13 years!!!!!

Actual date of event: October 13&14

Billy and I like to take a trip every year for our anniversary, we are not gift givers so we have always chosen to celebrate this way instead. Some of the trips we have done over the years include staying at a plantation, Monmouth Plantation in Natchez, it was actually rated one of he top 10 most romantic places in America by USA Today. We have been to Destin, Florida and Biloxi, Missisippi numerous times. Some of you may not know this but Imperial Palace in Biloxi is actually one of my all time favorite places. Another year we drove to Tennessee and stayed at a B&B and went white water rafting on he Ocoee River. We have also been more simple and stayed in New Orleans and done a really nice dinner or a Saints game, that was last year. So......as you can see we look forward to this every year.
Well! Here in Germany it is wine producing time from mid September through mid October, so about a month ago we booked a place on the wine road in Kallstadt. I had been trying to research but it just felt like so much work and I had no clue where we were going or what we were going to do so last week we thought maybe we should just goto Paris for the night. Paris is 5 hours driving and a little under 3.5 hours on the train. Driving was not an option so we looked into the train, :(, not happening. Although Billy was willing to spend the last minute inflated price I was not. Thankfully, Billy spoke with a friend at work who gave him some wine road tips and told him how much we would love it AND we did.
Oh my gosh, this trip exceeded every expectation we had. We have been to Napa Valley and Sonoma a few times and that was nice but triple that and you've got the German wine Road. It literally just goes and goes until it hits France and turns into the French wine road. Since this is the big time of year and it is fall he scenery was beautiful. All the trees are different colors and all the grapes are blooming. Every town you go through is unique in its own way but it is so interesting how there are large wine establishments down to people that live on their winery and for this month decorate their garages and driveways and serve wine that way, so casual and you can also buy bottles from them.
All day Sunday we stopped in different towns, our favorite one heading there was Rhodt, it was very quaint so we went in a few stores, had lunch in what looked like an old hideaway and tasted and bought wine. The arch in the restaurant had a date on it of 1645.
When we reached Kallstadt we fell in love with how charming it was. There were people and wineries everywhere, now to find our hotel. We stayed at the Kallstadt Haus. Hands down one of the nicest places I have ever been to. We couldn't believe we actually almost canceled this trip. Our place had a nice restaurant, although we had already eaten and was very quaint. Once you went up the stairs there was a sitting area for about 4 rooms and the keys were totally old school, see pic below. Our room was very spacious and the bathroom was gigantic.
We put our things down and headed out, we wound up wine tasting in a garage, delicious . We have found our favorite German wine to be a red Cuvée , don't ask because I probably don't know, but very good. We walked a bit and popped in a place for a little food and more wine. I wanted a cheese plate, Kasse in German. Billy found something with cheese soaked in Riesling wine and onions, we thought it was a salad....it was listed under salads. Well, what a crazy dish, it was like 2 big rounds cheeses, kind of tasted like Parmesan, soaked in the wine with a pile of raw red onions on top. Billy tasted it and was like "who in the world would eat that?" He has had a struggle with the cheese here, it is stronger than home, I love most of it. While this dish was certainly not my fav, I did eat one whole circle of cheese and onion. It was not that bad.
After we returned to our hotel and decided we would have desert, but along with desert we ordered a 40 year old Brandy made right there in Kallstadt. Our desert was considered a desert variation with chocolate and white chocolate mousse, Creme brûlée with caramel and Grand Manier on top, fruits with cream and different sorbets. Desert was great, the Brandy, eh.....pretty rough, it literally burned our throats and everything as it went down, how do people drink that and enjoy it?? Wow!!
Paths next morning we woke up and went down to breakfast. We were served the traditional German breakfast....boiled eggs, meats, cheese, cucumber, salmon, granola, sausage and tons of fresh baked bread. All served with all juices, champagne, coffee, and sparkling water. We stayed at breakfast for about an hour and a half, it was just so nice.
Once we checked out we visited another winery where we bought the bulk of our wine. We stopped in different towns throughout he day, Bad Durkheim , was where we spent the bulk of our day, what a neat town, we walked and walked and walked. We found a resort that would be fun to take the kids to for a weekend in the summer.
Definitely one of the best anniversaries yet and we both said we want to make this place a tradition while we are in Germany,, it really was like a fairy tale .
Interesting fact: this is the third place we have stayed where they do not even have a credit card number for you and you sleep and eat but do not pay until you are literally leaving. It is so unbelievable to me but all they had was my name and phone number, very different from the states.