Upon meeting her at the train station, it was clear that she hadn't slept much after a wild night out in Berlin, and she was a bit hungover, if not still drunk. It sounded like the perfect time to start drinking! But first we took the regional train to Bad Kösen, found our campsite, got everything set up, and got some food into our stomachs. Only then were we ready to start visiting the wineries. (A note to readers - feel free to plan trips to visit us around Pentacost weekend, and we'll be sure to bring you to this wonderful festival. There are something like 35 wineries along the 6 km route, many of them quite small and family-run, and they all set up tents and booths this one weekend so you can sample their wares, have some food, enjoy some music and dancing, and enjoy the landscape. The other people on the tour just get friendlier as the day goes on, and it's a great way to take part in a German village-style party, rather than the standard Berlin or Munich experience. Okay, end of travel pitch!)
Here Jeremi's sampling some Speckkuchen (bacon fat cake - don't ask), a great start to a day of drinking.
This was at one of the larger producers, where they had live music throughout the day, and a variety of food, including freshly baked Flammkuchen (kind of like pizza, but more German), and a variety of cakes. While Pam and Jeremi made the mistake of splitting a bottle of wine rather than just getting a couple of glasses, I gorged on cake. 
The bottle of wine may not have been the worst idea for Jeremi, but somehow tiny, hungover Pam shouldn't really have been drinking the same amount as him. This was bound to end poorly. To give you some idea of the state that Pam was in leaving Berlin early that morning, a friend wrote the name of the metro station she had to get off at on her hand. (It's hard to read here, but it says "Hauptbahnhof", which means central train station. Much to her surprise, when she got off the train in Naumburg, the sign there also said "Hauptbahnhof"!)
I love this picture - riding along by rows of grape vines, complete with the tourist sign in the background. It says Saale-Unstrut Wein, if you can't read it. The Saale is the river that runs through Jena, and north of us, in this region, it meets the river Unstrut. This wine region is located in the valleys around the junction of these two rivers.
This place had a pretty cool cart that could be pulled up on rails between the rows of vines using a cable and mechanized winch.
At this place, and many others that we stopped, Pam kept forgetting to take off her helmet. She's not used to wearing a bike helmet, because she's also not used to riding a bike. It had been well over 10 years since she'd been on a bike, and even in high school she was more of a rollerblader than a cyclist. Still, you never forget, right? But we still had to keep pointing out that she was still wearing the helmet. And then, as the day went on, she started putting it back on backwards, which was pretty funny.
At this place (at the top of a hill, where we once stopped for ice cold rosé and water when riding through here with Marie - do you remember?), we met a very friendly extended family group, who were curious as to how a bunch of Canadians ended up at this party. Pam wanted so much to talk to people, and I worked as a translator as much as possible, but it made it hard to have completely spontaneous conversations. She wanted to take this guy's picture because he was wearing a leather glass-holder around his neck, with a small glass inside that he filled up with wine along the way. Also quite popular along this route are pottery snail shells, that are strung around the neck, and which hold 100 ml or so. He agreed to the photo, but insisted on sucking in his gut while she took it, which was pretty funny.
This plate had the most delicious cheese on it! The bread and olives and grapes were also good, but there were some seriously delicious cheeses. I got into a big conversation with the cheese guy after asking whether the milk that was used to make the cheese was pasteurized or not, and he was able to knowledgeably argue that with hard cheeses the risk is basically zero, as the aging in a dry environment doesn't allow listeria to grow. This is in keeping with some Canadian standards that I've read regarding what not to eat in pregnancy, but usually in Germany they suggest that nothing related to raw milk at all should be eaten. It was totally the right choice - that cheese was delicious.
