Fünf von Mai

That’s Cinco de Mayo in German; 5 of May. That also happens to be Jeff’s birthday so we wanted to get out and do a little B-Day/Cinco de Mayo celebrating last Saturday. Since we’re in Germany we figured we’d start with a local Maifest (May Festival); a celebration of the arrival of spring. 

So here we are in Lanstuhl on a dreary, overcast day with light rain showers off and on.  Not a great day to celebrate the arrival of spring.  But, regardless, PROST!!

The weather conditions had put a real damper on the festivities. As you can see from the midway here we’re just about the only people at this fest.

Even the Deutscher favorite, bumper cars, were parked. All right spring celebration over.

OK, time to get to the Cinco de Mayo part of the day. Also in Landstuhl is a new Mexican restaurant called Tequilas. It used to be an Irish Pub so this building must be particularly well suited for some sort of ethnic operation. Interesting situation though, old, half-timbered building with a Mexican restaurant in it.

Birthday boy with margaritas.

Birthday boy with new Mexican friend.

Speaking of friends. Jeff and I were invited to an A-10/Cinco de Mayo/Birthday party Saturday evening at the Tina and Keebs house. Here you can see that presidents aren’t the only ones that have sexy blondes sing them “Happy Birthday.”

Cajun, Jeff and Magneto. That’s Magnito’s sexy blonde.

Tina was so nice to make some tasty birthday cupcakes. That's Nicole lighting the candles.

Jeff with cupcake, Kloster Andechs Doppelbock Dunkle (he got a whole case from Tina and Keebs for a gift) under a Bitburger umbrella.

So the beer and tequila did flow and it’s time to dance. What better way to do that than with a little help from Wii. Here’s Beth, Nicole and Erika.

Now the guys had to give it try too.  Magneto, Jeff and Crater.  Their arms should all be in the same direction and, of course, none of them are.

Here’s the video. It’s not pretty.

So Fünf von Mai turned out to be a really good day. Spring not so great but the friends and fun were extra special!!

Burg Nanstein

"Hey, let’s take a drive to the local castle ruin." Now, that’s something you’re not going to hear very often in the States. Well, that’s exactly what Jeff said last Sunday and, since it was such a great spring afternoon, that’s just what we did. The closest castle ruin to us is in Landstuhl, Burg Nanstein. Landstuhl is just south, across the A-6 autobahn, from Ramstein Air Base and a 15 minute drive from our house.

Burg Nanstein sits high on a ridge overlooking the town. It was built on the orders of the Holy Roman Emperor in 1162 to reinforce the defenses of the local area.

From the center of Landstuhl you can see Burg Nanstein high above.

Jeff and I first visited Burg Nanstein around 25 years ago so we thought it would be interesting to see what had changed. One significant change is the nice gasthaus and beer garden that’s been built since our last visit.

Here’s me at our beer garden table with Ramstein Air Base in the background.

Closer view of Ramstein. Here you can see the large air mobility ramp and the new multi-story billeting building. Behind billeting is the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center, the KMCC, of which billeting is a part, and includes a huge BX, food court, and concession vendors. This beer garden is a great place to sit and watch the arrivals and departures at Ramstein.

Landstuhl from Burg Nanstein. This is looking to the north toward Trier and the Eiffel region. Behind us is the Pfalz Forest that lays to the south of Kaiserslautern.

Another thing that’s changed is that now there’s an admission fee to get inside the castle. We passed on that because you can see most it from the outside. Here are a few images of Burg Nanstein.

As with all things German, there are rules and expected behavior, or there will be consequences for any "irregularity."

Well, that was last Sunday afternoon.  Very leisurely visit an 850 year old castle.  That's hard to do in Texas.  Cheers!!

Kallstadt

Back to the Deutsche Weinstraße (German Wine Road) last Saturday. This time we went to Kallstadt, a small town of 1200 people just north of Bad Durkheim, right on the Weinstraße. Kallstadt is a typical vineyard community with vintners lining the main street of the town. In addition to being known for its fine wines, Kallstadt is also famous for its saumagen, so much so that at least one of the town’s vintners uses that term on it’s wine labels, Kallstadter Saumagen.

You’re probably wondering what saumagen might be. Well, saumagen is a processed meat patty, very popular in this part of Germany that’s made from pig stomach and that’s exactly what saumagen translates to in English, pig stomach. Saumagen and mustard on a German roll; Jeff likes it, not me.

