Denise is the Winner!

Denise wins the prize for first visitor! She made it here, even having to leave her sweet new baby at home, so no excuses to the rest of you with kids! OK, so maybe she had to come to Germany for work, but still she stayed an extra day and drove 3 hours in a rental car in a foreign country just to see us. What a friend!

Last Friday, after only minimal directional problems, Denise made it to our apartment. Jason and I had a sitter, so we took her out into the city. We didn't make it out until 10, which was great in and of itself since Jason and I haven't been out past street lights in Zurich since our "look-see" trip in June. We went to a nice wine bar where we were given a bunch of tastings before we ordered a bottle (I love this country!) and some food. We stayed until the last train, then stayed up talking until 3 in the morning.

On Saturday, Denise and I set out on a road trip to the Deutsch Weinstrasse (Germany Wine Road) through the Black Forest. Let's just say it was a typical "DD and Stiner" road trip. We didn't leave Zurich until noon, then what was supposed to take 2 1/2 hours took more like 6 or 7! Really, it wasn't our fault-the GPS in her rental was messed up! It would say "turn right" but the arrow on the screen was pointing left! We'd input an address and it would take us somewhere and say "you have arrived", but we weren't even on the correct road. So, Denise and I spent a few hours swearing at a machine instead of tasting wine. The scenery was nice though.

We finally did arrive at a vineyard (which by the way...all the websites and tour books that say there are vineyards all over the B3 and you can't help but stumble across them...LIARS! The vineyards are not along the road, they are tucked in tiny towns with signs off the B3 that you don't even notice until you've passed the exit and then good luck turning around on motorways around here!) Unfortunately, it was closed. Ugh! However, I looked inside and noticed there were people inside, so I went to the door. A lady opened it and in very poor German I asked if they were doing tastings. They were, but it was a private party she told me. The public hours were over. Just our luck.

But, and this is where it becomes more typically DD and Stiner, the private party invited us to join them! It was pretty funny. These Germans were having a 35-year class reunion and we joined them. We did not drive 6 hours in a car to not have some wine! Only with Denise do I end up in these weird (but fun!) situations.

We ended up spending about 45 minutes with this group tasting wine and talking US politics. It amazes me how much Europeans know about US current events and geography. They were more knowledgeable than me about the Presidential/Vice-Presidential candidates and issues-I hate to admit that! Plus, when they asked where we were from, they knew exactly where Michigan is ("The one with the lakes up North, right? With the other part by Wisconsin?"). They told us where in Germany they were from and we were geographically clueless. It was kind of embarassing. But, they were really very nice (even though one guy told me if I was living in Zurich I should learn German...even though I was trying to speak German right in front of him!)

After leaving the vineyard we drove a little further with a stop at an Irish pub where we met more Germans and talked more US politics. We finally made it to our hotel near Baden-Baden after 8pm. We were obviously too late to do any of the spa stuff in the area too, so we settled for going out to dinner.

Even though it didn't work out how I had planned, we had a fun time. It was good to see a familiar face and catch up (and get away from the kids for a night!).

OK, pressure's on...Who's coming to visit next??????