Sunny Days in Bavaria

Ever since our first year here, I have been convinced that springtime is the beautiful reward that you get for making it through the impossibly long and cold German winter.  As soon as it's even remotely warm and sunny it seems as if someone sends a signal and all of the flowers just pop right up and everything turns green.  Sometimes it almost feels like it happens overnight.  We have had a good amount of warm and sunny days lately so we've been trying to take advantage of them the most we can. 

Our town had the Frühlingsfest (Spring Festival) a couple of weeks ago.  We have a little festplatz (festival area) in our town where they set up rides, booths with games and snacks, and food trailers.  You can get many different types of  food - bratwurst and sauerkraut, a steak sandwich on a roll, pizza, a half of a roasted chicken with potato salad (yum!), or a whole fish that they serve in newspaper complete with eyes and tail (yuck!).  The festival basically looks just like a carnival in America except for one important difference...the beer tent!  The fests in our town are sponsored by our very own Bad Windsheim brewery called Brauhaus Döbler.  They brew all kinds of beers including a delicious dark Doppelbock that is a strong 8.1% but tastes smooth and delicious.  They also brew a beer for festivals aptly named 'Festbier' that we enjoyed at this particular festival.  You can always see the brewery owner Willie Döbler (his first name is actually Wilhelm!) dressed in a suit and surveying the beer sales at the festival.  I can just add that to the long list of reasons why I love small town Germany.

We met some friends at the fest on a Thursday night.  We took Jersey with us and we had a beautiful 20 minute walk in the warm sunshine from our house to the festplatz.  I snapped some pictures as we walked:

Rick and Jersey on the path behind our house



The gas station around the corner from our house. Yes, that is 1,49 Euro per liter!  We have no reason to complain about gas prices in the United States



The German grocery store



Adorable little garden house along our walk



Jersey was confused because she's never come face to face with her favorite food!



A flyer for the festival



We had food...



More food...



and beer!





Too much fun for one night


We met our friends and enjoyed a fun night with good friends, good food, and good beer.


The next day my girlfriend Teena and I took Jersey for a hike up a nearby hill/small mountain called Petersberg.  The hike is a nice mix of wooded trails and wide open fields where Jersey loves to run free.  There's a beautiful wooden cross at the top of the hill and I love to stand up there and look at all of the small towns in between all of the farmland.  The best view is of the town of Illesheim, which is a town by itself but it also houses the Army base where Rick and I work.  Teena and I always have a lot to laugh about so it was a wonderful way to spend the morning. 



The sign at the beginning of the walk. I'm not sure what the witches are all about, but they are all over the signs on this hill.



This is my favorite part of the trail-it's so woodsy and beautiful



Jersey loves to hike



Our destination-the cross on top of the hill

View of Illeshiem.  The red and white tower is right next to my office on the Army base



We made it to the top



View of another town from the hill top.  I love all of the red roofs.

Posing with Jersey and my beautiful friend Teena



Another cool part of the trail


The following day was Saturday, so Rick, our friend Joel, and I took the train to Würzburg.  It's a gorgeous city that sits on the Main River and it seems to be made for warm weather.  I will write another post dedicated entirely to Würzburg at another time.  This post is all about sunny days, so I will just say that we thoroughly enjoyed our day that included Spanish tapas for lunch and our view from a patio overlooking the river and the palace while sipping Cuba Libres (rum and coke with a lime).



A view from our table of a boat on the Main river



Enjoying our Cuba  Libres in the sun


This past Sunday was another sunny day (well, it turned out to be anyway) and I took a bike ride with the girls while Rick played golf.  We rode our bikes to Ipsheim which is a few towns away from us.  We rode part way up the mountain (which was quite a challenge) to a little outdoor cafe that features a different wine family each week.  We enjoyed a refreshing 'weinschorle', which is wine mixed with bubbly water.  It may not sound good, but I promise you it's the perfect drink on a sunny bavarian day.  We rode our bikes back down the mountain (much easier than climbing up!) and then stopped at another cafe at the bottom of the hill.  We all had a great time laughing, talking, and being silly while soaking up the sun and sipping another weinschorle.  It was just the girly afternoon that we all needed!



Being silly with a statue in Ipsheim



Heading up the mountain

Teena took this of me through her empty glass.  I love the way she sees the world ;-)



Our 'biker gang' with the vineyard behind us


Luckily, we're having some great weather, so there will be many more sunny days to enjoy.  Check back soon for more pictures of our Bavarian springtime!