The almond blossom festival is held each year in the quaint wine village of Gimmeldingen, a district of Neustadt on the Deutsch Weinstraße. This particular wine-fest has a unique focus on the almond blossom, and is the oldest of its kind. The festival does not have a set date and the announcement for the opening was made just a few days prior when it was decided that the pink blossomed trees were in best bloom. This fest opened the wine festival season in the Rhineland-Palatinate, therefore every weekend for the next few months we should never have to worry about finding something to do!
We went to the home of our fellow Expat friends who live in Neustadt for a little lunch before going to Gimmeldingen. They live 2 doors from a winery so needless to say we had to take a stroll over since this was our first time on the Deutsch Weinstraße......
After a quick sampling and purchase we drove to Gimmeldingen, a Northern suburb of Neustadt and enjoyed a beautiful walk through the vineyards to the center of town where the festival was taking place.
Tables were set out all over for wine tastings and food - it was so nice out!
Musicians in front of the Rathaus
We strolled through the adorable village, enjoying the music, the fest and the beautiful day. This certainly won't be our last time in this area, it's only 30 minutes or so from our house!
A band played looking over the vineyards - not an oompah band!
We loved this little half-timbered German house with the grapevines, and bicycles.
Charming street in Gimmeldingen
Grapevines grow everywhere!
Looking back at the town as we made our way to the car.
We've been so caught up living in this old world charm of castles and quaint cobblestone streets in this country that we tend to forget that there are actually "modern" cities here, i.e. Frankfurt, that are less than an hour from our house. The airport is not actually near the city (15 ride or so) and that is all we have really known of this major financial European mecca.
On our to-do list for some time has been the Frankfurt on Foot historical walking tour. We left home on this beautifully sunny day and headed to the TI in the Romer Square at 10:30, but first making a quick pit stop at the Starbucks on the corner across from the meeting point. We met Dave, the tour guide who is originally from Ohio and has lived in Frankfurt for 9 years with his wife Jo who also does the daily tours. Dave has been all over the world and was with the Army for 20 years. He was a very interesting guy! There were people from Australia, Hungary, Bulgaria and a number of Americans who were on layovers who were heading to South Africa and China. Quite the mix of people.
T.G. Dave took us on a 3.5 hour, 7km tour of the city giving us history dating back 2000+ years.
St. Bartholomew's Cathedral (Kaiserdom) from 1152.
Although the dom was destroyed in WWII, it has been rebuilt with modern concrete and paint to imitate mortar and medieval bricks. In front of the dom are Roman ruins. Romans had settled Frankfurt by A.D. 100.
Archaeological ruins in front of the Kaiserdom
Just in our short time here in the Romer area, we were able to witness about 6 weddings. They are quick right at the Town Hall and especially on a nice day like this they will cram as many in as possible. They are not very large but, the bride and groom are still dressed up, and there were a lot of flowers.
The Town Hall (Romer) and the Romersquare
There are quite a few Jewish Sights in Frankfurt and I always find this part of history so fascinating. Frankfurt is the birthplace of Anne Frank. This link (pdf) gives some great depth to the Jewish population in Frankfurt. The most impressive area was that at the neuer Börneplatz.
The block of stones in the middle of the sycamore trees were recovered remains of houses from those that were in the original Jewish Ghetto.
We made a short stop at the Kleinmarkthall, an indoor produce market that had abundances of fresh veggies, fruit, meats, cheeses, nuts galore. Dave got a bratwurst and I snacked on a currywurst to tide us over till the end of the tour. I neglected to get a picture of this cool looking area probably because I was too focused in finding something to eat but here is a link to the page to see some pictures of it if you are so inclined. It's quite a fantastic place. I'd go there everyday if I lived there!
Frankfurt is a very walkable city - it is actually funny to see the HoHo buses - as I will refer to the Hop-On/Hop-Off buses from this point forward. We walked through a lovely park, by the Stock Exchange, past the Old Opera House, and by Bockenheimer Straße also known as fessgass (feeding street). This street gets it's name from the number of restaurants and cafes that line the street but also where (back-in-the-day) cattle and pigs and other animals were allowed to graze freely there. Since this is not really far from the main banking and shopping districts, it would make sense to have a street as such.
