Bad Dürkheim Wine Fest 2014

So, lets try this again. I wrote this WHOLE post and then, thinking it was a second draft, I deleted it. LORDY. so.. hopefully the second time is the winner!

On the 13th I went to a third wine fest in a row- Bad Dürkheim. Three other girlfriends and I went with a group from Baumholder on a bus. It was about an hour and a half ride from here, not too far. But TOTALLY worth it. Bad Dürkheim is one of the largest wine fests in Germany. Think huge American festival. Lots of booths with games, food, and alcohol. Big tents that sold wine and had rows and rows of tables to sit at. Oh, and lots of rides. They had a big ferris wheel, one like drop zone, a haunted house, and a few more. It was a great time and I DEFINITELY plan on going again next year. I know Rob will have a blast. I mean a festival with .5L glasses of wine? That's my kinda party.

Now for the pictures.

This is the first main street we walked down. Rows and rows of fun! :D

This was the HUGE ferris wheel they had. I
wanted to ride it but it was 5 euro to ride it. >no bueno<

huge may have been an understatement.

Then came the first glasses of wine! .5L of deliciousness

and i got to keep the glass :D

This was the wine list from the first tent. 

I ordered #3, mildly sweet.

Me and my first glass!

and Jenny with hers! :D

This was the view inside that first tent. So many people enjoying the day on rows and rows of benches.

This is the tent on the opposite side. 

After we got the wine we started walking around. It was time to decide on some food for lunch. We were gonna be there for about 5 hours and it was lunch time :D (I already knew potato pancakes were in my future)

This was one of the first food places we passed. No idea what was on rotisserie back
there but mannnn it looked yummy!

One of the next booths we walked past was full of dental/medical tools. Super weird for a festival booth. I needed a photo for proof. "I'll take a glass of wine, a brat, and a metal mouth mirror please".

 
Here is the drop zone looking ride. Again, sadly 5 euro. Wine or rides? Wine won.

Then, before too much wine-ing occurred, we had to take photos for proof that we were there.

Kelly, Katie, and Jenny

Kelly, Jenny, and I

Then we did our next wine stop.

There were so many rides, a lot more than I thought there would be. None of the fests from the previous two weeks were like this with so many rides. 

Katie and I

And finally we found our potato pancakes!!

Katie's was served with applesauce (yummy)

and mine was served with a garlic sauce.

Here some of us stopped for more wine. I'm pretty sure Kelly didn't know the photo was happening.

A super adorable picture of Katie and Kelly.

This picture, I swear I'm not weird taking a picture of a kid but um WHITE cotton candy?

Next, these are photos of a super odd wall in between one of the festival sides and one of the parking lots.  The wall was a type of water wall. Those dark sections of the wall were almost spongy looking and had water trickling down them. I'm not sure of the wall's exact function but it was very intriguing.

Next, another wine stop.

One thing I love about wine is that it helps to strike up intellectual conversations. One of the ones we had talked about was languages and cultures and how they differ from country to country. That then lead to sign language and how that varies from country to country. At the next booth Kelly and Jenny asked the guy working about certain signs they knew and what they meant.

not sure what was happening here but i love the picture of everyone pointing at him lol

Next up was trying to get a picture of the four of us together. Thanks to a nice stranger for the photo credit. 

A 4 person selfie? #winning.

In between the last few pictures and our dinner time. We played a balloon dart game and had some more great conversations with random people. Everyone was super nice!

Lastly, it was dinner time. I had a brat and some pommes. I do not remember where
our fake roses came from though lol.

This fry guy was at the shop where we got our brats for dinner. He
was the same as the fry guy I posted a picture of from the Cochem wine fest.

After we snagged dinner it was time to head back to the bus. Oh and take some more last minute pictures. 

Kelly and I took two of these wooden crates. They were empty crates that had
wine in em. Not sure what I'm going to do with mine yet.

We had a great time. Would have been more fun if I didn't loose my footing getting onto the bus and sprain my wrist trying to catch myself. Other than that it was fun and I know I'll be coming back! Next time I'll make sure to ride some rides! Wine fest season is definitely a favorite of mine.

Bernkastel Kues Weinfest 2014

So, continuing in the same fashion as last week: ANOTHER WINE FEST!! Last Saturday I went with the BCSC (Baumholder Community Spouses Club) to the Bernkastel Kues Weinfest. They were taking a bus there and a lot of people I knew were going on the bus so it was a great time! The city was about an 1.5hr ride. Pulling up to the festival the traffic got worse so I was able to snag a picture out the window of the vineyards. So many "grape trees" as Danette called them.

The river really is super beautiful. Pretty city.

 
When we got there there were already lots of people there. We snagged some wine and walked around for about an hour waiting for the parade to start. 

my first glass of wine, and the little wine glass I kept from this festival

so many people!

and so many brats! how very German.

and half meter brats too?

Once it got closer to the parade starting we all headed back to the bridge to get settled in a good spot. They give out free wine during the parade and you gotta be close to the street to get any. The parade was lots of fun and between the group of us we all took a LOT of pictures.

Katie and I

Lorinda and her husband

Cynthia and her super sweet plastic wine glass. We brought plastic cups for the wine
from the parade but didn't end up using them much. The wine pour-ers preferred the wine fest glasses.

Jenna, Cynthia, and Lorinda

yay wine!

Robin is sharing her wine with Debbi, how friendly.

Each winery had a "float" of sorts. They all showcased the years
queens of their winery.

first time ever seeing a stick band

more wine queens!

Debbi and Robin

Cynthia and Amme

Jessica, Melanie, and I

such cuties.

Love me some Cynthia; she kinda rocks.

I love how everyone is starring at us. Crazy Americans.
-who knows why we all shrunk for the photo op-

one of the free wine pours in action. Why aren't there more festivals like this in the states?

Jenna takes the best pictures.

Jenna, Jess, and I

Robin, Debbi, and I
Our model faces. Ow Oww.

one of my favorites, look at that face.

:D

We started photo op-ing with all the people in the parade.

a child spanking on the float? of course, why not?

love her face here! such happiness.

by the end of the parade we accumulated these 6 bottles. Since there were so many of us
instead of pouring us each glasses all the time they kept just giving us bottles.

Robin and Jenna's husbands. Such a good little photo op idea, it was cute.

After the parade we all walked around the fest a bit more. Snagged more wine and some yummy food. I had the best potato pancakes! With like a sweet syrupy sauce? super good.

Wisteria and all of her awesome babyness had to
enjoy a super huge brat.

Ginormous brats galore.

both of the bottles I bought were from Zimmerman, number 5 and 7

I love how there are always full bands. There were some at the Cochem fest too.

Jenna and I- love this picture of us!

and this one, love the happy German guy.

We all had such a great time. As we headed to the bus Jess and I snagged some ice cream too. Such a good time. I love wine fest season. I can't wait for Rob to be back so he can enjoy the festivals too! I slept the whole way back to Baumholder and then went to bed super early when I got home.

In addition to all the wine-ing, I've been SO SWAMPED with school. This semester definitely is keeping me VERY busy. Lots of chapters to read and lots of notes to take. I applied for two jobs yet but haven't heard anything. At least no one else has heard anything either but I'm hoping I hear something soon. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted! For now it's off to bed. Tomorrow is the next wine fest for me - Bad Dürkheim Wine Festival- one of the biggest in the Rheinland Pfalz area (the state of Germany we live in).