New beginnings?

I hate to sound like a terrible pessimist but I didn't feel any different this morning than I did yesterday morning. 

The general public's favorite adage is that the new year brings new opportunities, new beginnings and a fresh start. I feel like you could say that about any "new day" right? I don't particularly feel any different today. 

If I went out on the street and asked the average passerby if they agreed with me, I suspect I'd get a yes or two but mostly I think people would regard me as a Negative Nancy. 'She must be depressed' they'd think, 'some people get that way around the holidays.' My only defense, I guess, would be that I don't need to be depressed to feel this way. I think that people are pre-disposed to want to be overly optimistic around this time of year. That doesn't mean that I'm one of them. I feel fine. Just like yesterday and the day before and almost any other random day it could pluck off the calendar. 

I see that New Year's symbolism is somewhat compelling. I've found myself being spurred on today by the inkling to go out for a run or the want to drink a full 8 glasses of water (thank you UP band). I do, however, believe that my consideration of these things is more a result of the New Year/New Leaf marketing happening all around us and less due to my actual want to get in shape or stay hydrated. "Become a New You this New Year"! No thanks, I like the old me. 

So you can call me a pessimist or a hater or whatever else you'd like because while I recognize the joy that a fresh start brings the masses, I'm not ready to jump on board. The clean slate that may have unfurled last night at 12:00a is wonderful but being the realist (pessimist, if you must) that I am, I see it just as I see the New Year's Resolutions we make. It will drift to the back of our mind by mid month and we'll be back to our old routines and bad habits soon. 

I've got love for my bad habits and don't feel the need to banish them for the few weeks it would take me to remember that I like them. 

Plus I drink plenty of water already! 

A German Renaissance Festival

After a fun couple of days in Cochem and the Mosel Valley, we were off to explore The Rhein! We had planned to spend a few hours in Bacharach checking out the castle and wandering around before heading to Oberwesel. But, of course, the train had other plans for us. Well to be honest it was more us and not so much the train. When Prof. Sorensen planned the trip, she had been going off the most current schedule available. Of course, when we got there the numbers on the trains had changed and the were running to different places than the had before. Oh well!! One thing I’v

e realized is that each train mishap leads to an adventure! In the end, we hiked up to the castle in Oberwesel and poked around for an hour or so. The castle was open to the public but they had turned it into a restaurant and hotel. Not nearly as much fun as we had been hoping. Of course the

Some of you know that I love the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur, Colorado. Yes, I know it’s dumb. My parents have been telling me that since I was in high school. But I think it’s great and I think I’ve only missed one summer in the last 13 years. Well, in May every year, the town of Oberwesel holds there own version of a Renaissance Fair. They block

off streets, cover them in hay and all the locals come out in appropriate dress for the occasions. There is delicious fresh food, talented musicians, funny characters and fun things to buy!se things happen, at least the hike was fun and the best part of the day was to follow!

The best things about this fair?? First it’s authenticity, it takes place in a city that was around during the Renaissance! Second, no one speaks english (obviously) and that absolutely adds to the experience! Third, the entire town takes part in the festival. Men, w

omen and children alike all play a vital role. And last, the wine and beer served is made right there in the town! The winemaker we were to stay with that night was at the fair selling his best Reisling and Spatburgunder.

We spent most of the afternoon wandering the streets of Oberwesel, tasting all the different foods and wines, buying trinkets even making friends with the band! It was wonderful and a bit of an adventure (especially for a group of people that speak French, Spanish, Thai and English but very little German)!

After spending the day on a hike and enjoying the festival, we were in ne

ed of a relaxing night. The winemaker took us back up to his bed and breakfast up in the hills above Oberwesel. After getting checked in and unpacking, Kaitlin and I decided the idea of dinner was just too tempting to pass up. We gathered up those in our group who were up for the walk back to town and decided to find something to eat!

