Hiking in Wine Country

Saturday July 23 – Today Stefan and Susie pick me up at 11am and it’s a full day in wine country and I return home at 10pm.  It was probably the best day I’ve had so far on my trip! 

We drove up to Ahrweiler, which is about 30 minutes south of Bonn.  We went hiking in wine country and did a few wine tastings along the way.  It was a beautiful country side and I was so amazed at the vineyards in Germany and I had no idea that they grew grapes for wine here.  The vineyards grew up the hill side and there were plateau’s of grapes and I can imagine that harvesting the grapes is very labor intensive due to the way the grapes are planted.  But it really makes for a beautiful view!!!  Amazing!

It was an overcast day but overall it was very nice and it didn’t rain at all.  We hiked 10km overall, which is about 6.2 miles.  Stefan and Susie were telling me that we would not see any wildlife, however we did see some goats, a kangaroo and some deer.  So, that blew that theory about not seeing wildlife! 

We stopped at a monestary that was 824 years old and we took a break with a red wine and a flat bread pizza, which is called flammkuchen, and very tasty!  The monestary was just beautiful and I can’t imagine the history that it has in all of its years. 

At the end of the hike, we stopped in a village, walked around the market square and shared a bottle of white wine at a “borg”, meaning castle in German.  After that, we all had quite an appetite and were getting tired, so we took the train back to where we started and found a restaurant for dinner.  We ate at the Hofgarten in the village of Dernau.  It was a cute little house setting and there was even a kitty that seemed to belong to the restaurant and was hanging out.  We had the BEST dinner that I’ve had so far in Germany.  Chicken breast with mashed potatoes and red wine.  Oh, I also had vanilla ice cream with a variety of fruit.  It was so incredibly delicious!!!! 

Susie and Stefan were the best hosts.  They taught me some German, which I’m really trying hard to remember.  They taught me a little about German history as we’re overlooking the villages while we’re hiking and you can see the wall that was built around the town/village.  Typically the villages started by having a church built and then the village was built around the church and then the wall was built around the town.  It’s really very interesting to see that it is all still in existence, however, they have continued to build outside of the village wall as it continues to expand.  Very interesting!

Susie and Stefan were staying overnight so they dropped me off at the train station and waved a sad good bye (but I don’t think they were really going to miss me) and I headed back to Bonn.  On the train I met a man from New York and a couple, Kate and Ludwig, originally from Hungary and now they live in Dublin.  They were visiting for the Formula 1 race trials that were held that day and they said it was very fun and a lot of people.  I chatted with the guy from New York and he is a musician that has been living in Hamburg for a year and a half.  He loves Germany and highly suggested I make the move if it is something I’m interested in.  By the time I got home I was incredibly tired and slept like a baby.