Memorial Day

We decided to keep it low key over Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday Nate took Elena for a nice, long walk (and hung out with Jeff) and I cleaned at home. We chilled in the PM and watched the movie Marley & Me. The story is about a dog and a family. Very true to life, good moral, tear-jerker, hits close to home kind-of film (at least for those at the having-kids period of life and probably those dog-lover sorts as well). Anyhow, on Sunday we went to church, then headed out to a localish town called Saarbruecken.

Nothing really special about the town, but we wanted to take a short trip to see somewhere new in Germany. It ended up not being so 'close' as we got stuck in a terrible traffic jam on the way there. Our two hour drive turned into a four hour drive, so we really didn't get too much touring of the city done. But, we did get to eat at a little micro-brewery and stroll around the streets and riverside.

On Monday we drove about 45 minutes to the Mosel Valley. We stopped in a little town called Nennig and got a food recommendation and so many pamphlets we could hardly carry them. We got the distinct feeling that the tourist office didn't get too many visitors! Good lunch and then we made a phone call to a local winery. The guy didn't seem too interested in opening up the winery for us, but Nate was insistent. So we drove a few minutes to an old building and walked in. The place was deserted, but once the wine maker started pouring wines we were glad we stopped. Most of the wines were Riesling, some Pinot Noir. And they were good!

The longer we stayed there, the more talkative and friendly the wine-maker got. And the more wine bottles we bought, the more wine he poured. We eventually had to shut him off! I can't say that I understood all of explanations of how the wine was made, but we understood enough to enjoy the conversation.

The drive home was less eventful, helped out by an ice-cream stop about two hours in. All in all, a very nice trip (a few pictures are located in My Photo Gallery).

We're planning to stay put in Stuttgart until our next trip. Oh, didn't I tell you?!! We bought tickets to Croatia. Dubrovnik, Croatia to be specific. Can't wait to take Elena to the beach!!!!