I should have known that, with the festival closing down, finding an open place to eat would have been nearly impossible but it didn’t hit me until we’d gotten back into town. After making our way almost back to the train station, we finally found a German “fast food” restaurant. Good enough for me!

I’m a pretty adventurous eater so ordering something in another language doesn’t really scare me. “I’ll try anything once” is my motto when it comes to eating in another country. So I picked a number 8! Well, it ended up being a cardboard cone full of fries and pork meat. Not exactly what I’d imagined eating in Germany but it wasn’t bad. It could, however, have used some gravy but I wasn’t sure how to ask for it and the guy behind the counter wasn’t in the mood to humor me. :) Always an adventure!

Hiking and Wine

With the previous night being such a late one, I woke up a little tired on the day of our first vineyard hike. After dragging myself downstairs for yet another epic European breakfast (that woke me up and set me to right), we took the sesselbahn (cable car) to the top of the "mountain" where we were to meet the winemaker from Weingut Rademacher.

Hermann Rademacher"s family has been in the wine business since the 1880's and Hermann is a lot of fun to talk with! As we hiked up to a large cross that towers over the town, Hermann told us the story of how the cross

was placed where it was. There was a sheperd named Wendelinus Pinn, whom the cross is named for, who lost his sheep on this hill overlooking Cochem and the river. The story itself isn't terribly exciting, he found and saved the sheep and Hermann said someone died up here, maybe Wendelinus, not sure... (i couldn't hear everything he was saying) but from where I stood, it was all about the views! You could see the little town, Reichsburg Castle and of course the river. After snapping a few pictures and hearing another quick story, we made our way down and on to the rest of the hike. As the hike progressed, Hermann shared his opinion on vine training methods, on Russian innkeepers in town and on the importance of slate in the soil. He was a lot of fun!

The course down the other side of the mountain is steep and terribly narrow in some spots. When I wasn't staring at the ground, trying not to trip, I did look around at the scenery. The mountains are covered with very lush forests where the sun doesn't even reach the ground through the leaves. I wasn't nearly as appreciative of this fact, until it was too late. As the ground started to even out, the sunlight came back with full force, as did the high temperature. It wasn't even that hot out, but hiking through it in long pants and generally more clothing than I like to wear on a hike made it sort of miserable. I was really looking forward to going inside for the tasting. As we made it down the last steep path, I immediately saw that the relief of an air conditioned room was going to have to wait. A number of rickety old chairs were lined up along a straight path that was shielded along one side by a stone wall while the other side sloped down into rows and rows of vines. This is where we were having lunch! Even though it was hot and the sun was beating on us a bit, it was wonderful. The winemaker and his son set out plates of cheese, bread and fruit and of course a small glass for tasting! As Hermann spoke about his wine, his vineyard, and his family, we enjoyed the views, the food and a nice, not too sweet riesling. One thing I kept running into in both Denmark and Germany was the use ofpork fat as a spread for bread. It was on one of the slices of bread we were given and it didn't taste bad but I don't think I'll be bringing that food tradition home with me.

After a little while we did make it inside for the tasting where I learned some german other than "Guten Morgen", "Bitte" and "Danke". Germany rieslings are classified by how late in the harvest they were picked and by how dry or sweet they are. "Spätlese" or late harvest, "Auslese" or select harvest, "Kabinett" or fully ripe refer to when the grapes were picked. Trocken is dry, halbtrocken is half dry and lieblich is semi-sweet.

We tasted 3 different rieslings, each very different from the last. It goes to show that one type of grape can have drastically different flavors when it is picked at different times or is grown in different locations. We also had a glass of Sekt which is german sparkling wine that was lovely. I had so much fun tasting the different wines and trying to pick out the different scents and flavors. I wanted to bring back a bottle of each of the wines we tried but I limited myself to just one from this vineyard (darn customs regulations). I brought back a bottle of Rademacher Solitär Riesling trocken Cochemer Herrenberg. I can't wait to try it at home!

