A Superfantastulisticextrawonderfuleeousious Day!!!!

 

I case you haven’t figured it out already we had a totally beyond awesome day today. Be prepared for a number of short videos as Linda the cinematographer was documenting everything. Good Linda (I Think).

Next a brief word about the “lengthy Bob word” in the title. I was really proud of coming up with a word that I thought best described the awesome day we had. I was so proud of it I read it off to Linda, remarking I thought it up myself. She glance over at me, looking over the top of her glasses and said, “Spell checker didn’t like it did it.” So much for any support from her for a new word in the English language. Disheartened Bob.

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We begin the day with Bob standing out by the road taking photos.

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It’s the attack of the roller blades! Okay, so it was just the arrival of the inline skaters that made up the annual Rhine on Skates event. They passed through St Goar this morning about 11:45 about three hours into their long day of skating. We were lucky to have front row seats for the event despite the crowds lining the route as you can see. There were some great photos taken by me as well as what seemed like hours of video by Linda.

Rhine on skates 2014

22 seconds of the five minutes they streamed past us.

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One of two busses that were following along to pick up the dropouts, and there were already some on the lead bus.

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Saturdays are when you see German grooms selling things to raise money as their friends have a great time with them. This group was on the train we took to the Winningen Moselfest.

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Winningen is a small town on the Mosel and not a place American tourists frequent making it the perfect wine festival for us. They were having one in Mainz this weekend which attracts thousands of visitors meaning it wasn’t our kind of place. Getting off the train Linda asked me if I knew which way to go. Since everyone who had gotten the train was walking in the same direction we just followed them.

Winningen Moselfest 2014

We had a great time watching the band before the ceremony of the crowning of this year’s Wine Witch took place. It was apparent from the way the wine bottles were being passed around the band that by this evening they would be playing three or for tunes at the same time depending on which way their eyes were crossed.

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A wine festival is about wine, so we bought our glasses, then our wine, trocken for me and halb trocken for Linda.

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Linda found the perfect place to rest her tiny little behind so she could better enjoy Winningen’s finest.

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The sign says it all.

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The parade before the ceremony.

Winningen Moselfest 2014

The family cinematographer was doing her thing.

 

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I told Linda my camera slipped. She thought otherwise. I said it was a photo of the lady’s foot. Linda thought otherwise. I said I wouldn’t do it again. Linda said I had better not.

Winningen Moselfest 2014

Watch for the oops just before the video ends.

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The wine witches emerging from their wine barrel carriage. I would have thought they would have flown out on a broom handle. Maybe the mostly empty wineglass in her hand tells the story.

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Wine King and Wine Witches.

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That we had a great time doesn’t even touch the surface of how much we enjoyed the festival. It was small enough that we could see and hear everything. It was traditional, being the oldest wine festival in Germany. And it was a German festival, not one that attracted hordes of foreign visitors. In fact we only heard a few words of English other than our own the whole time we were there and that was when I was buying the glasses and our wine.

But the best part for me was the the fact the blood that flows through my veins originated in part from this area of Germany as this is the region where my 4th great grandfather lived before he came to America in the mid 1700’s.

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She who loves desserts got her last wish, a banana nutella crepe, as we departed Winningen. Come to think of it she got all of her wishes today. Thank goodness she knows a guy who speaks some German.

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You may notice that I was carrying our wine glasses in my daypack while she was carrying the crepe. Bob and Linda, living another pinch me day.

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