Kallstadt’s wine festival was called "Probe der 100 Weine" which essentially means, Checkout the 100 Wines.

Here’s Tina, Jeff and Keebs. We’re into the first of the 100.

Kallstadt set up their 100 wines in the town’s gymnasium. They had four stations; each one served twenty-five of the 100 wines. The first station, 1-25, at the front of the picture below, served all red wines; Portugieser, Dornfelder, Spätburgunder and more.  You'll also notice that the red wine station isn't too busy.  Germany reds aren't that renowned.  The rest of the stations were all whites; Riesling, Weißburgunder, Silvaner, Scheurebe and other local favorites.

The Kallstadt gymnasium.

Here’s where we set up our wine probe operation. They provided us with nice pamphlets that listed all 100 wines that we could sample. Jeff said the first wine he was going to try was #69, whatever it was; turned out to be a Riesling Kabinett Trocken (dry). In the end we tried 20 of the 100 wines; 15 white, 5 red.

Like I’ve mentioned before, in Germany, if you throw a festival you gotta have at least one carnival ride and Kallstadt certainly did. Here’s me with one of them.

Anyone for some saumagen? Jeff had one, Tina and Keebs a bratwurst and I had a serving of pommes frites.

Here’s one of the little, cute tractors that they use in the vineyards and this one is towing an equally cute trailer of some sort.

A closer look inside the cute trailer reveals a cozy bunk. Guess this must be for some late night vineyard work of some sort; nudge, nudge, say no more.

Couple Kallstadt scenes. Cute German bank.

Standing on the Deutsche Weinstraße in Kallstadt.

Well, we drove back to Kaiserslautern and stopped at our favorite beer garden, Bremerhof, for an evening meal.  Jeff had the Wildschweinbraten (marinated pork cutlet) with two Knodel (starchy dumplins) and German salad, I had two bratwurst, mash potatoes and saurkraut.  Bremerhof always delivers when it comes to food . . . and beer.

Nice, simple, fun wine festival. See how we're easing into the season. Half hour drive each way. Sample a few good wines, eat some good food, spend time with good friends, all makes for a good day. Ching-ching!!

In Search of Rauchbier

There's this beer that I'm particularly found of, Rauchbier (Smoke beer), and not just any Rauchbier. It's got to be from Bamberg, one of our favorite cities in Germany, and preferably an Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier. Well, since we've been living here in Germany we haven't found a place locally that sells that particular Rauchbier. A couple months ago when we were an hour north in Mainz we found Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier and brought some home but we haven't found a place that sells it around the Kaiserslautern area. So Saturday, armed with a map, GPS and the address of a dozen Getränkemarkte (drink markets) in Kaiserslautern, Jeff and I set out with the hope of finding my desired Rauchbier. (Side note. As I mentioned, I love this beer. It's got a nice smoky flavor without being too heavy. I can drink 3-4 and be happy. Jeff like's just one and then moves on to something lighter. He's a wimp.)

So here's where we went Saturday in Kaiserslautern in search of Rauchbier.

First stop, Toom Getränkemarkte, Mainzerstraße 113, Kaiserslautern. Lots of great beers, no Rauchbier.

2nd stop, Fristo Getränkemarkte, Mainzerstraße 63. No luck.

Inside Fristo. Tidy and clean. Wouldn't you like a beer selection like this?

3rd stop, a little mom and pop place, Getränkemarkt Schäfer, Friedenstraße 3.

Speaking of mom and pop, Otto's & Rosi's Imbiss Ecke (Corner).  We passed this little Imbiss and since it was just after noon we stopped.  Had a couple bratwursts, pommes frites and little Bitburgers. Perfect! 

4th stop, Schreiners Durstlöscher Getränkemarkt, Mennonitenstraße 11.

Success!!  Well, almost. Brauerei Spezial Rauchbier Lager.  It is from Bamberg and it is a Rauchbier.  It's not Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier even though that's what the sign says that Jeff's pointing at. Also, this is a Lager, Schlenkerla is a Marzen; subtle difference. So, for today we figured, close enough, and they told us that they do normally carry Schlenkerla.  So we bought the eight remaining Spezial Rauchbiers and plan to return.

Why? Because it's there. No Jeff, you can't have that.

Well, this is what we brought home. Yummy!!