The Hauptwache building used to be a house for the Frankfurt city militia in 1730.
To the right of the Hauptwache Square is the entrance to the Zeil (ts-eye-el) sycamore tree lined shopping street. In the pictures you'll see the cool modern architecture of the MyZeil shopping center. And speaking of modern architecture, being in Frankfurt it is not uncommon to look up and see something like the Eschenheimer Turm which is the only surviving remnant of Frankfurt's medieval fortifications built between 1400-1428 and the Skyper Tower that was built in 2004 and is 154 meters high. Quite the contrast huh?! People actually call Frankfurt Mainhattan! Main-River-Hattan-Skyscrapers :)
We ended our walk with T.G. Dave at St. Paul's Church - Paulskirche - which is the area known as the birthplace of German democracy, as the first gathering for a parliament took place here in 1848. The building was built in 1833. Completely gutted during the bombing of March 1944, the citizens of Germany donated what little bit of money they had to have this building reconstructed by 1948. This building is as important to Germans as Independence Hall is to Americans.
Paulskirche
After we parted the group we walked back to the area we started near the dom since there T.G. Dave recommended the Paulaner Pub (weizen beer that we like from München) we thought we couldn't go wrong for (another) bite to eat. I had the Gulaschsuppe and it didn't disappoint, while Dave feasted on a very large schnitzel with bacon and a fried egg on it, with potatoes on the side, and a salad. That boy can pack it away and not gain a pound, while I'm here digging out my "oh I'll save these pants...just.in.case...I put those 10 pounds back on." Check that off the not-to-do list.
We checked into the Hotel Europa, near the main Hauptbahnhof in a good location which was a great place with free wifi, breakfast and free minibar! 4 bottles of water, 4 beers, 8 cans of soda, peanuts and candy bars - that's a first! The super nice gentleman at the check-in even rode around the back of the building in our car so that he could move his car for us to take the spot since he said parking was expensive.
Later that afternoon we found our way to the Main Tower where we would pay the 5,00 to go 650' above the city for an awesome view only to find an enormous line at the door and we don't really do lines. The tower entry goes until 1am and although it would be neat to see, we'll save it for another time :) We strolled around some of the areas that we had already been but took different streets and then walked along the river back towards our hotel. Neither of us were very hungry so we walked about a block from the hotel to the Rick Steves' recommended Merkez Kebap Haus where they had pretty good Döners. I know I've mentioned them before, traditional Turkish, we really like the different Mediterranean Cuisine here.
On the way back we took an extended walk and dared to walk into the R.L.D.- the Red Light District to see what it was all about. On the drive to the hotel we drove through and it was all lit up in the middle of the afternoon. Now, this adult entertainment is booming business in Frankfurt and legal, and was still pretty lit up at night. I don't think we were even 1/2 a block down Moselstraße when Dave firmly said, "let's turn around." I'm quite sure the chicks I saw leaning against what was probably a brothel were not just getting fresh air, in fact after we turned around we witnessed them walking away with their "tricks"....creepy!!!
Looking down part of the Red Light District with the Main Tower in the back.
Back by the train station and our hotel was a very lively Irish Bar, O'reilly's where we had to go in for a Guinness and Kilkenny since it was St. Pat's Day. It was jammed packed and there was a band but it sure didn't add up to actually being in Ireland! You could hardly move and the music wasn't that good and our feet were tired so we enjoyed our free mini bar beers and called it a day. Frankfurt is so close that there will be more trips there in the future. We have to go back for the famous Apfelwein that Frankfurt is known for as well as festivals and concerts that will be in the area. It was a fun day trip for sure!
The mystery of the large piles of dirt that have been popping up all over our yard has been resolved! It's the Vole, or Maulwurf/Wühlmäuser or stupid little pesky rodent Mole as we call them.
This would be a small portion of the holes in our yard.
