Moselle Valley

Today we slept in and then headed for the Moselle Valley town of Bernkastel-Kues again. We wanted to return for some wine tasting of the regions famous Reisling wines. The wines are grown on STEEP hill sides lining the Mosul River as far as you can see. Some of the vineyards are planted on a 72% grade which is extremely steep. The area is good for Reisling because of the blue slate stone that is embedded in the soil which contributes to good white grape growing. Other parts of Germany grow red grapes, but this area predominantly grows white grapes.

There was a wine museum with a wine cellar containing over 130 bottles of wine. For 9 euros, one could taste at his/her leisure all the wine he/she could handle. It was excellent, but I must say, there is only so much white wine I can taste. It gets too sugary. There was a small room with reds but 90% was white.

Jennifer found her own room where she developed an affinity for practically every wine in the room. She's not a big wine drinker, but once she found her taste we couldn't leave without a bottle of her favorite.

After Moselle Valley, we travelled back to Ramstein AFB to pick up a few other souvenirs. They're the same souvenirs you can buy at many of the towns in Germany but tons cheaper because they're on an American base. After Ramstein it was on to Landstuhl, where the American hospital is located (and where President Obama visited just a week ago), for one last taste of italian ice cream.

It was a leisurely day which was much needed after a long vacation of hectic travel seeing as much as we can see. When I return to the State's I'll provide an update of my thoughts and impressions of Germany in general and then post the TONS of pictures I took. Looking forward to seeing everyone upon our return.

R&J