Freinsheim Blossom Festival

The Freinsheim Blossom Festival is an annual event that takes place in the medieval town of Freinsheim, surrounded by vineyards and wineries. The event allows wineries to showcase this season's wines, and allows visitors to have a taste of all the goodness. We purchased our tickets (12 Euro for 16 glasses/150ml) and had a good variety of "wet and dry" (Corey's joke)… 

There were also a few carnival rides, a bake sale, and some vendors selling homemade goods. It was a beautiful sunny day, and a cute town to just walk around with friends and take in the gorgeous surroundings!

The town's wall was constructed in the 1500s, but the town likely dates back to the 6th century!

A view a house connected to the Town Wall

An interesting street corner and Corey the juggler

After exploring the town, we took a walk through the local fruit groves of Kreuzhof Winery. We were passed by horse pulled carts carrying loads of visitors, and a colorful train shuttling visitors through the streets.

I wish I had taken a few more pics of the actual festival! Maybe we'll be back to Freinsheim :)

D'Amneville Zoo

   As an animal lover, I always loved going to the zoo when I was a kid- we really only used to frequent one particular zoo in Rhode Island (because anything further away than 30 minutes was too far!). So now that we live near numerous zoos and wild parks, I think I love visiting them as much as my little boy does!

   This past weekend, we decided to enjoy the recent sunny weather and take a trip to the Amneville Zoo in Amneville, France. Just under 1.5 hours from our house, it was an easy drive across the French border to the park. The area seems to be a popular place- we parked near a slew of restaurants, an indoor ski slope, a bowling alley, mini golf, and an ice rink. 

   The zoo itself is pretty big, and the animals have well-maintained enclosures. I won't say the animals looked "happy" because zoo animals never seem happy to me… but that's a whole different conversation. The entrance fee was a hefty 32 Euro per person to enter (LJ was free). They also had popcorn for sale to feed to the animals (or yourself). I saw several food vendors scattered around the zoo, but we did not stop by any to check out what they had to offer...

  We wandered around and took our time seeing each exhibit. I loved seeing the white tiger; the male paced back and forth, and each time he passed by the glass was a thrill! There were a couple females, a few cubs, and the male all sharing the space. 

  We also saw plenty of birds, monkeys, hippos, rhinos, and wild cats. The Rhinos had a large enclosure where we spotted an adorable baby and mama relaxing in the sun!

The polar bear was putting on a show for viewers, diving down and pressing his huge paws on the glass, then pushing off with a huge splash! 

The seals were a favorite of LJ- the trainers and seals put on a show for the audience complete with singing and dancing.

  My favorite part of the zoo was the gorilla enclosure. The large outdoor/indoor area housed at least 5 gorillas who were casually seen munching on greens, swinging on tire swings, and checking us out as we checked them out. It was the largest gorilla enclosure I've seen at a zoo, and they looked well taken care of.

  Overall, we spent about 3 hours here, and then rushed by some exhibits toward the exit to prevent a toddler melt down- you could easily spend more time here, as we skipped the Tiger World (show) and some other exhibits toward the end.  We enjoyed this zoo but I think it was a one time visit for us (being a little further away, and pretty expensive)!

  I have to mention our trip home- almost as thrilling as the zoo, as we stopped by Cora, a French hypermarket (think CostCo but with endless French cheese, wine, meat, baguettes...oh my). We went a little overboard on chocolate, but also found some great deals on fresh produce and meat! 

Burg Lichtenberg

I've read that there are over 20,000 castles/ruins here in Germany so I wanted to get started on seeing some. Many are closed for the winter season (until March),  so we will continue our castle touring in a couple of months. Anyways, Burg Lichtenberg is a short and easy drive from us (thanks to the GPS), and we could wander around the grounds at our leisure.  

The castle had great views of the surrounding countryside

The castle was built around 1200, and faced plundering and fires during the French Revolution which destroyed most of the interior. It has since been restored, and now houses a restaurant, hostel, and 3 museums.

