with on a regular basis.
I told the lady that I can only sing in German. It’s a bit of a joke, because I did used to sing German songs a lot, when I was in my 20s. When you take voice lessons, that’s what happens. You learn songs by composers who wrote in German or Italian… or sometimes French and Latin.
She was curious about my musical pursuits, so I played a video from my YouTube channel. I chose this one, because the song is short, and I did a pretty decent job with it… Who doesn’t love Dolly Parton?
I think they were surprised…
She mentioned Breckenheim’s pop choir, led by our neighbor and the co-owner of our veterinarian practice, Dr. Konrad Blendinger, who is also a musician and songwriter. She was quick to tell me they do songs in English. I’ve seen them perform a few times. Dr. Blendinger has even written an original song about Breckenheim!
It would be fun to be in a pop choir… sometimes it’s hard to feel like a joiner, when you’re an outsider. But this couple is always so warm and welcoming to us. It makes me smile, knowing that there’s at least one local couple besides our landlord and immediate neighbors, who think we’re okay. 😁 I’m glad to meet locals in Wiesbaden, too. They’re more mature than some of the “friends” I made in Stuttgart.
Our town also just got a charging station for electric vehicles. Apparently, there was some controversy about this new development. I think they’re putting in a couple more stations at the Sportsplatz on the other side of town. Personally, I think it’s cool… just like I thought it was cool that they installed a public WC for events in the Dorfplatz. I love to see the community develop so people can have nice things. I wish Americans were more like this.
A wave of the future…
I took few photos at the wine stand, because it was kind of dark outside. I think there will be one more this year, but I’m not sure I’ll attend. Bill has to go to Bavaria again, so I’ll be alone when it happens. Maybe I’ll attend solo… but probably not. I like to teetotal when he’s not home. Besides, a lot of times, no one talks to us except the American pastor/lawyer who lives nearby. And she’s a very popular lady, so it’s not like she visits extensively. So, if I did go to the wine stand, it might not be much fun. I might get more out of watching political pundits on YouTube.
Anyway… it was a really nice time. Once again, I’m grateful to live in Breckenheim, which is a great little community with a good manager who makes sure the people are entertained. Bill says there’s a little fair going on at the Dorfplatz as I write this– something they haven’t done there since 2009. And there’s the Apple Fest in Wiesbaden, too, although I’m not sure if I want to go there. I probably should go, since I’m about to be lonely for three weeks. 🙁
But, on the other hand, I’m glad Bill has a job and is still getting paid to work. So, you gotta count your blessings where you find them, I guess. In other news… the vet called us while we were at the wine stand and told us Noyzi’s cytology report came back. He had a raw spot on his leg that we had tested for cancer. It was negative– he just has a bit of dermatitis. So that’s good news, too!
Yesterday, after spending Saturday at home, working on chores and stuff, Bill and I decided to attend Wiesbaden’s City Fest. We mostly decided to go to the fest because the weather was sunny and somewhat warm. I remembered attending it in 2019, but thanks to COVID and trips out of Wiesbaden in the following years after 2019, we never got a chance to visit again.
Yesterday, the festival was very well attended, with lots and lots of crowds. It took awhile to find a parking spot, and Bill was very grateful he had cameras on the Volvo. But we got out and walked around the fest for awhile. The main part of it was over by Wiesbaden’s artificial lake, and it included many of the same exhibits I remembered from 2019.
They had goats, sheep, cows, and ponies giving pony rides. There were a couple of groups providing live entertainment, and plenty of food stands, although there weren’t many places to sit down. It was also wall to wall people, without the walls!
I got some photos, although my phone was about dead…
I remember these from the last time we went to this festival.
I have to admit, we didn’t stay very long at the City Fest, because there were so many people there that it was hard to walk freely. There was also a lot of shrieking! Many kids were freaking out! It was still nice to see the exhibits, smell the food, and enjoy the farm animals. We even saw a lady from our village there. She smiled and said hello. And I saw a charming scene, as two women were walking with an elderly lady on the sidewalk, only to be met by a gentleman, who took the place of one of the women and gallantly offered the elderly lady his arm. It was heartwarming to watch him help her to their car, which he had helpfully brought up from the parking garage for her.
Bill and I crossed the street as the strains to “You’re Gonna Miss My Loving” by Lou Rawls played for a fashion show, complete with runway/catwalk. It was then that I realized that it was a “shopping Sunday”, meaning that some stores were open for business. No wonder the city was so crowded.
