We started out the day at our usual pace – slow…had breakfast and headed out around 11am. Today was the day we were heading to the wine country. Our first stop was at the largest hole in the world…man-made anyway. It is mined for the brown coal which is used for electricity…it was really quite the large hole. Almost as big as the hole where Penny Lane used to be. We were on our way to a town called Dernau in the Ahr Wine Region where we had lunch at a place called HofGarten. A charming little restaurant with nice people and great food (Stacy and I had Roast-Ox meat). After lunch, we took a walk to the Ahr Winzere G Dernau. We got to taste different types of wine which were all very good…and I must say that this was all in the name of research, it is a tough job having to drink glass after glass of wine, this all was not for pleasure, but for education.

After we got nice and liquored up, we headed to the second winery on our list, a town called Mayschoβ. The winery there is a bit bigger and we got to take a tour of the cellar where all the wine is kept. It was a very educational tour…we got to see how wine is made. After the tour, our tickets allowed us to have a glass of their wine (more research). Stacy and I commented on how nice the glass was that the wine came in and came up with ideas on how to steal them. Fortunately, the glasses were ours to keep…this was very good as we avoided an international incident.

After we were poured into the car, we started to head back…but not before we got to take a short tour of another small town called Altenahr. There are ruins at the top of a very large hill…after yesterday, there was NO way I was climbing it.

We then headed back home where we enjoyed yet another fantastic meal…a very German meal. After, we enjoyed more wine (research)…a bottle of Federweiβer (a very young white wine), Federroter (a very young red wine), and a white wine made from red grapes…if you are wondering if it is possible, yes it is and once I sober up, I will explain it to you.

Tomorrow we head to Paris…home of the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre and French Fries.

Selena