Sunday, June 01, 2008
Strolling through the Vineyards
On Friday, Zachary’s entire 6th grade class took the day off and headed out for a stroll through the nearby vineyards, along the Neckar River and to a playground...and I managed to have the day off to accompany them. We were told there was a hail warning before we headed out, but we had blue skies for the entire outing.
Wine-growing in the area goes back to 1108 when, and in the 17th century the city was the third largest German wine-growing community in the Holy Roman Empire. Wine remained Stuttgart's leading source of income well into the 19th century. Stuttgart is still one of Germany's largest wine-growing cities, thanks in main to its location at the centre of the “Württemberg Wine Growing Area.” The continuing importance of wine to the local economy is marked every year at the annual Weindorf -- “wine festival.”
Stuttgart really is a beautiful area with all the vineyards growing on the rolling hillsides in the Mühlhausen area.
The view of the city through the endless rows of grapes was beautiful. Even though Stuttgart is a city of more than half a million (nearly 3.5 million in the official Stuttgart region), it really felt like we were out of civilization.
All hundred-or-so students enjoyed the playground. Zachary liked the aqueduct system -- especially after taking off his shoes and socks so he could wade through the canals.Fortunately, the blue skies remained for the duration of the trip...rain showed up about three hours later (just in time to disrupt MacKenzie’s soccer practice and Girl Scout ceremony).
Labels: Germany, Travel, Zachary