I asked my nice German neighbor (who lives just the other side of these above mention piles) what they were and he told me it was the Maulwurf and acted out a little skit of how the Mole digs his litte tunnels and creates these piles all over our yards and gardens. He doesn't speak much English and went in the house to get his Frau and between the three of us had a nice little English/Deutsch conversation that resulted in the fact that they are a problem and there isn't much I can do except spread the dirt out. Although he did bring over this tube-like contraption with a point at one end and "Maulwurf Chaser" labeled on the other end. I'm assuming it goes down the holes? These little things can burrow about 100 meters per night, they are busy and they are really tearing up our yard!
Now from my research I've learned that there are numerous ways to get rid of them:
1. Get a cat - I have 2 neighborhood cats that spend most days in my yard and there still seems to be a problem.
2. Get a Terrier or Dachshund - well it's just not really an option.
3. Get an owl - really? Um, no.
4. Sprinkle curry powder on the lawn - possibly
5. Piss on the lawn - Apparently they are turned away by human scents and clearly this would be an easier solution for Dave but I'm not sure what the legal repercussions would be to this. Peeing in the open or along the road seems to be a "no biggie" around here but still, I don't think I can get Dave to agree.
6. Shove carrots, potatoes, turnips down the holes - I don't want to feed them to attract them, I want them gone!
7. Install a mole deterrent - A battery operated thing that sends out signals that the moles don't like. Seems logical but I'm not investing in it.
8. Doing something with a hammer and anvil - Sounds cruel.
9. Moth balls, juicy fruit gum, caster beans, Pine Sol - I despise the smell of moth balls but if it works, hey? Does the gum have to be chewed or does the Mole chew it? What are caster beans? For the amount of holes the Pine Sol solution could get expensive but the yard would be really clean and smell great.
10. Hire a mole catcher - I wouldn't even know how to go about doing this.
I'm going to have to talk to our Landlords about this, I'm sure they've encounted this before since these piles of dirt are just about everywhere you can possibly imagine. I don't really want to see the Mole, they're ugly. In the meantime I'm looking into this:
...no not really but it looks fun! I'm not trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill here I just need to figure out how to get rid of them effectively and safely. Besides I think it might be illegal in Germany to kill them. If the cats kill them I guess there isn't anything I can do but I don't want to be picking up dead Moles - actually I won't pick up dead Moles.
"Three little moles ran down three little holes, and all you could see was
molasses."
We had heard about the beautiful cathedral in Metz, France which resides on our favourite Moselle River, and thought we'd take the quick 1 and 1/2 hour drive over to see what the city is all about. Unfortunately I've had a bit of writers block since getting back from the short trip because all I wanted to write about was all the dog poo on the streets instead of the beautiful things we saw! I felt like I was in Paris all over again (please don't let me turn anyone away from any of these places) constantly looking down to make sure my nice leather boots didn't casually slide through a heaping pile of poo that was in my direct path on the sidewalk. Seriously I felt like Dave was saying, "Oh watch your step" instead of "Oh look at that nice architecture." Surprisingly enough we did a little research to find that we are not are alone in this battle - there are TONS of blogs, websites, forums, etc. griping about the same matter in France cities! And accidents...accident statistics of those that have injured or hurt themselves from an encounter with poo on the sidewalk. I'm not joking, Google it. We survived though, no accidents, no horrid smells on our shoes as we walked along all day, just a strain in my neck from looking down all day :)
Anyway, Metz is a lovely little city and thanks to the convenience of booking.com we were able to find a good hotel with free cancellation (which is super handy considering I originally booked 2 nights and later decided we only wanted to go one!), WiFi, breakfast, parking and close proximity to all that we needed to see. The day was supposed to be about 60 degrees with only a 10% chance of rain but the drive through the country proved to be a bit different - misty, foggy, and about a balmy 50. Oh well, by the time we got to the Kyriad Metz Centre it seemed to have cleared up a little but was still a little chilly. We checked in late morning and then headed right over to the Tourist Info to get a map of the sights.
The TI is located in the place d'Armes square along with the the big beautiful Saint-Etienne Cathedral. Minus the scaffolding, it's very beautiful! It was built between 1220 and 1552 and one of the highest Gothic edifices in Europe with 42 meter high vaults.
