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We had grand plans today to get up and catch the train to Heidelberg to see the next castle. When we woke up, we decided to change it to Neustadt (which is much closer via train), and go shopping and check out the town. But as it turned out, today was an overcast and rainy day so we stayed in Deidesheim. We finished exploring this little town, and we decided to share with you our top reasons why this town is so wonderful:

1. All the streets have brick lining the edges (much prettier than asphalt).
2. The city is full of courtyards with plants and tables and cars (instead of a normal driveway and front yard).
3. There is at least one big clock tower in each town that dings every 15-minutes, and plays a song every hour. In addition, the bells calling people to mass on Sunday.
4. Everyone has a garden. Little or big, in the city or in the sticks (i.e. the vineyards), everyone has a place for flowers and bushes, and/or vegetables.
5. People that do have driveways have them paved in stone or brick, never asphalt.
6. Everyone says “hello” or “good morning” or “good day” when you pass them (except for most tourists who avert eye contact).
7. All the shops are local without any big chains (this includes restaurants, grocery stores, and shopping).
8. There are a lot of fresh bakeries that sell all kinds of yummy heavenly delights daily.
9. A bottle of 2-3 year old local wine costs the equivalent of about US $4
10. They have trained the trees and vines to grow into each other, up the sides of buildings, across the balconies, and to join between buildings.
11. Many people in town ride bikes from place to place instead of driving cars. The train station has more bikes locked up than cars in the park and ride.
12. In a row of cars, a Subaru Outback is considered a “large car”. Everyone drives these little tiny cars the size of minis (we saw an original mini today as a matter of fact).
13. From the top of the hill it is easy to distinguish one town from the next. There is a very clear delineation between towns (clear land), then a close clumping of houses and buildings.
14. Germans have a fantastic law that requires you to recycle EVERYTHING. They have 3-piece garbage cans to separate items as you throw them away. If you fail to do so, you can get fined up to 30 Euros (it’s a lot easier than we thought it would be).

The only thing we’ve found so far that we don’t like, is that the grocery stores and many restaurants don’t have plastic bags (or bags of any kind) to take things home in.

The other thing to note today is that Nashon is “coming to grips” with the differences between traveling to Europe today, compared with his trip here 6 years ago. We have decided that he’s just getting old!!! His last trip, he was up and out of the hostel by 6:30am every morning, now he just wants to sleep in and relax in his comfortable hotel room. Then, he ate the same thing for every meal, now we’re eating at a variety of places (German, Italian, Greek.). Then, he got to go where ever he wanted whenever he wanted, now he has to make sure Jamie wants to do it too! Then, he was “go go go” to get from place to place, now he finds himself taking short breaks, walking slower (and not just because Jamie is lazy). Then, he didn’t stop all day until he was ready for bed, now he enjoys a nap mid-day, every day he can get one (this is, or course, true when at home too).

We’re having a great time, and are hoping for better weather tomorrow!!