All of us tourists in Cochem,

I love rainy weather! Anyone who has known me for more than 45 minutes knows this. I really enjoyed all of the cloudy, rainy weather in Denmark, it was right up my alley. I was thankful, however, when we woke up on our first day in Cochem and the sun was shining. The rays shone in through the thin gauzy curtains giving everything in the hotel room a glow. The birds were chirpingand the little brook behind the Hotel Holl was babbling away. It was basically the perfect circumstances to wake up to!

After breakfast in the hotel, some of us decided to walk around town before heading up to Cochem Castle for a tour. The town is very cute and just what you would expect, half-timbered buildings and the clock tower that stands tall above the little square. The square

itself is full of people, mostly tourists, looking for something to buy. There are little wine bars, lots of restaurants, clothing shops, places to buy embroidered tablecloths, gelato stands and of course the touristy shops where you can buy all sorts of not-authentic German souvenirs. It's a bit hectic wandering around the streets of Cochem but still a good time. At least we don't stick out terribly as tourists, because they're everywhere you look. There were families, tour groups, bunches of little blue haired ladies and even young people like us. The one group of tourists that I really enjoyed observing were the bikers and there were a lot of them. Their bikes are parked out in front of every hotel and there's even a Harley Davidson shop on the way up to the Castle. Some of these European bikers remind me of the bikers I know back home. It's a little comforting to know that the people here live just like we do, they just speak different languages.

The castle tour was fun but not terribly interesting on paper. It's one of those things you wouldn't appreciate if I told you about it. You have to go see it for yourself.

After the castle, and a few more hours wandering around town, Natalie, Katie, Kristen and I went off in search of libations!

We found them in the form of Spatburgunder and Riesling at a wine bar, a wine tasting where we bought a couple of bottles, and a couple of pints in a restaurant on the walk back to the hotel!

We hung out in the hotel for a bit and played some cards before deciding to walk to the disco at the end of the street. We had some beers and tried to dance to German club music (which is quite the workout by the way). It turned out that nearly everyone there was from somewhere else. Cochem is a hub for tourists visiting the Mosel valley and lots of them like to go out dancing!

Day Seven: All day on a train...

Leaving Møn was a little bittersweet. I was still very excited for the second half of the trip but I knew that I would really miss Denmark. I enjoyed it more than I could have imagined.

After loading all of our gear and surprisingly still having room for ourselves, we headed off to the bus station. We knew the day was going to be rather dull and involve a lot of standing around and waiting until out correct bus/train/ferry arrived, but dull doesn't begin to describe it. Don't get me wrong, I loved the fact that we could just hop on a train and be in another country in just a few hours, it was just all the sitting/standing around that got to me.

The train ride itself didn't start out bad. The train goes on a ferry that takes you from a port in Denmark to the Port of Hamburg in Germany. It was fun to get out and walk around the ferry. It made for fun people watching! The ferry has a duty free shop, several places to get a sit-down meal and a drink or two and one "hot dog" stand. It seemed quite a bit smaller than the ones I'm familiar with from Washington which was strange because the train was able to go on it.

Back on dry land and on our way to Cochem, we set in for the day long journey on the train and from here on out the day gets less and less exciting so I won't bore everyone with my commentary but just know these things.

The German train system is very efficient but if you're able, you absolutely want to travel on either IC or ICE trains. Those are the fast ones and the others will have you wondering how a trip of only 20 kilometers can take close to an hour (i'm exaggerating, but it's slooooow).

The major German rail stations are completely covered with huge advertisements. They really are getting the bang for their buck. Who knew you be tempted into having fast food, coffee, beer, chocolate and a Volkswagen all at the same time.

The German countryside looks just like what I would expect and the German trucker stops look just like to ones in Wyoming complete with giant Mc Donalds signs that can be seen from all around...

Germany gets more beautiful the closer you get to the wine making areas!

