September 11th, 2016…Our 17th Wedding Anniversary!
Back in March, S found a picture of an AWESOME park in a newspaper and showed it to me. There was an article written in German that went along with the picture. The one thing I could understand was the location: Deidesheim. I ripped out the article and put it away in a folder I keep for places to visit…someday.
On August 13th, we boarded a train to Deidesheim. Not only was it a beautiful day to check out that park, there was also a wine festival going on. We hadn’t been to a wine festival before but had been to this quaint town last winter for a Christmas festival. We figured there would be something for everyone to enjoy.
The boys received a “ticket” from the train attendant who validates these fun little drawings with the date they were riding the train. Children often ride for free and don’t have their own tickets to show the attendants when they walk the aisles checking. Now they do!
As usual, the park did not disappoint! We are continually impressed with the thought and creativity put into creating children’s playgrounds. Europeans definitely seem to foster playtime for kids! This park had an outdoor workout area for adults alongside the climbing structures, sand pits, and crazy slides. Mein Mann knocked our five-year old’s socks off when he conquered one of the climbing poles and reached the top. If you click on the picture, you can zoom in and see his expression!
After enjoying a picnic lunch at the park, we navigated the roads on foot to the wine festival. We passed some fun sights along the way.
The wine festival was held in the Altstadt (old town). This fountain commemorates a medieval story/tradition from Deidesheim’s history. It has something to do with a peace-offering of a goat from the neighboring town of Lambrecht. The goat is delivered each year by the youngest married couple in Lambrecht. In exchange, the couple receives a “kasebrot” (a piece of bread with cheese) and a good “swallow” of the famous Deidesheim wine. Notice the German man behind me riding the goat!
We enjoyed walking around, stopping for food and wine and walking some more.
Here’s a short video clip I took as we were strolling through the streets…
Many of the altstadts that we have visited have pedestrian walking zones which gives them a more relaxed feel. We still need to step aside for cyclists though!
Marching Bands, jugglers in the streets and carnival rides added to the festive feel.
Near the rides, we passed this sign. I think it went with one of the games because “Sammeln Sie” translates to “collect them.” Here’s a little German lesson for the day. The pictures and words depict family members…father, mother, son and daughter.
E got his customary hotdog for dinner. He would eat them three times a day if we let him! The rest of us branched out a bit with the culinary options. We shared a German dessert called Dampfnudel. It’s a steam fried dumpling that resembles a sweet bread roll. We ate ours with vanilla sauce. Yum! It was recently featured as the challenge on the show, The Great British Bake Off. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37306054/great-british-bake-off-what-is-dampfnudel-and-why-is-everyone-obsessed)
I’m glad S found the article about the park in the newspaper! If you know of interesting places to visit here in Germany, we would love to hear them. My Mom recently sent me a newspaper clipping from her home paper with a suggestion. Thanks Mom! We are all ears and I’ll add your ideas to our travel folder. =)
Auf Wiedersehen!
