Bad Durkheim Wine Fest 2015

Yesterday we went to Bad Durkheim for the wurstmarkt and wine fest. This was the 599th year for this festival. There were over 300+ kinds of wine to choose from, an endless variety of foods, lots of rides/games, and lots of booths to shop at. I had a blast when I went last year and knew Rob was going to love it this year. It is the largest wine festival in the world and I will GREATLY miss it when we're back in the states :( It's like Oktoberfest for wine.

When we first arrived it was before 11am and lots of the booths hadn't opened up yet. We wandered around and looked at some of the booths and things wasting time till it was wine-thirty.

Rob and I got one of these like caramel/chocolate covered pastry ball things. It almost tasted like a crisper doughnut batter? Super delicious.

we got one of the ones here on the left end.

After some wandering we all grouped back together to stop at our first wine tent. A nice halbtrocken to start the morning was what I wanted. (Thats a "half dry")

Then we wandered more, found some more yummy foods, and another wine tent to sit down and relax in. Time for my first (and only) .5L glass.

we attempted to keep this glass but, sadly, it was broken in my book bag
by the time we got home from the festival.

but instead we kept these two glasses!

Rob, Megan, Adam, and I ended up riding this ride (the one at the end). It was lots of fun! I love rides and roller coasters so I'm always happen when I get to ride them at the fests.

Rob punched stuff and hit hammers on things and won me a
fake rose :)

yay for riding rides!

All in all it was a fun day. We were there about 11am-7pm. I got lost a few times attempting to find an ATM (which wasn't lucrative as it was out of money :/). But it was fun. We might even go again this coming Saturday. Probably in a smaller group (since sometimes have 10-15 people gets overwhelming) but who knows. Yay for another productive weekend in Germany.

Bernkastle Kues Wine Fest 2015

On September 6th we went on a wine fest trip with the BCSC (Baumholder Community Spouses' Club). The trip was to a town about an hour from where we live called Bernkastle Kues. The festival is a decent size and has a parade on Sunday (the day we went) and it was lots of fun. The bus ride there wasn't bad and didn't take long at all.

When first arrived it was around 1130am and we had until 2pm for the parade to start. Rob was super hungry and started off the festivities with cheese spatzle (supper yummy)! It was like almost hashbrowns with a cheese sauce? Super delicious.

These pictures are from the bridge where the parade would later take place. Great views.

Bernkastle Kues is a very pretty city right on the river.

After snagging some food and wine to start us off we all decided to venture off a bit through the fest and find a crooked house that Nora had mentioned. We walked through a few more parts of the festival on the way there and came across some great live music.

I mean what kind of instrument is that?!

The area where the music was being played was super adorable as well.

and we found the crooked house!

We also stumbled upon this super tiny door - totally Nora sized. The markings to the right show the years the Moselle river flooded and how high the water was in town.

The town was super cute and had wine vines growing everywhere.

Next we headed back towards the fest in search of more yumminess (of both liquid and solid varieties).

everyone loved our awesome club wine tumblers!

plus as we all know by now - no fest is complete without
potato pancakes. These came with a cranberry jam.

Next, it was time to head back to the bridge to snag out spot for the parade with the rest of the group.

 

After the parade we walked around a bit more - drank some more wine (of course), snagged some food and headed back to the bus. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

I was super proud of picking and ordering these mugs for the club (if you can't tell)