Freinsheim Rotweinwanderung

Josh rented a UFC movie for tonight. It's 140 minutes of UFC, bad acting, and Nick Nolte. So, I'm distracting myself by writing a new blog entry. :)

On Friday night, me, Josh, and our friends Lacie, Yahreen, and Marcus went to the Freinsheim Rotweinwanderung. Yes, I know that's a mouth full. Freinsheim is the name of the town, and "Rotweinwanderung" just means "red wine hike". Here's the translated link.

It was snowing at our house when we left, but by the time we got to Freinsheim (an hour away) the sky cleared up. That just meant it was even colder, so we hurried to find the wine.

So, here's how the red wine hike works. There are 13 large party tents set up all throughout the vineyards in the area. A hiking trail connects all of the tents together. Josh and I guessed that maybe the whole walk was a mile and a half, but that's really just total guessing. All of these tents have wine and food available, and you go from tent to tent eating and drinking. Oh, and you get torches. There were burning logs set up every so often on the trail to light the way, but you could also carry your own torches throughout the hike. So, lots of wine, plus lots of fire. The Germans aren't too big on safety.

Actually, the thought of carrying torches was much more romantic than it really was. It's a real hassle carrying around a glass of wine, a handful of food (pretzel, sandwich, etc) and a torch. Basically, our DD (thanks, Yahreen!) was the one who carried the torch most of the time. It was such a hassle, Josh and I didn't even bust out the camera. (the others took photos, so I may upload those later).

It actually worked out perfectly that four of us were drinking - 4 glasses in a bottle. I think we ended up getting 5 bottles of wine on the whole walk. Yes, that sounds like a lot (and it is). BUT, with the amount of walking we did, and the time we spent drinking, and the food we were eating - nobody went overboard. We definitely had a very good time, but there were no...."ill effects".

Memorable moments? Well....there was the German who crop-dusted me and Yahreen. The older drunk American lady that was totally hitting on Marcus (but she was a riot). The superawesomedelicious cinnamon & sugar crepe filled with applesauce. The shooting star that Lacie and I saw (NO, it wasn't a result of the wine, we really did see it!). The live band that was playing in the middle of the vineyard. Having to use Yahreen's phone as a flashlight in the port-a-potty (I was verrrrrrry careful not to drop it). It was really such a fun fun fun time. Freinsheim has a wine walk every season, and we'll definitely make this a regular thing.

The next one is in April, and I think we'll do it during the day for that one - just to be able to see all the flowers blooming.

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed. Josh and I went to Möbel Martin in K-town. It's basically an expensive Ikea...well, a very expensive Ikea. It was 3 huge stories of uncomfortable looking European furniture. There is something so distinct about German-style furniture. The beds and couches sit so low to the ground, and everything is very....boxy looking. I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of that style (although I do love Ikea), but it was still fun to look around.

Saturday night, I went out with a couple friends for a girls' night/birthday dinner at a local Italian restaurant. It was good food, but I'm not sure if any locals eat there - it seemed more like it caters to Americans (by the end of the night, the restaurant was completely full of nothing but Americans). One thing was pretty neat, though. When we first got there, the restaurant was mainly empty - except for a young couple sitting next to us. All of a sudden, the waitress comes out with a plate that had sparklers sitting on it, and a little box resting on the plate. Yep - the guy next to us proposed to his girlfriend. I've never seen a proposal before, but it was pretty cute. She was crying, and we all clapped (although, in my head, I was making fun of her for crying like a big baby ;) ).

All in all, it was such a fun weekend. I can't wait for the next one!