German excursions with Jennifer

We gave Jennifer a taste of Germany near our village --introducing her to the tastes, smells, weather and sights was a lot of fun!

The bakery truck comes right to our door several times a week!  Full of tasty breads, pretzels and bakery sweets!  Wheat on wheels....

IDAR- OBERSTEIN
home of the Church in the Rocks, as well as many jewelry stores and precious stone mines...Our trip here was to meet a friend of Jennifer's, however, my dear GPS "Heather" (God bless her, grrr) just kept turning us in circles.  We ended up not meeting the friend as we drove around the city for 45 minutes in search of the "meeting place".  Finally, we stumbled upon a shop and had a wonderful German conversation with the sweetest grandma ever!  "Oma" gave us a wonderful lunch suggestion and in following her directions, we found the church!  Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to go inside the church, but we did enjoy a feast for lunch.

Schloss Oberstein, home to 2 brothers in 14th century, who both fell in love unknowingly with the same girl. (obviously dysfunctional families existed back then too!)  When Wyrich returned home and learned of the engagement, he threw his brother over the cliff in a fit of rage.  Wyrich eventually built the church on the rock as penance for his sin.  He died there on the altar steps as the church was consecrated.

The church on the rock:

Lunch restaurant, Oma's favorite: I love the mix of English and German around here...Ger-lish"

Spießbraten --flame grilled pork steak with radish slaw and baked potato....
it's like being in Iowa everyday with this kind of meat!!! 

Cochem Castle

 Cochem castle, built around the year 1000, had many inhabitants including counts, lords and archbishops until it was blown up by the French in 1689.  Cochem castle laid in ruin for the next 200 years until Louis Ravené, a German businessman purchased it in 1868 and started the reconstruction for their summer home.  The castles' decor reflects the Renaissance & Baroque periods and much of the structure is open to the public.  The incredible detail in woodwork and the re-creation of the living space is pretty amazing!

Jennifer & me with a view of the Mosel River from atop the castle

Inside a dining area in the castle

Alex decided to journey with us today in the freezing-cold-windy-rainy-let's go see a castle day!  This is the main square in Cochem, still decorated for Easter.  Alex found comfort in a warm "apfel strudel mit eis" (actually we all loved it and the warm drink!)

Cochem castle had a falcon program and we managed to catch this guy on top of the crest outside the castle!  No little German village in the Mosel wine valley is complete without the customary wine shop and tasting room.  We found a little cellar with ice wine--another experience to share with Jennifer, but not nearly as tasty as the -20* ice wine at Maria's Italian place....I did find some pear liqueur to bring home but it's already gone.  Must've been a hole in the bottle or something....