This picture was taken by some people we met at one of the booths who had gone to university together in Mageburg something like 20 years before, and who met up every year for some sort of fun weekend, which this year involved the Weinmeile, and even a trip to Jena! The one guy was really trying to get Pam to experience German culture by sharing his herring sandwich, but she was sort of getting to the throwing-up-will-make-me-feel-better stage (though you wouldn't know it by this picture!), so herring didn't seem like a good idea. There was also a pretty funny misunderstanding when one of the women was asking Jeremi where the biggest bears are in Canada, and he thought she was asking about the biggest mountains (Bären and Bergen sound sort of alike in German). It still surprises me how often people here ask us about bears.
Notice also that they're drinking water in the above picture. Yup, it was the end of wine for the day. We were something like halfway through so we opted to ride/walk on toward Naumburg, grab something to eat, and then take one of the later trains back to Bad Kösen. The only problem with this plan was that Pam was a danger to herself and others while riding a bike at this point, and wiped out on the way. (I'm not going to say too much - both Calin and I fell off our bikes last year by the end of the evening as well.) But I was sober, and recognized how stupid this was. As such, I made us all walk through parts of Naumburg where there was any chance of running into cars. This made the trip a lot slower, but somewhat safer. We had some good food in Naumburg, and then got the train back to Bad Kösen. The route from the train station to the campground was a trail devoid of cars, so I figured it was safe to ride, even if a bit dark, as it was near midnight. Pam and I were out in front, and Jer riding a ways behind. Both Pam and I were sure we heard Jer yell something (though he claims it wasn't him), and as Pam turned around to check on him, she totally ran her bike into mine, and we both ended up on the ground. Of course everyone was worried about me and the baby, as I was well into my seventh month of pregnancy at this point, but I was completely fine. Actually, it was the easiest fall I've had in a long while, mostly because I wasn't wearing a backpack, so I fell pretty softly, and barely bruised one knee. Pam, on the other hand, was sprawled out across the road, and scraped and bruised all over. Nothing serious, but her landing reflexes weren't quite at their best. (Note that Pam teaches gymnastics for a living, and is quite sporty, but somehow still clumsy at times.)
The next day we got up at a reasonable time, packed up, and headed on our way. Soon after leaving Bad Kösen there's a choice of either riding/walking up the giant hill, which lets you visit a castle, a few monuments, and provides a great view over the valley, or whether you want to stay by the river and make the trip a bit easier. I've done both, and was leaning towards the easier option for the sake of my hungover companions, but Jeremi sold Pam on the harder route, which really does have a nicer view.
It was worth it, right? We also ended up having some food at the restaurant in the castle at the top, which was pretty good, though the service took forever!!! Even by German standards. However, there was an older gentleman there selling used books and postcards and the like, and he took a liking to Pam. Unfortunately he didn't speak much English, and she doesn't speak German, but he gave her a copy of a small book that he was selling there. It contained a story (in German) that was written a couple hundred years ago, and which was set in that castle. It also had a cool illustration from the original, showing what the castle looked like before much of it was destroyed at various points in history. He was involved in some sort of historical association, and they'd found the original, and he republished it. I read part of it, but in addition to being old-fashioned language and spelling (German has had a few orthographic reforms), it was also written in fraktur, which I don't have much experience with, and which made reading unfamiliar words even harder. Still, it's a unique souvenir for Pam, which was given to her very freely.
The only bad part about going up to the top of the hill was that the route down from it was under construction, and there was a lengthy detour instead, which somehow involved climbing yet another giant hill. Still, eventually we made it back on the path.Our next stop was in Dornburg, where we visited the palaces there...
...and enjoyed their gardens, particularly the wide variety of roses. Yup, I stopped to smell them too. We also stopped for ice cream there, and had the most amazing soft ice cream ever. They didn't usually have the machine there, it was a special thing, and there was only one flavour - half chocolate, half hazelnut. The chocolate wasn't like what's usually available with soft serve, it was dark brown, and really tasted of cocoa. Together, they were amazing. On the way back to our bikes I wanted to get seconds (it was that good!), but alas, she was already cleaning out the machine - they were sold out.