So the quest continues. We've still got a list of at least eight more places to check, but that's for another day. PROST!!

Freinsheim

The wine fests have begun!!!! As a US service member in Europe, one of the big events each spring is the Stars & Stripes publication of the calendar of all the wine fests in Germany from April through October. Well, that was last Thursday and, with that, Jeff and I figured we’d better get right on it and not fall behind in wine fest participation. Not that we did last year but it’s best to start early and finish strong. So last Saturday we drove to Freinsheim for one of the first wine fests of 2012.

Freinsheim is about a half hour east of Kaiserslautern and the Ramstein Air Base area. It’s an easy drive on the A-6 autobahn with an exit onto the famous Deutsche Weinstraße, German Wine Road. Freinsheim, although not right on the Wine Road, it’s a couple miles east, is just a short drive south from the A-6. This puts Freinsheim right in the middle of Germany’s largest wine growing region, part of the Rhineland-Pflaz.

Freinsheim’s wine fest was a particularly fun event because of the way they presented their wines to the festival goers like Jeff and I. For 10 Euros each we got a yellow wrist band that allowed us to visit 10 different vintners in the town. At each vintner we had the opportunity for unlimited sampling of the wines they had on display; lots of whites, Rieslings, Silvaners, Rivaners, Gewürztraminers and more, and reds like Portugieser, Dornfelder and Spätburgunder. And, like I mentioned, unlimited sampling. You could stand all day at one vintner if you chose to but Jeff and I were determined to visit all ten. Here’s our Saturday adventure.

The Freinsheim wine fest is called the Blütenfest (Blooms Fest).

Vintner #1 is Weinparadies Freinsheim.

Here we’re inside. Just bought our wrist band and ready to get to work.

Here’s the wine list that we could sample at Weinparadies, from dry to half-dry to sweet.

Vintner #2, Weingut Altes Landhaus (Old Country House).

Only about 8 wines to sample here but still tasty, fun and the people were so nice.

Vintner #3, Alte Bäckerei (Old Backery). When we got to their sampling area we learned that they were not providing samples of wine but vinegar. Yes, vinegar!! Skip #3.

Vintner #4, Kassner-Simon.

Although Germany is not known for its reds, we had a really good red Dornfelder here. These vintners were just great and answered all our questions about their vineyards and wine production operations.

Jeff and I at the Freinsheim wine fest.  Jeff wearing a beer hat (Pilsner Urquell) to a wine fest. The man has no couth.

Sights of Freinsheim. Freinsheim has a really pretty old town area and they do a number of different festivals here at different times of the year.

I’m assuming that’s the Freinsheim coat of arms which is about the gate on the town wall. You can see the white and blue diamond pattern that’s typical of Bavaria. Freinsheim, is now part of the Rhineland-Pfalz but prior to WW II the town was part of Bavaria.

Vintner #5, Winzerhof Rehg. Not sure who this wine nymph is supposed to be.

Good wines here too. Duh!!

Narrow alleyway between #5 and #6.

Vintner #6, Weingu Langenwalter-Gauglitz.

Quite a selection of wines to sample here, probably twelve reds and twenty whites.

Vintner #7, Weingut Kreuzhof, Family Herbel.

Now, as I mentioned, as long as you wanted to sample their wines, these vintners would keep pouring, so size of the sample wasn’t much of a concern but at #7, the samples were certainly generous.

Nice carriage ride.

In Germany, if you’re going to have a festival of any kind you have to have as a minimum one carnival ride for the kids and one candy vendor. Here they are.

Vintner #8, Weingut Primann. Let’s see, which one first?

It’s very common at these festivals for the wives to bake up a desert of some sort and bring them in to raise money for some cause or charity. These look very inviting!!

Vintner #9, Weingut Krebs.

At Krebs, blooming trees at the Blütenfest.

The wine sample table in Krebs was placed in front of these new wine barrels, a great setting for sampling wine.

Vintner #10, Weingut Weisbrod. Big time head fake from these folks Their sampling area was not at their hotel like the map showed and since we had to go well out of our way to get to the hotel we didn’t feel like wandering around looking for it. So headed back to the car and that was the end of our day in Freinsheim.

Why?  Because it's there. 

So, one down, who knows how many to go. But, if Freinsheim was indicative, 2012 is going to be a good year for wine fests. A very good year.