05/2/16 Day 30: Bad Dürkheim, DE

Woke up before my alarm today. Like 1.5 hrs before which was annoying but I went down to breakfast early and got caught up cat videos on FB. They're still cute, FYI. Oh those cute little fuzzy buggers...

Moved the car at 9 to a street parking spot and waited for the guys to roll down to bfast. Nice spread. Only had appetite for yogurt and coffee though. We checked out of the Hotel Villa Esplinade at 11 and went on a walkabout towards downtown Bonn. There were some pretty sights to be sure and the weather, people, the weather was finally playing along. Needed, gasp, sunglasses. And didn't need, double gasp, a sweater. Things were looking up.

Bonner Münster, Rathaus, University buildings, Beethoven's crib.

Inside courtyard of the Münster, view of Rhein, green outside the Uni, Mosel valley (on the drive to Bad Dürkheim).

Kölsch am Rhein.

We saw the sights, cruised the shops in the pedestrian zone and then walked to the Rhein. The weather had everyone out. Some people were still walking around in jackets; the weather was so nice, some people didn't believe it. Outside of the train station we had one of the best Doners of the tour. The guy even reupped on garlic and hot sauce halfway through; a move never before seen. It's the little things...

Said goodbye to our friend Max who waved to us as we pulled out of parking spot at the hotel. Good dude. It was nice to see him again.

The drive was pretty. Instead of taking the autobahn, I picked the B9 which took us past small towns on the west side of the Rhein. Beautiful. Reminded me of the boat tour the Chartrand's took on my first visit to this country when I was 8 or 9; castles up on the hills surrounding this mighty, fast flowing river. Around Koblenz we strafed west and pick up the A61 (?) and made a B line for the small wine country town of Bad Dürkheim located west of Mannheim.

We rolled up to our friends Charly and Connie's house which is located on one of the hills surrounding the town. The view from patio is fairly magnificent. We had enough time to dump our luggage and then we had a dinner reservation in the largest wine barrel in the world.

1.7 million liters of wine this thing can hold. Never has, but still.

Dinner was delicious and fun. I went simple with grilled chicken in a cream sauce and fries with a big salad. Others were more daring. Alex got the meat plate which was piled on top of mashed potatoes and fried onions next to a pile of sauerkraut. I had a touch of food envy.

There was wine, good food, and many laughs. Proooooost!

After dinner we walked about town and stopped into various spots for liquids and eventually gelato. Sigi, charly's friend, owns a beverage company and knows everyone. The gelato spot was closed, they reopened for us. It's good to know people.

Made it back to the house and had a small schnapps tasting (as is usually the case) played games on the porch and celebrated a night off.

So grateful to have such gracious friends who take such good care of us. My laundry was drying peacefully outside. Clean trousers is a beautiful thing. Night!