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!