Saint-Etienne Cathedral
We walked across the Moselle to a small island in the middle of the river, the Place de la Comedie, where the Opera House is located.
Crossing the Moselle with the Temple Neuf in the background
Back in the city center and pedestrian area of Metz we were searching for a lunch spot when we noticed a dragon hanging high the air!
This is The Graoully, depicted as a fearsome dragon, vanquished by the sacred powers of Metz's first bishop, Saint Clement. Authors from Metz tend to present the legend of the Graoully as a symbol of Christianity's victory over paganism, represented by the harmful dragon. Yes, that is what usually comes to mind for me => Christianity+Paganism=Dragon.
We had a lovely lunch at an Italian place that spoke French - being engrossed in all of this culture sometimes confuses the heck out of me. I couldn't remember if the salad I ordered was poisson or poulet or puten, I was just hoping that I didn't order a fish salad. It was chicken and it all turned out good! Dave had a pizza with a spicy oil to put on it.
With a lot of daylight still left we headed to the western part of the town where what appeared to be on the map were "forts" or other types of military architecture and that is exactly what we stumbled upon!
The Porte des Allemands
What looks like a mini-castle, the Porte des Allemands or the ‘Gate of the Germans’, was built around 1230 when a wall was being constructed to protect the town from attack. For many centuries the area has been a place of dispute between French and German control. The name of this gate (the 2 pointy towers on the right) to the city comes from the friars of Notre Dame Allemands who ran a hospital close to the site. The gate was extensively damaged by Allied forces when they liberated Metz in 1944.
What were were walking is called the - Circuit des Remparts - a 4k walk through the city and park area - Fort de Bellecroix - where we could see old fortifications of city's defensive wall from the 18th and 19th centuries.
In Fort de Bellecroix, fortifications of city wall
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We walked the Circuit des Remparts along the banks of the Moselle and Seille Rivers where there were towers, bridges and more of the defense wall for the city. There are ramparts from the 13th through 17th centuries.
Wall along the Moselle River
The southern part of Metz on the Moselle houses the Arsenal Building and the Esplanade-lovely gardens that weren't in bloom yet but it is the centrepiece of the great Promenade de l’Esplanade that leads from the river through the old town of Metz.
The Arsenal
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The Palace of the Governor is located right next to the Esplanade and Arsenal, close to the Moselle. The palace is an impressive building that makes up just one of many municipal buildings in Metz. Built for the governor of the town, the building exhibits some of the best architectural styles of the Lorraine region and is occasionally open to the public but we didn't go in.
The Governor's Palace
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All in all we had quite a nice day walking around in Metz probably about 5-10 miles all while stepping over piles of poo! We went back to the hotel to rest a little before dinner and then went back to the area by the Cathedral Saint-Etienne to Le Montecristo where we both chose a 4 course chef's menu based on the English-Deutsch menu posted outside :) Dave had a very interesting martini in what appeared to be a tall shot glass and I had an "orange" flavoured French beer. He also enjoyed his smoked salmon and duck and I enjoyed a warm goat cheese salad and fillet. The 3rd course for both of us was a cheese plate that looked pretty good with Brie and Camembert and a small walnut salad. Dave dug right into a thin piece of cheese only to find out that it was butter! We both got a good chuckle out of that, not sure why it was placed between 2 pieces of cheese - whatever maybe the French think butter is a delicacy? Yummy desserts later and we were ready to go walk off a few of the calories we just indulged in and call it a day.
Would we go back to Metz? Perhaps, but I'm really not planning any more trips to France cities until the problem of the poo goes away! I think the next trip to France should be one more in a country setting, or a wine tasting specific trip, or one where there aren't sidewalks.
The trip was coming to an end and I was just so bummed but so thankful for such a great time! It was going to be a little bit of a ride back to Dublin since we had to drive back to the west side of the island. It was a pretty nice day though, the sun was out!