In the Marktplatz, there were more food stalls and a big stage was set up for a band. Although there was more space there, it was still crowded and low on seating. I also noticed that in front of the Marktkirche, there was a huge hole excavated. I’m not sure what is going on there, but it looks like major construction that might mess up future festivals until it’s fixed.
We decided to have lunch at the Les Deux Messieurs, a chain French bakery/cafe near the Marktplatz. It was nice out, so we sat outside. I kind of regretted that after a few minutes, because it was chilly and breezy. We had the same problem the first time we dined there a few months. Nevertheless, we both had quiche– Atlantique for Bill, and Lorraine for me, with side salads and beer. And then for dessert, I had a chocolate eclair, and Bill had a chocolate tart with vanilla ice cream and berries. It was a nice lunch! Next time, I’ll bring a sweater.
After lunch, we decided to go home and hang out with the dogs. The French late lunch was enough to tide us over until this morning. I’m glad we went to the City Fest, and grateful to live in a place where these events take place, and they are reasonably safe and fun for the whole family, even if parking and seating are in short supply!
On Wednesday of this week, we’ll be packing up to go to Switzerland again. I’m looking forward to the change of scenery. Bill will be having two more interviews for the C.G. Jung Institute, as he tries to gain admission to the program. I’m pretty sure Bill is a shoo in for admittance to the Jung Institute, but I could be wrong. So I hope for the best… and you can expect that next week, I’ll be writing all about it!
This past weekend was pretty busy. On Saturday, I finished my Budapest series, we dropped off some art at Kunst-Schaefer to be framed, and we attended the annual Oktoberfest our village holds. I bought a couple of prints in Budapest, plus we had some other art that needed new frames. The proprietor recognized us before he even saw us. He heard Bill’s voice and handled us personally. I think we give him a lot of business, plus he likes to talk about Donald Trump.
Yesterday, we went to lunch at Villa im Tal, which is one of my favorite local restaurants. The weather was gorgeous on Saturday, and kind of moody and weird yesterday. Fall is now upon us, and the temperatures are fluctuating. Last night, I even closed the balcony door, mainly because I’m tired of being bitten by mosquitos. They are particularly bad this year, and I have a bunch of itchy, painful bites from the blood sucking pests.
I remember earlier years in Germany, when by mid Germany, it would be decidedly chilly. This year, the weather has not been chilly, but it’s definitely pleasant. Saturday’s weather was a bit warm, but otherwise perfect. Some people wore Trachten to the Oktoberfest. I have a dirndl that could use a wearing, but I don’t know if it fits anymore. Menopause is a bitch.
I took some photos of the Oktoberfest celebration. It was very small, and they changed the location at the last minute. It was going to be in our Dorfplatz, which is very close to where we live, but they ended up relocating it to the place where the chicken raising club meets. There’s a German name for it, of course, but I don’t remember what it is offhand. They had beer, wine schorle, water, and other stuff, plus sausages, pork knuckles, and other delights. We didn’t eat anything at the fest, but we drank lots of beer.
A cool looking house in our neighborhood.
While we were there, after we were greeted by the city manager, only one guy spoke to us. He was a very pleasant older man who came alone and was hoping for company. I had never seen him before and wondered if maybe he was a widower. It was awkward, though, because our German ist nicht so gut. He finally excused himself. Before he left, he came over and said goodbye.
I thought he was nice and felt bad that I couldn’t have a good conversation with him. But then, as we were leaving, we ran into a very friendly German couple who always talk to us, even though they don’t speak English! Every time we run into them, there’s an enthusiastic greeting!
On Sunday, we had our lunch date at Villa im Tal. I even wore a new dress. When we walked in, the wait staff immediately welcomed us warmly. There’s one lady who works there who always greets us by name and is so nice. They invited us to sit down, and the male half of the wait staff immediately knew to bring us sparkling water.
The meal was excellent, as usual, but it was a little difficult for me, because many of the selections had mushrooms or truffles in them. I get that it’s fall, and a lot of people love fungus, but it’s the one thing I can’t eat under any circumstances due to embarrassing childhood trauma, and the fact that I just don’t like them at all. Even if I didn’t have a phobia, I don’t think I’d eat mushrooms. I don’t like earthy flavors.
