Day 13 Thursday August 14th - Rain rain go away

This is Philipp's apartment building on Richard Wagner Strauss. We are staying on Floor 1. Floor 1 in Europe is actually what we North Americans would call the second floor. What we title the first floor they will call the main floor so the second floor is their Floor 1--make sense? The building is beautiful and very modern. The entire neighbourhood is upscale and on a hill overlooking the city.

Lana's guilty German pleasure:

While Paris is dotted with great Boulangeries and cake shops, I (Lana) have to admit that Germany's Bäckerei's serve up bread that is just as delicious including a pretzel croissant that is a cross between the two that is not to be missed. When I'm working at Walldorf for SAP I stay in Heidelberg and catch the train to the office. The main reason for this is that I really shouldn't drive while here in SAP but secondly, there is a great Bäckerei at the Main Train station called Le Crobag. This shop is a chain that you'll find across Germany and I think it makes make than decent pastries. One in particular is my guilty pleasure--the Wurst Croissant. Wurst = sausage like hot dog + Croissant. A German version of "pig in a blanket" where the sausage is encased in croissant pastry and baked to crispy, flakiness. I don't even want to think of the calories consumed in this treat so I usually only have 1-2 when I'm here. But it's the best guilty pleasure and I highly recommend having one if you find yourself in Germany and you come across a Le Crobag :)

Lana's guilty German pleasure

Great sleeps last night as we actually have curtains and a king size bed. The weather is cloudy with the occasional blue sky that peeks through. Lana tries to have a shower, but there is no hot water! We try looking for a hot water heater, but no luck. It must be a communal hot water heater shared by the building owners. We then see a couple of trucks parked in front of our building and working guys carrying tools and buckets into the apartment. Of course, the printing on their trucks is in German, but Lana deciphers it is a plumber. A man is carrying a large caulking gun.

This is where the infamous Murphy's Law comes into action. Lana decides to heat up some water and then use this hot water to wash her hair in the bathroom sink given we don't know when we'll actually have hot water back. About 11:30 the first truck disappears and I test the hot water and it is working. This is just as Lana has finished washing her hair.    ;-)

We head out after 12:30 to the wine festival as our destination for lunch. On the way, we arrive in front of the self-proclaimed largest cuckoo clock in the world and it is 1 pm. A crowd has gathered so we stop and listen to the 1 pm cuckoos. You can see the red door and they both open separately. ;-)

Lana is on a mission for Flammkuchen. She has her favourite place at the wine festival and for Euro12 you get this. It is like a German Alsacitian style pizza, but not really a pizza. Thin crust, creme fraiche and toppings like cheese, proscuitto ham and arugula. Delicious as always!

Next up is of course Bratwurst sausage that is about 12" and in a small bun. Yes, you can't replicate bratwurst in other countries. They are best in Deutschland. Plus, you get to use German mustard (senf) which I personally think is superior.

Next shopping mission for Lana is to find a Deutschland National Football (Fussball) jersey. They don't have any Damen (Woman) jerseys until November. We try Sports Arena first and then find a small sporting good store along the walking mall. It is Euro20 cheaper and she gets the XL children's size jersey that fits perfectly. Plus, it already has the four stars from winning the World Cup four times.

I could say we are high above the Altstadt (old town) of Wiesbaden looking down, but that would be a lie. This is a small scale model located in the heart of downtown that is pretty decent and it even has braille name plates for the streets/buildings.

This is a Russian four man brass band from Saint Petersburg. They played all the popular Classical music songs perfectly. We stayed for quite a while and listened and then dropped some change into their collection. I speculate they are professionally trained musicians.

Lana does some shopping and looking. The entire day is overcast, then some sun or more likely light and then heavy rains. A Jekyll and Hyde weather day, but mostly wet and then cold when no sun. Too bad as it must be impacting the wine festival drinking and eating sales. While we were sitting at the wine festival eating our bratwurst and older German man with his arms behind his back walks past us and lets go a huge fart. He never flinched and we both broke out laughing.

Lana is eager to buy one of her favourite wine festival pleasures and that is their German-style potato chips. They come with a sour cream dip for Euro4. They are delicious and salty and crispy.

Making the potato chip from the actual potato.

Potato chips placed in bowl with salt. 

We enjoy a glass of Sekt = sparkling wine (Euro3.50) while watching a live band sing classic old english language songs from the 70s and some newer tunes. Of course the live music played continuously during the day is free (frei). We are sitting at a picnic table covered in cloth and under cover so all is good. On our way walking back home the rain is coming down hard. Before we get back to the apartment the sun is shining and it is warming up again.
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Philipp's apartment has a lot of light switches and switches that work the blinds. It takes us at least five minutes to figure out which operates which at night before we go to bed. Funny!   :-)

When you enter the apartment front door after dark all the lights in the entrance and stairwell are activated automatically.

Walk back to downtown area for another German dinner. It is sunny and a little windy in the high teens (Celsius). We decide to get walking directions to a restaurant we ate at last year with our friends; Bäckerbrunnen. Another authentic German cuisine place although it is hidden in the Altstadt (old town) part of downtown which is why we need walking directions. Food was decent, but not outstanding. Service was dramatically better though.

One page of the menu for Bäckerbrunnen. 

Bitburger biere (beer) and one of Lana's favourite water Gerolsteiner.

Lana's Käsespätzle mit Salatgarnitur. Basically German cheese noodles.

Schweizer Wurstsalat mit Bratkartofflen. Wurst sausage with German potatoes fried in bacon fat.

We walked the short distance to the Weinfest and it was now packed with people around 20:30. Some police officers walking around. We stopped at Weingut Rheinhartshausen kiosk. We ordered a glass of their Auslese Riesling wine. This Weingut is one of our favourites. The Auslese wine is a sweeter wine made with some of their very best grapes so perfect for an after dinner drink. It was Euro5 for a pour. We walked over to the free music stand and listened to another band play english cover tunes. Hard to find a place to stand where there was a number of people trying to get by. 

Around 21:00 we decide to walk back to the apartment. The night is cloudless, but it is on the chilly side. I am wearing my light jacket. Unseasonably cold here today. Good to go for a good walk after eating and drinking. Another enjoyable easy day.