Wetten, dass...?

Nothing bets fresh bread on a Saturday morning!

An unexpected hiccup presented itself today- poor little Kayla got a fever. Skipping out in the original plan to see Mainz, we strivved for a more local agenda. First, Sam and I spent the morning running a few errands and picked up some breakfast a the marketplaz a few blocks away. The marketplaz sells cheese, all sorts of turkey sausages (including pistachio bologna- yuk), flowers, produce and bread (of course!). We picked up some fresh breads as well as a poppyseed streusel. The streusel was just delicious; not too sweet but still had the streusel quality. Heading back home, Enrico prepared a perfect breakfast table while we decided what to do with the day. Luckily Sam remembered something about a medieval festival in Mannheim. Cultural experience, here I come.

A truck.. on the autobahn!

A small selection of the people watching potential

Okay, I admit it. As a kid, I have been to the Renaissance festival. Yes, I thought it was cool. Going now? No, no, and no. Medieval festaval in Germany? Prime people watching? YES. Right at the center was a variety of shops, your typical tacky jewelry, handbags that only a flea market would boast, trinkets galore and some fortune telling rocks (ha!). They did have some lovely wooden cutlery that would have made a great gift.

Child cruelty? I love them.

Only some of the wines...

We bravely weaved through the witches, warlocks, gypsies, pirates, knights, jesters... you name it, there were costumes. Some vendors were selling specialty tea (or tee), crepes, flammkuchen, and varied wines. Since it was a cold day, Sam and I sampled some wine from the Legolas-look-alike: hot cherry. Actually very good. We also tasted some other cold wines like elderberry and gooseberry. Buying a German portion of fresh bread, we made sure to see everything we could. There was a mock-knight fight which involved a well-rehershed show, a jester juggling blocks, and a medieval pillow fight (don't even ask). By then, the day had warmed up and turned out to be downright pretty!

Planning ahead, we turned toward home to allow time to get groceries for dinner. Stopping at the local grocery, and battling traffic in the most poorly engineering parking deck I've experienced, we picked up all sorts of produce for our Mediterranean extravaganza. One aspect I love about other countries is their local produce- here, dragonfruit is pretty common among kumquats and tons and tons of apples. Outside of the grocery was a shopping "mall" with specialty vendors, including a Mediterranean one (how perfect!). We picked up some fine olives, hummus, and stuffed grape leaves. After getting back home, I set out for a run since the day was just too beautiful to waste. I ran to the Alte Brucke darting in and out of pedestrians snapping photos of the neighboring castle. Just beautiful.

Alte Bruke

A pony??

 For my last night in Heidelberg, Enrico made his famed margaritas which doesn't quite sound like it goes with Mediterranean food but was excellent nonetheless. After our extravagant dinner, Sam and I watched DSDS (my new fav) along with Wetten dass..?. On DSDS Norman put on a spectacular show singing "Hey Baby" in the German fashion which incorporates an "ohh ahh!" and annihilates all normalcy from the song. Here's a rough recording.. but you get the picture: Norman + highlighter I am forever changed. In his performance there were actual strollers, you read that right, going around on stage being pushed by scantily clad women. His outfit looked like highlighter vomit and the travesty will never be erased from my consious memory. Unfortunately, Norman was eliminated.

On the other show they had Justin Bieber as a guest star. Even here in Germany people have Biber fever. Oh, sick. They also had people accomplishing some interesting feats like handstand balloon popping, bowling ball balancing, and pulling a train full of people with only manpower. Honestly, the stuff people come up with! Another one, the winner, was a man who could identify any town in the world with 500,000 people or more on google earth. He ID'd the most obscure places- it was amazing! I'm going to miss the crazy German TV.

An early morning start led to a super fun drive down the autobahn to Frankfurt for departure... bye bye Germany! Until next time :)