the Weinmeile, 2010

Ah yes, another year, another Weinmeile! This was my third time at the wine festival that takes place in the wine region north of Jena every Pentacost, though last year I was pregnant, so it hardly counts. We went with our friends Calin and Susanne, who made the wise decision to start in Naumburg so that we were able to negotiate the walk from the train station to the first booth in daylight while completely sober, as it's along the side of a minor highway, which you have to cross without traffic lights.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect, and it was one of the nicest days we'd had yet that year, and there were lots of groups of people at the train station that morning, heading up for the day just like us. Here are Béla and I on the train.

This is from the first stop of the day, where they had this cute little paper garland of bunches of grapes.


Here Calin is practicing his high-five technique with Béla, which was a big hit.
There was a group at a nearby table who heard us speaking English, and I think assumed that we were tourists (which we were, sort of...). They all had the pottery snail shells that many people wear on strings around their necks, in order to drink wine from them. The woman had two spares this year (they're stamped with "Weinmeile 2010"), and she kindly gave them to us. Here you can see Béla checking it out.

Here we are at what I think was our second stop of the day, where Béla is enjoying the grape stuffed in his mouth. One of the common snacks sold at this event is skewers of alternating grapes and cubes of cheese, which are pretty well his two favourite things.
Enjoying the scenery, walking from winery to winery...
...and the view across the field of the city of Naumburg, with its famous cathedral clearly visible.

Ah, nap time!

It was hard to get a picture that did it justice, but the road was really packed with pedestrians. So many people out to enjoy the perfect weather and the lovely wine.
The next stop was winery Hey, which we hadn't visited in previous years, but which was recommended by our friend Barbara, who had worked there during the Weinmeile a couple of times. It was set back a bit from the main road, but worth the walk in...
Béla slept through the whole time at the Hey winery, which was a shame for him, as he missed the delicious pork picatta and asparagus!
Here's one of the funny-shaped barrels on display along the way, with the poster from this year's Weinmeile, complete with map, posted on it. The barrels are oval so that they can be rolled, but don't easily roll away.
Here we are just breaking out of the trees to go along the biggest section of vines, where the big "Saale Unstrut Wein" sign is, and where there are sample vines along the left of the different varieties of grapes grown in the region, which is fun when visiting in the fall, for grape-tasting.

Here you can see the sign in the upper right (like the "Hollywood" sign, but a bit smaller).
It being only May, the vines weren't so impressive yet, but in a couple of months (i.e. now, because I'm so late writing this), it's another story.

Later in the evening - Béla was asleep again, and the sky was growing darker. Here we're passing by the sign for Saalhäuser, so we were almost at the end. What we discovered was that although you can go either way on the Weinmeile, pretty well all the big late night parties are toward the other end, where we started, by Naumburg. It was okay that we missed the big parties this year though, as we really needed to catch the last train back, and Béla may not have been up to the big party.

We did manage to find one last place open in Bad Kösen though, so we were able to have one last bottle of wine on our way to the train station.
I like this picture because both of us are wearing shirts that match our eyes. (I think his eyes are a bit browner now, but still not fully determined.)
And finally, he was out for the night, clutching his shell to make sure it didn't get away. He was a champ - really, the easiest and happiest baby all day long. At each place we took him out of the stroller (when he was awake) to let him move around a little so he didn't feel like he was cooped up all day, and he really seemed to enjoy the whole day. In the end we were out with him for 14 hours, and it was a complete success. (Easiest baby ever!)
And us, at the end of a perfect day, being a bit silly while waiting for the train. As you might be able to guess, Susanne took most of the pictures, which is why she's not in so many of them. Thanks, Susanne! You're much better at documenting our lives than we are!
I'm already looking forward the the 2011 Weinmeile!