We left Bunratty and made on our way to Connemara Marble Factory where we got a quick presentation about the different marble products that come from there. Beautiful marble! Green (the Green Gold of Connemara) and white marbles are found in Connemara and are about 500 million years old! The red and rose marble come from Cork & Kerry Counties, and jet black marble comes from the Galway area. They only manufacture jewelry from this factory now though, no large slabs like what would be used in home furnishings. The area also is known for its amethyst. Oh boy, not only did I have to get a marble souvenir, but now amethyst too! I found beautiful earrings with green marble and the trinity symbol and an amethyst stone ring with the trinity symbols as well.
It was a pretty interesting place and the best part was that I'm pretty sure a leprechaun gave the presentation.
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The leprechaun at Connemara Marble
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Next stop was town of Galway for few hours stop to sight see and get lunch. I didn't know much about Galway, so luckily I had my Rick Steves' book to guide me along. All I do know is that I couldn't this song out of my head for the whole day:
If you haven't seen P.S. I Love You, and you feel like watching a chick flick and soaking your shirt with more tears than you did from The Notebook then this movie is for you. I actually watched it the night before leaving for Ireland - with no idea what it was about - and loving it to death. Being one of Brittany's faves too, she and I were keeping our eyes open for "William" :)
I wandered the medieval streets for a little while heading down the the River Corrib to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas. It is one of the last stone churches built in Europe and quite beautiful inside with Connemara Marble floors and hand carved stations of the cross. It seats about 2000.
The McSwiggan's Pub caught my eye with a catchy name so I went in for a pint of Bulmer's and some quiche for lunch. There was only about an hour left to see the town so I made my way back to Eyre Square to meet the group. This is the city's focal point - in 1965 the square was officially renamed "Kennedy Memorial Park" in honor of President John F. Kennedy, who visited Galway city shortly before his assassination in 1963. I snapped a few pictures while waiting for Pat and the coach to arrive.
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"Hooker Sculpture" in Eyre Square
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It was time to head east back to Dublin. We got to the Academy Plaza Hotel, right off of O'Connell Street around 5:00 and it was an absolute zoo due to a huge rugby match in Dublin that weekend. A bunch of us were trying to figure out a plan and we decided on Pat's recommendation at the Knightsbridge Inn in the Arlington Hotel right down O'Connell from our hotel. It was only €30 for dinner, Irish dancing and music. We had a 7:00 reservation and made our way down the busy street and we came upon the red carpet in front of the Savoy Cinema on O'Connell St. Who could it be we wondered? Vicky and I were absolutely ELATED when we found out Mark Wahlberg was coming for the Irish premier of his movie "Contraband" for the Jameson Dublin Film Festival. We both committed to stay till he arrived and let the group go to the Inn to get our table since we had the reservation.
45 minutes later and still no arrival of Marky Mark, who do we see but the Boston crew walking down the street.
We called them over in hopes that their Boston accents would lure him in and no sooner did he actually arrive! Camera in hand, I was so ready to get an awesome picture since we were RIGHT behind the stupid metal bar separating us. In the meantime Carol from N. Boston is behind me yelling "Dorchester is here" so as Marky is right in front of me signing an autograph I yell to him, "Dorchester's in the house" and he looks up at me and it was over. Locking eyes for that brief second surely did not help me capture that memorable photo but thank goodness for Vicky and the magic of her camera:
Thanks to Vicky for getting this amazing picture!
After that great excitement, Vicky and I were giggling like school girls. We made it to dinner late but with a great story. The show at The Knightsbridge Inn was really fantastic. We had a 3 course dinner and were serviced by our adorable waiter Declan - who tried to get me up on stage during the audience participation segment but I gave him a big NO WAY!
The music and dancing were an absolutely perfect ending to our trip. My camera died right in the middle of the show but luckily I had the iPad and could capture some video of Rocky Road to Dublin and the dancers dancing acapella.
We didn't stay till quite the end but had an absolutely wonderful time. Back at the hotel we said our goodbyes. I had to be up at 4:00 am to get to the airport but didn't care how exhausted I was. I had such a great time on this trip and even though my travel savvy confidant Rick Steves' doesn't prefer to take trips in the manner that I did I still had a great time.
I'm already in the planning process for my Ireland sequel, this time including Dave!
"May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again may God hold you in the palm of his hand."
