Bernkastel-Kues Wine Festival

We went on a wine tour through Schinnen. Christian was one of 2 children in the group, but he did great. It ended up being a beautiful day. They had several wine booths set up on one side of the river. You could get a sample and continue using the same glass to get refills at the other booths as you walked around. They also had what looked like slightly larger shot glasses on a necklace that you could use if you didn't want to carry your glass. I may be a bit naive, but I expected it to be a bit more dignified than say a beer festival. By the end of the night most people had their own bottle of wine, and just drank straight from the bottle. We heard about the same amount of English as we did German, because it's near a few military bases. None the less it was a fun time. On the other side of the river there were several vendor booths, a playground and a carnival. They also had some people playing music and some other entertainers. The day ended with a ride on a river boat to watch fireworks over the castle.

Christian and I in a crowd of people at the festival

Some of the musicians in red

Walking through the town, we stopped at the bear fountain for a while and then played on the springy airplane.

Cliff took Christian on this ride. Originally Christian wanted the tow truck, but enjoyed his second choice. It had two steering wheels he could switch between and was a bit more realistic of a driving experience. It even had a door that opened and closed.

Here they are enjoying the van

This was during dinner. Christian was finally napping in hopes that he would be awake for the fireworks that he had been looking forward to all day.

This begins a series of pictures of Cliff being goofy

This is the castle that the fireworks center around

A picture from a distance

People enjoying the festival

The much awaited fireworks. Christian stayed awake just long enough to start watching the fireworks. He was really excited, but fell asleep before they finished. The glow to the left is a simulation of the castle on fire, but I can't remember the story behind it. It did look convincing and they had musical accompaniment.