ADAM & UTE (the adventure...part 2 of 3)...WINE COUNTRY...

Adam and Ute took us for a "surprise" day.  We were told that they planned some surprises for all of us and we would have to just go along for the ride.  That sounded like a fun day to me!

We piled into Adam's car and drove through Bonn.  We stopped at Marchenwald (Magic Wood) in the town of Bad Breisig.  It is an enchanted fairytale forest built in the early thirties and is located in a wooded area near the Rhine river.   We walked (Christopher ran of course) along a path that lead to 11 different little "houses" that had a scene out of Grimm's fairy tales.  The kids could press a button that would animate the figures inside and they would tell a part of the story.  So the cool thing about it was that it was TOTALLY CREEPY- the figures were hand painted and wooden with these freaky faces.  I am not sure what was creepier- the fact that the Grimm fairy tales are a bit off anyway or the fact that all the figures (even the princesses had the same deep male voice).  The walk through the woods was nice too!

Our next stop was the the Ahrweiler district of Germany.  The Rhine river forms the eastern border of the district. It is filled with picturesque towns and beautiful mountains.  Ahrweiler is especially well known for its vineyards and wineries. Wine growing and trading has been going on in Ahrweiler for over 1,000 years. The little towns are all surrounded by mountains of vineyards...that's right MOUNTAINS- they grow their grapes on the mountains so literally you are driving through a valley surrounded by vinelands reaching up to the top of these mountains.  It is incredible to see and even more incredible to realized that people have to hand pick the grapes on these steep mountains. 




We went to a restaurant in the middle of one of these vineyards called Forsters Wein and Terrassen.  This restaurant looked so amazing- something out of Dr. Seuss.  The food was DELICIOUS- real delicious German food. I was so delighted just by this journey- but that was not the end of the fabulous surprises yet to come.

Our next stop was at  Mayschoss-Altenahr winery (this was MY surprise! heheehe).  This  winery was started in 1868.  We took the tour into the wine cellar.  It was such an interesting and enlightening tour.  I learned so much about what makes a great wine (and tasted some too :)).  It was so wonderful.  Christopher seemed to absorb the tour as well- now I am fearful that his second grade essay on "What I learned during the summer" is going to be about the details of wine production.  I am amazed- this child can tell you exactly how wine is made from vine to bottle.  Should I worry?  (heheheeheh)  Will there be a parent/teacher conference in my future?

Our last stop was at this extremely long slide for kids.  It was such a wonderful surprise for the kids.  They blasted their way down this slick slide with Adam three times with totally glee.  What a wonderful way to end this day!  Oh but WAIT- there was one more little surprise....the kids were amazed as Adam drove the car onto a ferry to take us across the Rhine River to the next town.

Adam and Ute were so wonderful to give this great day to us.  We were all so exhausted at the end of the day (not too exhausted for some red wine and cheese of course!).

The next day we had a totally new adventure- will blog that tomorrow.