Anyway… I had a delightful pumpkin soup and Iberico pork, which Bill had on our last visit. The soup was so good– I am always impressed by Villa im Tal’s soups, which are velvety smooth and packed with flavor. It came with a tasty Parmesan “cracker”. The pork was very tender and delicious, and came with ratatouille and a potato pancake with chorizo sausage.
Bill had Tyrolean ham as a starter, and ox cheeks with truffled celery puree. The wait staff brought out extra bread for Bill’s appetizer, which was pretty filling. I was glad I had the soup!
Bill ordered a lovely bottle of Tuscan wine to go with our lunch. The waiter praised his choice, saying that it was a popular entry on the wine list. I enjoyed the wine very much, but then, when it comes to wine, I’m not super hard to please.
House aperitif, which comes with or without booze.There was a large family celebration going on yesterday.Pumpkin soup… God, this was good.
We had dessert, which kind of put us just over the edge of fullness. I had a tart made with Pink Lady apples, a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream, and berries. It also had a couple of dollops of chocolate mousse. The tart was very good, but I think I would have been just as happy with some chocolate mousse!
Bill had vanilla ice cream with pumpkin oil and toasted pumpkin seeds. He said it seemed odd to put oil on ice cream, but the combination worked beautifully. We didn’t need any more food for the rest of the day.
I got up to go to the bathroom, and when I came back, Bill had an amused look on his face. He said the credit card machine wasn’t working and he didn’t have enough euros to pay the bill. So, because we are “regulars”, the waiter just took our address and got Bill’s email. He said they’d send him a bill and he could do a bank transfer. If they hadn’t known us, Bill would have had to go to an ATM! He did have enough euros to give the waiter a “Trinkgeld” (tip).
I’d say Wiesbaden is starting to really feel like home. This is where we’ve lived the longest as a married couple. In my lifetime, it’s the place where I’ve lived the second longest length of time in one stint. And yet, I feel like I don’t know Wiesbaden that well, mainly because of the pandemic, and the two years we spent holed up in our house, avoiding the virus and face mask mandates. We spent a total of six years in the Stuttgart area, but in two different stints and two different towns. I feel like I know Stuttgart a lot better.
Anyway… it’s a really nice feeling to be so warmly welcomed at a restaurant, and even nicer to know that they trust us to pay them when their credit card machine malfunctions. I know I’m not German, but Germany, and its people, have been welcoming… for the most part (we won’t discuss the ex landlady… 😈). We’ve been talking about a move to Italy, but maybe we should just stay here… if they’ll have us, anyway. 😁
Well, that about does it for the story of our weekend. Time to move on to heavier matters on the main blog. See you next post!
The weather was so gorgeous yesterday afternoon, that Bill and I decided to go to Wiesbaden and enjoy the last day of the Rheingau Weinwoche. As I mentioned last weekend, Sunday is our favorite day to go to this fest. It’s usually more laid back and low key than on Friday nights or Saturdays. I’m not sure what the fest is like during the work week. Our usual parking garage was “besetzt” (full) when we arrived, so we parked at the Kurhaus, which had plenty of parking.
We enjoyed a snack and some wines… I had a little quiche with bacon and garlic, and Bill had cheese bread sticks. We listened to the strains of live music and some American guy in a Nickelback t-shirt proselytising to a multicultural group. It was kind of annoying, because there was a smoker in the group, and when she finished her cigarette, she put her dirty ashtray at the table next to ours.
The carillon player at the Marktkirche was rocking out on what sounded like a very interesting cover of “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay. I love this about Germany… the churches are pretty secular.
This was a surprising music choice for a Sunday… I thought it was kind of cool, though.
We didn’t stay a long time at the fest. It was somewhat crowded, and Bill was not wanting to drink a lot of wine, since we drove. Still, it was a beautiful day with a perfect temperature– about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. I got a few more photos, just in case it turns out to be our last year getting to go to this particular festival…
We really have been fortunate to get to live here… Wiesbaden is a lovely place to live. Not that I didn’t enjoy Stuttgart, too… although the traffic was worse, and the local culture was a bit different.
I’m not sure what we’re going to do next weekend. There will probably be another wine fest somewhere close, or maybe we’ll visit another town. The possibilities are endless, and we really should get out more. Anyway, a new work week has started for Bill. Hopefully, it will be a productive one.
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.
I really enjoy Wiesbaden, if only because of the fests!
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.
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