After yet another detour, we finally made it back to Jena! Here's Pam, celebrating her victory, outside our apartment. In all, it was about a 50 km ride, with more hills than planned thanks to construction. Still, we had good weather for the ride, and we all survived. Somehow their hangovers and my pregnancy led to roughly equal handicaps.The next day was a holiday (the Monday of Pentacost), and we decided to take it a bit easier and show Pam around Jena. Here we are in the Wagnergasse...
...and Jeremi and Pam split a wreath of Krölsch.
Finally, we ended the day in true Jenaer fashion, grilling with some friends in the park. There was much too much food, but it was all delicious.
The next day Jeremi went to work, but I'd taken a couple days holiday to hang out with Pam some more. We took the train back up to Berlin, where she was going to fly out Thursday morning, and I was planning on staying there with her until Wednesday night.That first day was hot, and we walked ridiculous distances around the city. We started out with a nice lunch in the park (seen below), walked by the Tiergarten, by the Siegesäule, along Unter den Linden, visited the museum at Checkpoint Charlie, and set off in search of a maternity dress for a wedding I was going to later in the month. (We did eventually find a good dress, which you can see in an upcoming post about our trip to Greece, but we had to walk a lot to get there...) Finally, we took the metro to Kreuzberg, and had a wonderful supper at Hasir, a Turkish restaurant we went to when visiting Berlin with Calin, Susanne, Brandy, and Bruce a while back, and which I've been wanted to go to again since then. Again, the food was great, the price reasonable, and the service excellent. I really wish we lived closer to Berlin sometimes!
The next day, Wednesday, Pam and I took the train out to Potsdam. I'd never been before, and it seemed like a good day trip. The city itself is quite pretty, and rather posh in comparison to Berlin. Here are some storefronts in the Dutch quarter, which really does look more like the Netherlands than Germany.
Not Dutch enough? What about this old-timey windmill?
Our next stop was Schloss (Palace) Sanssouci, with its impressive gardens. 
Here we are, on the terraces leading up to the palace. It doesn't look so bad in this picture, but it was threatening rain at this point, and I was wishing that I'd brought a jacket. (The day before was over 30 degrees and sunny, and I hadn't checked the forecast while packing for the one night trip.)
Ah yes, and another she-lioness picture for Jeremi to add to his collection...
At this point it started to rain. Hard. And cold. And nasty. We hid beside a building through the worst of it, but we were getting really cold and wet. Pam had the world's smallest umbrella back at the hostel, but hadn't brought it on our trip to Potsdam. She also had a more waterproof jacket with her, but hadn't worn it that day. We really didn't think it was going to rain.Still, eventually it calmed down, and we set off in search of the Chinese Tea House, one of the features of the garden. It's a bit gaudy, but I kind of liked it.
In this picture you can (sort of) see the decorations on the roof as well.
And finally, we made it to the west end of the gardens, and the New Palace, where magically, the sun came out, and we were able to warm up and dry up a bit on the steps. 
We headed back into Berlin on the train, which was more crowded than usual, I think, because the previous train had been cancelled. As such, we weren't able to get a seat, which our aching feet dearly needed. Pam was shocked that no one would offer a seat to a pregnant woman, but I've come to learn that that's perfectly normal here. (She kept telling me to stick my belly out further - maybe they just hadn't noticed?) Only once in this entire pregnancy (and I'm really very visibly pregnant now) has anyone offered a seat to me on the bus, and it was a woman in her 70s. I guess Germans just don't learn that that's something that you should do.That night we went out for Vietnamese food, as it's something I love that's hard to get here in Jena, and Pam had already had lots of traditional German fare over the past while, so we were both happy. At the end of the meal the waitress brought us a couple of shots of some sort of liqueur (Pam said it was pretty good, and tasted like apples), which Pam had to take care of all by herself. She wasn't complaining. That night I headed back to Jena on the train, and she flew back to England the next morning. It was great to see her, and to show her around where we've been living the past while.
No comments:
Post a Comment