So much for my writing every day! I managed to write for 2 days and it's taken me a further 6 days to write again. No self control!
May Day is a public holiday in Germany just as it is at home, except that here, you have May 1st off, or if it's at the weekend, you lose it - this year it fell on the same day as Ascension Day, so a day's holiday was lost.
The Germans are very good at maintaining their culture and heritage, and somehow seem far closer to the seasons and to nature, than we Brits. In general, I think this is great, although personally, I can't quite get my head around a Spargel menu. I mean, I love freshly griddled green asparagus, but whilst I will try one of the anaemic looking white versions, I can't ever see it becoming part of my life. But other seasonally ideas are truly great; the wine walk was one.
The wine walk on the Bergstrasse is apparently held on May 1st every year, and gives walkers a chance to sample wines along a 27km long trail. It's only held on May 1st, but I had no idea we would be joined by so many other "walkers".
If your German is any good, here is the link:
http://www.bergstraesser-wein.de/wanderung/stadt_bensheim/wanderung_frame.htm
We went en familie and met up with 2 other families at the Haupbaunhof, catching the train to the start of our tour at Heppenheim. Perhaps, I was naive, but I had imagined a nice, gentle stroll with several table-top sales on the way. Instead, we walked along in a continous herd, and on our 13km walk there were only about 5 stopping points, and at each of these the crowd swelled to such an extent that I feared for the younger children, and was forced to walk cheek by sausage with other walkers - and I got several other people's wine spilled down me.
The atmosphere though was great - relaxed and fun. We had 2 rain showers, but nothing that would dampen our spirits. The sun came out again, blue skies took over, and we were left with a feeling of wine-hastened wellbeing and contentment. Souvenir Bergstrasse glasses helped us on our way, but I am particularly pleased with my glass holder; this is a simple leather strap designed to hold the small glasses, but I think would be great at parties - no more leaving glasses down somewhere and forgetting where they are. Although, I can imagine people's faces if I did turn up with my own glass, strapped to my person. However great an idea, it somehow wouldn't be quite "right", I guess.
Perhaps strangely, my favourite stop wasn't a wine stop at all. For a wine walk, there was no wine. We could get coke, lemonade even coffee, but not wine. Anyway, this stop seemed like a hippy retreat, a clearing in the middle of a foresty area, with a few tables and chairs. There was a tipee for young kids to play in and an area for others to excavate - so the kids spent a good half an hour digging and getting covered in mud, whilst the adults soaked in the atmosphere (well allowed the wine to soak through perhaps), listening to a few German friends play really decend covers. My favourite was 500 miles, maybe not up to the Proclaimers themselves, but it was fun.
This is still one of my favourite 500 miles covers though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEMYYNLbEtw
WE left exhausted but happy - the kids as well, so don't go thinking it was just the wine doing its magic. Although on the subject of wine, I really believe that the Germans export only the stuff that they would never drink themselves as I've now had quite a lot of really good wine. I avoid the Rieslings and anything I fear might resemble Liebfraumilch and Hoch, but have been quite pleasantly surprised.