Apfelfest!

Today we started the morning out along the Rhine River. It was quite a site for this drylander in a landlocked state. Barges moved freely up and down the river like it was a fluid interstate right along side people getting their daily row in. Incredible.

After seeing the facilities and all of the food and drink they had to offer, it was time to head out to the orchard. It was quite different than any other orchard I have been on. The trees had been trained in a fashion I had never seen. The reason they use this method is due to the need for high production because of a lack of land. They also had tarps over the entire field to protect the apple trees from hail.  Something unique that this orchard did was print stickers that they place on the Apple which bleached out a tattoo, like a smiley face, directly on the apple.

Before we left, we enjoyed the jazz band while sipping on another glass of cider and had a chance encounter with a former Denverite! We chatted for a while before it was time to go. Gordon and Brigitte drove us past the agricultural university in Bonn on our way to lunch, which was Donners! This was a traditional German meal that Turkish immigrants made their own. And they made it very tasty.

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It is now time to hop the train to Wittlich, while we were sad to see Brigitte and Gordon go, we were in for a treat with our next hosts, Christof and Magdalena Zephyr and Julia (Magdalena's sister) where they took us into their home, feed us great German BBQ, tasted schnapps and gave us a tour of their dairy. All after having their first child just two weeks ago!

After dinner it was off to bed as we had yet another full day ahead of us.

Prost!

Nick