While we were wandering around the grounds, Corey stumbled upon a room in one of the castle towers   that was full of musicians- we found out that they meet together every so often to jam. The group consisted of Germans, young and old, with various woodwind and brass instruments. They invited us in to listen/play after Corey explained that I was a piano teacher. They let us know that today's group featured two men from Syria playing a native tune on a drum and stringed instrument called an oud, and everyone else was to improvise to their song. It was a neat experience, and reminded me of my days at the Purple Piano of fellow musicians just gathering together to share their love of music.

Trier Christmas Market

We decided to take a trip to a Christmas market in the city of Trier, as we had heard that it was one of the bigger ones to visit.  After about an hour drive, we arrived in the city and easily found parking in a pay-to-park lot near the Electoral Palace. I'm sure the garden and property is beautiful in the warmer months, but this time of year I was too cold to explore! Also nearby was the Aula Palatine (the Basilica of Constantine) that was interesting to see (sadly I did not get any pictures of this..). 

The Electoral Palace

The downtown area is more modern,  but also included some traditional German architecture 

We walked a short distance and followed the crowd into the Christmas market area, which was full of vendors selling gluhwein (spiced hot wine), hot cocoa, bratwurst, ornaments, holy and mistletoe, gingerbread, and much more- so much to see! The crowd was a little overwhelming but we found a less crowded area to stand and eat some food, in front of the Cathedral of Saint Peter. I ate mini Nutella pancakes with marzipan, and Corey opted for the flammkuchen.  

enjoying some gluhwein

vendors

making our way through the crowd toward the Cathedral

In front of the Cathedral we listened to some musicians playing Christmas Carols, and did some people watching. Soon it was too cold to explore anymore, and our paid parking spot was about to expire! Overall, I enjoyed the Trier market but I am excited to see others next year. 

The Cathedral of Saint Peter

a giant German Christmas pyramid 

a fancy manhole cover :)

Heidelberg Castle

Happy New Year! The sightseeing Smiths have been very busy in 2015… first and foremost, we had a sweet baby boy who makes our life complete. Second, we moved from Okinawa, Japan, to Ramstein, Germany. This was a big move for us; it was our first move as a married couple and we both learned a lot about what to do and what not to do during this time. But, that is another post for another day. Anyways, I'm starting off the new year with trying to keep up with some of our travels now that we are in Europe. I'm going to start with the first city we visited: Heidelberg, Germany.

The Castle overlooks old downtown Heidelberg

Heidelberg is about an hour drive away via the autobahn, through countryside and vineyards- but on this day it was foggy and the views were not that great (it has literally rained or stayed overcast every single day since we've been here). We were destined for Heidelberg Castle. It being a Sunday, I didn't realize that most shops/restaurants would be closed so I guess we lucked out that the castle stayed open to tourists. We bought tickets to walk around the grounds but didn't know you had to buy a separate ticket to go inside! Oh well, we will save that for another trip, I suppose.

the Castle was built around 1214 for Louis I, and later expanded by Rupert III

a little excited to be here?

 Every street we walked down was so picturesque- what a beautiful old town

a view from the top

After visiting the castle, we decided to walk around the downtown area and find something to eat.  We found an Irish Pub that was open (and looked stroller friendly). It was not too busy and a had nice pub atmosphere with decent food. After lunch I had the most amazing gelato i've ever tasted- mine was cappuccino flavor, Corey went with the zimt (cinnamon). We plan to return to Heidelberg in the warmer months and explore a little more! 

Old Sturbridge Village

My favorite season is definitely Fall. Living on a tropical island, I never realized just how much I love and miss Fall in New England. That being said, while "home" this fall, I took every opportunity to be outdoors and enjoy the weather. While looking for somewhere to walk around, my mom and i decided to take a trip to Old Sturbridge Village: an outdoor history museum located in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. It depicts a rural 1830's New England town. It's a neat place to walk around and pretend that you are living in the 1800s!

I can't remember whose house this was; each house or shop had an explanation to who lived/worked there and what their job was (shoe maker, barrel maker, potter, farmer, blacksmith, etc.) 

Sheep friends

My mom, in the school house… Those kids must have been cold, come winter time!

making a cow friend, of course

A bedroom inside one of the farm houses

more sheep friends

A wool mill