Gallivanting in Germany

From Denmark we headed to Mannhiem in Germany. Not the most direct route, but an opportunity to meet up with Thomas & Julienne, two friends of mine I met in Cape Town. The weekend we visited happened to coincide with the Wurstmarkt, an annual wine festival in nearby Bad Dürkheim. So after catching up over lunch we caught the tram out to the Wurstmarkt. A number of local wineries had large stands setup, and we sampled some of their wines & local food from other stalls. There’s also a large number of fairground rides setup, with Julienne & I braving a three-dimensional spinning ride, and all of us venturing on the ‘Wild Mouse’ roller coaster (apparently much tamer than the previous year’s ‘Wild Mouse XL’).

The next day we visited nearby Heidelberg to view the sandstone castle, nested in the trees above the town. A rather unlucky castle it’s been twice partially destroyed by lightning bolts in the 1500s & 1700s.

Leaving Heidelberg, we had a slightly eventful time trying to find a launderette as I’d inadvertently selected a launderette on Google Maps located on an American airbase. Needless to say we had to find another one nearby. From there we made our way to a winery in the Mosel valley, with a small lot for camper van parking, so we stopped for the evening and sampled some of their wine. The next morning we took the small ferry across the river to Beilstein for a brief explore before heading to Luxembourg.