Weinwanderung
Sunday afternoon we spent the day "wine wandering" through vineyards and tasting wine. We took Gizmo on his first train ride to where we would start our trek. The Esslingen Winery, in the medieval town of Esslingen, holds this festival every year. Their vineyards line the hillsides overlooking the town. It was a beautiful sunny 85 degree day, so I think everyone that lives within an hour of the town came out for the wine.
We started out at the bottom of the vineyards to buy our wine glasses that hang from our necks (very convenient!). You then follow a path through the vineyards to six different stations. At each station you can buy different wines and snacks. There are picnic tables set up at each station, but you have to get pretty lucky to snag one of those!
When we got lucky enough to find a table at the 3rd station, a German family sat down with us. First, it was just the two parents that sat down. They were probably in their 70s. The wife didn't speak any English, and the husband spoke very little English. That didn't stop him from talking! He kept telling us that he learned English 65 years ago in school. After that, we really didn't understand much of anything...he always started with, "You help me!" His wife kept laughing and shaking her head. I think it was the wine and the heat! Luckily, their two daughters came and sat down with us. They spoke English well enough to have a good conversation. One of the daughters is taking a trip to a ranch in Arizona. We told her to prepare to be hot! The family was so nice. They kept filling our glasses with wine and feeding Gizmo under the table. (We didn't have the heart to tell them no!)
We made our way to the last station and were pretty tired at that point. The trail was up and down hills going in one direction, so of course in order to get back to the train station we had to walk the entire length of the trail. Kyle got on Google maps and estimated that we walked about 8.5-9 km. I know that's not a lot to you marathon runners out there, but you normally don't drink wine when you run!
Tomorrow we'll finally be moving into our house! Our stuff won't arrive for another couple of weeks, but we'll have a little bit of loaner furniture to hold us over. We're very anxious to feel like we actually live here instead of living out of a hotel, and Gizmo is really excited for his first fenced in yard!
We started out at the bottom of the vineyards to buy our wine glasses that hang from our necks (very convenient!). You then follow a path through the vineyards to six different stations. At each station you can buy different wines and snacks. There are picnic tables set up at each station, but you have to get pretty lucky to snag one of those!
When we got lucky enough to find a table at the 3rd station, a German family sat down with us. First, it was just the two parents that sat down. They were probably in their 70s. The wife didn't speak any English, and the husband spoke very little English. That didn't stop him from talking! He kept telling us that he learned English 65 years ago in school. After that, we really didn't understand much of anything...he always started with, "You help me!" His wife kept laughing and shaking her head. I think it was the wine and the heat! Luckily, their two daughters came and sat down with us. They spoke English well enough to have a good conversation. One of the daughters is taking a trip to a ranch in Arizona. We told her to prepare to be hot! The family was so nice. They kept filling our glasses with wine and feeding Gizmo under the table. (We didn't have the heart to tell them no!)
We made our way to the last station and were pretty tired at that point. The trail was up and down hills going in one direction, so of course in order to get back to the train station we had to walk the entire length of the trail. Kyle got on Google maps and estimated that we walked about 8.5-9 km. I know that's not a lot to you marathon runners out there, but you normally don't drink wine when you run!
Tomorrow we'll finally be moving into our house! Our stuff won't arrive for another couple of weeks, but we'll have a little bit of loaner furniture to hold us over. We're very anxious to feel like we actually live here instead of living out of a hotel, and Gizmo is really excited for his first fenced in yard!