Birthday celebrations and libations
Started the day with some nice cappuccino- but it took a bit of exploring because in Luxembourg and Germany the Pentecost/Whitsunday holiday weekend is a national holiday. Most all of the country has tomorrow off from work - but really the whole weekend is a holiday. In the US maybe only Thanksgiving and Christmas shut things down - but in Europe things are focused more on individuals and families than on customers…they don’t really care that tourists have nowhere to get breakfast on a Sunday morning. In fact, most everyone here does grocery shopping on Saturday because the shops have limited hours on Sunday. It’s sometimes hard when traveling - but makes for better family time for people who live here. 
Today we celebrated Janka’s birthday. She organized a wine tasting and tour at Van Volxam.
We learned some things about the growing methods - on slopes with 80 degree angles - and that they use helicopters to bring people up certain slopes for picking! Also learned that machines can now sort almost as well as humans , using cameras and other sensing technology to recognize which grapes are ready and ripe and which won’t be good and discarding those automatically. They had a pretty cool robot mowing machine too…though Rich and I also learned it’s illegal to wash your car or mow your grass on Sundays in Germany! I guess Sunday really is a day of rest here - no chores allowed! That’s a European idea I can support.
It was great to celebrate with Janka, and her friends Anka and Stefan, on her birthday.
Rich also noted that he has never seen urinals with lids before-these Germans are tidy.
And then finally a dinner at an old converted train station, joined by our friends from yesterday. Happy birthday Janka!
Today we celebrated Janka’s birthday. She organized a wine tasting and tour at Van Volxam.
We learned some things about the growing methods - on slopes with 80 degree angles - and that they use helicopters to bring people up certain slopes for picking! Also learned that machines can now sort almost as well as humans , using cameras and other sensing technology to recognize which grapes are ready and ripe and which won’t be good and discarding those automatically. They had a pretty cool robot mowing machine too…though Rich and I also learned it’s illegal to wash your car or mow your grass on Sundays in Germany! I guess Sunday really is a day of rest here - no chores allowed! That’s a European idea I can support.
Never fear, it wasn’t all education - there were excellent views - and most importantly we did some wine tasting. Mostly Riesling in this area, much like home. In fact our guide said he had just hosted some Finger Lakes vintners weeks before. I’m more and more convinced that this little corner of Germany is just upstate the upstate New York of Europe.
It was great to celebrate with Janka, and her friends Anka and Stefan, on her birthday.
Rich also noted that he has never seen urinals with lids before-these Germans are tidy.
We then drove over to the Lady Mary statue that overlooks Trier and managed to enjoy some views without rain.
And then finally a dinner at an old converted train station, joined by our friends from yesterday. Happy birthday Janka!
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