Riquewihr & Bernkastel-Kues

Until today, you’ve probably never heard of these two towns. You probably didn’t even realize they were the names of towns. Those are the places where I spent this weekend. Yesterday, I drove through the vineyards of the Alsace Region of France to visit the picturesque town of Riquewihr. It was a delightful little village, but it rained most of the day and my day was somewhat uneventful. I did a lot of driving, since Riquewihr is 2½ hours from my hotel, so I had planned to take it easy today, finish the novel I’ve been reading and maybe visit Kusel, a small town near by which was having a festival this weekend.

I headed down to the hotel lobby for breakfast and ran into two co-workers who told me that they were leaving in 15 minutes to go to the Weinfest der Mittelmosel (wine festival of the middle Mosel) in Bernkastel-Kues, which is about an hour drive from our hotel and is in the middle of the Mosel wine region in Germany (on the Mosel River). I almost didn’t go, but decided “you only live once” and opted to check out the wine festival with them. I am so glad that I did! The town was delightful, and the festival seemed to be a big deal, judging by the number of people in attendance. The town is surrounded by vineyards, which produce mostly Riesling wines. There was a parade that lasted 2+ hours and which was dedicated to celebrating wine, numerous booths selling wine and bratwurst (you can expect this EVERYWHERE), and many of the stores in the town were open. Throughout the day, small bands walked around playing their tunes and stopping in front of one of the weinstubes (wine bars) or biergartens (beer gardens) to play for the crowd and then receive free drinks. Good food, good wine, good music and a festive atmosphere. When the end of the day came, none of us wanted to leave.

On another note, I heard from my renter on Friday and he told me that he was back at the house and that it looks good. He said that it looks like the only damage is one board down on the fence line! I’m so excited about this news, especially since it’s the first news I’ve gotten about my house since Gustav hit. Of course, power is still out and I’m sure I have a stinky frig, but I have some great friends who offered to clean it out for me! Now, let’s brace ourselves for the possibility of Ike…