Wednesday, 5 July. Frankfurt

Jochen and Ingrid Freytag picked me up at my hotel and with them were two great nieces from Adelaide who also know my lovely German teacher, Sue. They are here visiting family in various parts of Germany and they both speak excellent German. Fortunately most of today’s conversation was in English.

We drove to Wiesbaden and an amazing winery in an old monastery. Can’t remember the name of it and it doesn’t seem to be in my photos but their Riesling was delicious. They have won international prizes with it. We had a great walk around the place and it is huge. It is now owned by the state.

The next winery was not far away and was called Schloss Vollrads. It had an old tower, the original building, surrounded by a moat full of carp. There is also a considerable manor building. It is used for exclusive events these days and may also be a hotel.

From here we went to Schloss Johannesburg, which has the really really special Riesling, including an Eiswein made from frozen grapes. The price was eye wateringly high.There was a terrific statue of a man on a horse holding a bunch of grapes and a document. Way back when, the people had to get written permission to pick the grapes so he rode off to get the permit but stopped for a drink or 6 on the way home. As a consequence the grapes were picked later than they should be but with a happy result. They became the first vintage of spätlese wine. Spät means late.

We had lunch in a lovely restaurant with a view across the vineyards and the valley and towns below. Then it was on to Rudesheim to see a gigantic monument to a war between the French and Germans. It was pretty clear that the Germans were victorious in that one. The view of the Rhein from here was spectacular and it was great watching the activity on the water.

We drove down into the town of Rudesheim to walk along a little lane that is full of wine and beer halls. Apparently it is also full of drunks later in the evening so this was a much more pleasant time to visit.

A good trip home despite the missing bridge on the autobahn, which necessitated a major detour. What lovely people to take me out for the day, especially when they already had overseas visitors.

I have been instructed to give Sue many hugs from each of them so I’ll be attending to that in a few days.