Rüdesheim

Wednesday we ventured out, naively following our trusty GPS to Rüdesheim in search of a Christmas store. when we were within minutes of our destination, GPS lady said: "turn right and board the ferry".  Yeah .... we had to take a ferry across the Rhein river.  

Enjoy this video (admittedly slow-moving) of our trip.

Directly across from the Ferry stops were grapevines growing on the side of a very steep hill.

and to the right, the city of Rüdesheim,  

Rüdesheim is known for its Christmas Market in November and December each year and for having some ridiculously narrow 'roads'.  

Please see the following trip down one such street ... complete with delightful narration from Hubby and Wifey. 

We did eventually park and walk around a bit so we could get a better feel for the culture and environment of this particular community.  We made a friend along the way:  

After recovering from the subsequent proverbial heart attack, we may have done some shopping.  Maybe :)  

Frankfurter Sauce

Last year while visiting Germany, Hubby and I picked up a bottle of Kornmayer Frankfurter Rote Sauce.  It included the words "extra scharf" meaning extra hot!  We didn't really give it much thought beyond that, and Hubby promptly took the sauce to work to share.  

sad, empty bottle

As the time came to return to Germany, a coworker mentioned the Kornmayer sauce was fantastic and asked us to pick up another bottle.  

Our first night in town, we went by the Real, a local grocery store we've visited a number of times intending to stock up on some caffeinated beverages, snack foods for the hotel room, and get a jump start on shopping for things to bring home with us (Frankfurter sauce, spaetzle, etc).  We had a successful stop, picking up most of what Wifey planned to buy during the trip but no Frankfurter sauce.  

The following evening, google came to the rescue.  We found the website for our apparently special sauce and it included a list of Dealers!  These were promptly printed and mapped by Wifey and soon we set out in search of the closest one to our hotel (about an hour away).  

See below a visual tour of our journey:

No, they were not.

Sadly for us, our shopping endeavor occurred on a Sunday - which apparently in German means "everything is closed day". Always up for adventure we still had a good time looking and hoping, before eventually going back home with plans to try again during the week. 

Tuesday we returned to the first location on our list.  We chose it because it is a larger vs. specialty store and we expected would offer more selection.

We did not find the Kornmayer sauce at the Scheck-in Center.

So we pressed ahead, planning to revisit 2 more locations which were in the same town before quitting for the night.  Our next stop was actually a wine store called Villa Vinum.

It looked a bit dark when we arrived ... but the door was open!  Their hours indicated we had arrived only 10 minutes before closing for the night.  

And inside we found a display of Kornmayer sauces ... you can see them on the left part of the below picture just above the halfway mark.  (I was being subtle with my photography).  

But ....

Still no extra scharf Frankfurter sauce.  

We began chatting with the sales clerk who spoke the best English we've heard since we arrived and she explained that the particular sauce we were looking for is only sold within the city limits of Frankfurt.  Note: none of the stores we visited were in Frankfurt.  Wifey particularly choose to hit the dealers on the outskirts of town (essentially Suburbia) instead of dealing with the crazy-ness of Frankfurt.  We went ahead and purchased some of the Mainz version of Kornmayer sauce "for comparison" and returned home.  

Our intention is to stop by one of a few locations to purchase the goal sauce on our way to the airport when it comes time to leave.  Our fantastic fluent-English speaking (half-American, half-German we learned) assistant directed us to 3 particular stores which she recommends out of the many options in Frankfurt.   An updated post may follow. 

See update here.  

Ramsteiner Hofbräu

Sunday after church we met up with some coworkers for lunch at Ramsteiner Hofbräu.  This was Hubby's second trip here and Wifey's first.  I'm including a few pictures of the restaurant below:

Our lunch selections:  Wifey did not prefer this schnitzel as compared to the same dish from the night before at our hotel's restaurant.  Hubby enjoyed the Currywurst so much he had it twice in a row for lunch!  

Schnitzel

Currywurst

Saturday Night - Dinner

Saturday night we ate dinner in our hotel's restaurant.  It was yummy and good times were had by all.  I think so anyway!

Tablescape:

My place setting:

Wifey's Schnitzel with Spaetzle:

Hubby's lamb on ratatouille:

And a small sampler from the 'salad' bar:

And no dinner would be complete without dessert:

One of us enjoys photos a bit more than the other ... care to guess which is which?  

Parking Disc

Parking, particularly parking in city centers, is an ongoing challenge.  Between our rental car being a small boat, the tiny tiny size of most parking places, and a general distaste for paying to park, and a complete inability to read the street signs regulating parking, it often causes stress.

We did notice by watching other vehicles that sometimes a car had a little blue device displayed in the windshield.  Luckily, wifey is nosey and had seen that same device in our rental tucked away and pulled it out.

After a bit of research (to which I'm linking here because I use this blog as a reference point for things I used to know and have forgotten), this allows for free parking in certain areas for up to a particular length of time. Sadly, we still must read the posted signs to know which areas and for how long.

Update:

The picture below shows 30-minute parking with a parking disk between the hours of 9 am and 6 pm.  Included in English, this parking is only for people visiting the nearby tourist information center.

This parking sign shows that Monday-Friday 7 am through 7 pm this lot allows 1-hour parking with a parking disk.  

We < 3 Windows

For anyone who doesn't know us in real life, Hubby is an engineer and certainly has the mind for being on!  One thing we have noticed and admired about the local architecture is the windows and corresponding shades.

First, the windows open in two different ways.

An online vendor selling a similar product.

Here is one of our hotel windows tilted open at the top.  As best I can tell this allows some airflow but is still relatively closed.  

And the same window fully closed:

And last, the same window opened.  You should be able to notice that here it is swung open similar to a door.  

In addition to the multiple ways to open the windows, on the outside are metal shutters controlled by a strap just inside each window. 

the strap, just next to the window.

to move the strap, you press down on the metal lever, allowing it to move freely and raise or lower the external shade. 

when lowered, this metal shade looks like this (our neighbor really likes theirs closed) and does an AMAZING job of blocking out nearly all light).

Wifey learns Radiators

Disclaimer - this blog post is solely from the point of view of wifey.

I grew up and live in the world of central heating and air.  Ya know where you choose a temperature you'd like your home to be and then magic elves blow the needed hot or cold air through vents throughout the home to make that happen.  This is now how our hotel's system works.

Our hotel room has 3 radiators which heat the space.  Which now has me questioning what happens in summer ... but that is a blog for another trip.

Radiator

'thermostat' dial?  Which has a range of 1-5.

opposite window unit

and view from the top

So for everyone, like myself, who are not experienced with these devices .... the radiators generate heat and become hot.  Which, similar to a hot oven that will heat up your kitchen or home just by virtue of being present.  When we first arrived and turned the dials up to what we assumed was warmer, I was concerned that the system was never "kicking on" because I couldn't hear the air blowing.  Well ... it turns out that's now how it works :)

In addition to these two units in our bedroom, there is a separate, smaller unit in the bathroom which is great for heating up that small area to shower etc.  For a one-room area, these seem ideal, however, if trying to regulate the temperature in an entire home ... I'm grateful for central heating and air.