Shopping and Ruedesheim Wine Fest - August 18th

I spent the night at Sonja’s after our Holiday Park adventure, and before we drove back to Geisenheim we made a few stops for supplies, which was much appreciated. Our first stop was at Media Markt where I checked out cell phones and ended up buying an electric water kettle for my room. I now also have an idea about which cell phone plan I want to purchase, and I just need to decide on which cell phone to buy with it. We then headed to Real, which is a giant supermarket and clothing store combined. When I first walked in I thought wow, this feels a lot like Wal-Mart. I later told one my coworkers about my observation, and she told me that two of the three Real stores in Mainz used to be Wal-Mart before Wal-Mart left Germany. Damn I’m good!! At Real I stocked up on some food including chicken, oatmeal, peanut butter, bread, etc. I think the store was a bit too big for my first store encounter since I had no clue about what I would actually need or be able to cook in my apartment. I think future trips will be much more successful.

Sonja then drove me back to Geisenheim and I had some time to unpack and organize my room a bit better than on Friday. Around 8pm Magali stopped by and took me to the wine festival that was happening in Ruedesheim. The festival was packed with people and wine/food stands everywhere. The festival was not quite as big as the wine festival in Wiesbaden, but was still so much fun. There was a live band playing American Oldies as well as some recent hits in Germany. We made our way to four different wine stands and tried two Rieslings and two Pinot noirs. The wines were very well made and I am definitely excited to try more German wines. My favorite Pinot was from 2003 which was a very warm year here in Germany. It reminded me very much of California Pinot noir which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. For Riesling, I am much more a fan of trocken (dry) then halbtrocken (off-dry). I definitely like my white wines try and not so sweet unless it is a desert wine. After experiencing the wine festival in Ruedesheim, I am even more excited about the Christmas Market in December. I can’t wait!