Living in an Epic Literary Tale

Møn (pronounced Mhern) island is breathtaking. From the expansive fields of mustard plants, to the quaint little villages that dot the landscape, everything about this place is perfect. The bed and breakfast we're staying at is an old farm house that was built in the 16th century. It's simply furnished but cozy and has everything we could want. Jacques and Siff Hansen, who keep the B&B, are wonderful! They have bent over backwards to ensure that we have what we need. They even did some of our laundry! The farm is surrounded by fields and forests and while there are other houses in the area, they are spread out enough that you have pleanty of privacy. It's the picturesque European countryside you've seen in the movies and read about in books. I kept hoping to come up over a hill and see Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley on their way to the Bennet's home (wrong country, but a girl can dream). No wonder I love most of the European classics. Right now I feel like I'm living in one! When looking at the itinerary several months ago I was very excited for the walk through the forest and the afternoon on the beach. But I had no idea how much I would enjoy it! When we took off after breakfast, there was still a fog sitting over the island. We took a chartered bus to Cliff National Park and started our trek along the ridgeline. Walking through the forest steeped in fog was magical! At any moment I could imagine that a princess from a fairy tale might come walking along. The more than 500 stairs that would take us down to the water were daunting but the Baltic kept revealing itselfto us as we descended and the views made the workout worth it! When you reach the bottom of the stairs, depending on the tide, you step down on 15-30 feet of "beach" that isn't like any beach I've ever seen before. Instead of sand there are large stones (the sizes of baseballs and golf balls) covering the ground. The stones get smaller as the beach meets the water but there's no sand to be seen. Its definitely not a beach to walk barefoot on. Large amounts of seaweed wash up over the rocks during high tide and form soft carpets that stretch over the rocks and make them easier to walk on. We had a nice time enjoying the sound of the waves and the views. Cody was skipping stones over the water, Tulli was wading out and the rest of us found spots on the beach to search for treasures. We spent an hour or so down on the beach looking for amber and rattle rocks. A rattle rock has a semi hollow center and there's a smaller rock on the inside that rattles around when you shake it. They take hours to find and none of us had any luck. After a traditional Danish open face sandwich for our lunch picnic, we walked to a second set of stairs to take us back up to the ridgeline. There were fewer steps on the way up than on the way down but I sure got my work out for the day! When you get to the top the water isn't visible through the forest or over the cliffs. You really don't get a sense of how high up you are until you've done the climb.

Games Vikings Play

I said before that I wouldn't be able to hack it as a Viking and I take that back. I just couldn't be a sailing Viking.
Today we went to a Viking Village complete with real Vikings It's meant to be kind of a day camp for school children. We got there, dressed up (that's right, Viking costumes!), and got right to work, making rope, preparing a meal for the village and even doing some iron work. When we began this process I felt a little bit silly and unsure of the time I would have to spend there. I was worried that because it's generally a place for children, I wouldn't find it interesting. Thankfully, the opposite was true and thus far on the trip it has been my favorite activity.
My first task was to use the heat from an open fire to evaporate saltwater and extract salt crystals for seasoning the meal. Holy cow was it hot!! It took quite a while so I found a second task in hand spinning wool into yarn (I want to do it at home now). I was also able to help with baking flatbread on the open fire. The meal was delicious and it was all made over the fire or in a stone oven packed with mud to keep the heat in. We had chicken soup with carrots and turnips, baked apples, flat bread with butter and cheese and much much more. It was delicious!
After the food coma wore off slightly we played some Viking games. One of them seemed like a cross between American Football and Rugby. I'm sure it was entertaining to watch us run around in full length dresses trying to tackle each other. The second game was kind of like tug of war and the third, which is kind of hard to describe, had us trying to balance our weight on two short wooden blocks while trying to reach for a third block of wood. It was really difficult and I wasn't able to do it but some if the guys from the village got a little competitive and made watching the game more fun than playing it.