BAD DURKHEIM WURSTMARKT

MY HUSBAND IS HOME!!!!!  I know it might seem overwhelmingly "smooshy" of me, but I am glad to have my husband back home with me. I think it's crazy how ingrained in each other's lives you get... It also allowed me to further develop the "leave-ee theory". I am 100% certain that it is astronomically harder for the leave-ee than the leave-er when two people have to part ways. The leave-er gets to go off on amazing adventures and do things out of the ordinary (need I mention the photographs you get to take?). Meanwhile, the leave-ee has to go about his/her ordinary routine without the other person. Which means carrying eight bags of groceries from the commissary or six over-sized boxes of wedding gifts up nine stories now becomes a daunting task. I'll have you know I made a husband pillow substitute on his side of the bed. The amass of dana-shaped pillows was surprisingly comforting. All this is to say, it's nice to have someone to hug everyday... and I'm super proud of the work he did for his shop. I want to do a blog post of his photos from the trip. The stories are epic. Being lost in the outskirts of Budapest with a messed up GPS and an iphone with 13% battery left... and the sun is going down fast. Yep. That will be an epic post. Stay tuned!

Today is horribly overcast, rainy, cold, and gloomy. About par for the course as far as Germany is concerned. So I figured this was the perfect opportunity for me to dive into the beautiful end of summer days photographs I took a while back. I got behind in posting again last week because D was out of town. I had the car all week (insert audible gasp here) and therefore became overly ambitious of the amount of things I wanted to accomplish. I know you're all shocked. The good news is that most of the things I planned to do, were started if not completed. The bad news is that I did not touch my computer at all last week save catching up on my favorite blue-eyed ex con on White Collar. This is also a great opportunity for me to give a shout out to Jen Wall, who is back in Lubbock, TX to stay. I miss you SO much and looking back through these photos makes me realize there are definite adventures in store in our future. They just might be a little farther apart time-wise.

So the festival..... I probably mentioned a while back that we live almost smack dab in the middle of the wine trail in southwestern Germany. All my life I have always wanted to experience a vineyard where there are grapes as far as the eye can see. This is the place where my dreams come true. Because not only are there more vineyards than I know what to do with (to the point where I'm like "What is that? oh... more vineyards. neat.")but because the vineyards go up the side of steep mountain like hills. So you can be in a valley and have vineyards all around you in 360 degree panorama technicolor. Bad Durkheim is a city about forty minutes from our apartment. Their winefest is the Oktoberfest equivalent but with wine instead of beer. Believe it or not the festival or wurstmarkt is 570 years old and going strong. So naturally D and I had to investigate. Jen came with us to soak up as much of German culture as she could before heading back to good 'ole Texas. We had a blast!!! We ended up actually taking the train this time, instead of driving which meant that we could ALL indulge in as much German wine as we wanted. And taste we did... I would like to bring up the great Riesling debate of 2012. I've had Rieslings all my life growing up because they're my father's favorite. Dad always drank it. (yes, ALWAYS.) and in turn, he would give me some to taste.... and I always felt it was too sweet for me. It's what drew me to reds in the first place. So imagine my shock and disbelief when I get to Germany (the land known for Rieslings, much to my chagrin) and the Rieslings are GOOD. Great even... Not to dry and not too sweet. I'm in awe. Even my husband, who is strictly a Red-wine-o, liked them enough to buy several bottles. You know what they say... when in Rome.... So without further chatter, here's our Bad Durkheim adventure!

Dana ordered a half a chicken to snack on. I loved that this was on option. For six euro you can eat to your medieval hearts content.

Photo courtesy of Jen Wall at From Jens Lens

Photo courtesy of Jen Wall at From Jens Lens

Photo courtesy of Jen Wall at From Jens Lens

The end. Talk about a great adventure. I adore how much wine flows through this part of the country. The train ride home was long, but good conversation helped the time pass swiftly. Jen, your candy apple is still in my refrigerator. Though you'd get a kick out of that. I kept forgetting to bring it and I didn't have the heart to throw it away. The festivals now are transitioning into fall. Pumpkins and gourds are making an appearance in a way that cannot be ignored. Hopefully that will show in the posts coming this week. So long Summer.... HELLOOOOOOOooooo FALL!

 

My goal is to finish everything I didn't finish last week. Sorry for the cryptic secrecy, but there will be before and after shots of the projects and I don't want to spoil anything! Lots of painting and sanding though.... I head to Otterberg tentatively on Thursday of this week. D and I are potentially heading to an apple festival this weekend! After being so busy last week it will be nice to take a little break and catch you guys up. Hope everyone is having a beautiful Monday! Love you!!!