Another week has flown by in a whirlwind of work and school, and I’ve fallen behind on updating this journal—honestly, it’s been non-stop! But the weather has been amazing! The sun’s been shining, and temperatures have been in the low 70s, so we’ve been making the most of the outdoor time.
This week at school kicked off the opening debate for Model UN, an international academic program where high school students simulate real-world United Nations conferences. Participants roleplay as delegates, tackling complex issues through research, negotiation, and public speaking. Brooklyn decided to give it a shot and joined the school-wide competition, which took place this week. She was assigned Russia and had to present a detailed briefing on soil erosion and conservation—a tough topic that required serious preparation. On Friday, we got the great news: she made the school’s official Model UN team and will be traveling to Prague this January to represent her school at the international conference! This is huge! Especially since its her first time competing, and we couldn’t be more proud or excited to see where this experience takes her.
Friday was my day off from work, so two friends and I took a trip to Bad Dürkheim, a town to the north near the Rhine River Valley. Bad Dürkheim is home to the world’s largest annual wine festival—the Würstmarkt, or “Sausage Fest.” (Don’t ask me- I don’t get it either!) It’s been on my list of places to visit ever since we moved here, but September is always such a busy month, it’s been tough to make it happen. Since the festival is wine-focused, driving back late at night isn’t exactly ideal. Having Friday off gave us the perfect opportunity: we drove up in the afternoon, stayed overnight, and made it back early Saturday morning—just in time to jump back into the weekend without missing anything else.
Traffic on the way up was heavier than expected, so we arrived later than planned—around 3 PM—just as the festival was getting into full swing on its opening day. After checking into our hotel, we headed straight to the massive festival grounds. The Würstmarkt is set right on the edge of the vineyards that surround the town, creating a stunning backdrop for the festivities. The grounds are packed with wine tents, food stalls, and carnival rides, offering a little bit of everything. It’s a mix of casual and relaxing wine gardens, carnival rides, and rowdy wine tents with people crammed onto benches sipping Riesling and digging into sausages. Once the sun goes down, the whole place lights up with music, neon, and a big party vibe.
Our first stop at the festival was a charming little wine garden decorated like a whimsical tea party—totally unexpected and completely adorable. We started off by ordering wine, but our waiter quickly clued us in: at Würstmarkt, most people go for Schorles. A Schorle is a classic German drink made by mixing wine with either Sprite or sparkling water. This means you can drink more and stay hydrated, making it easier to enjoy the festivities a little longer without overdoing it. They’re not as common in our region, but at the festival, everyone seemed to be drinking them—served in giant glass mugs. After that first round, we all happily made the switch to Schorles and didn’t look back.
After the wine garden, we were starving, so we made our way to an area packed with food stalls and long wooden benches and tables for eating. That’s when I spotted my favorite festival food—Langos. Originally a Hungarian dish, Langos can now be found at just about every festival and fair in Europe. It’s a made of deep-fried dough smothered in sour cream sauce, melted cheese, and heaps of minced garlic. The version here was different in that they added “Kräuter”—a fresh mix of parsley and chives—sprinkled generously on top. And oh my gosh… it was next-level delicious. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
We found a place to sit in another wine garden being run by the local hockey team- these events are huge fundraisers for local community organizations- and enjoyed our food and our first Schorles.
After eating, we walked around the festival grounds a bit longer and found a spritz stand, where we all had either a limoncello or an aperol spritz.
We kept wandering until we heard the sweet sound of a band belting out Sweet Caroline from a nearby tent. There was no question—we had to get inside ASAP. Once we stepped in, it was exactly what you’d expect from a traditional beer tent: a lively Schlager band playing and people standing and dancing on benches. The only difference was instead of giant beer steins, everyone was prosting and drinking from giant mugs of wine Schorles, raising them high as the crowd sang along.
We made our way toward the stage and spotted an empty table. Even though it was marked as reserved, no one was sitting there, so we decided to claim it until the rightful owners showed up. But as luck would have it, no one ever did. Before we knew it, we were there all night, making friends with the people around us, singing at the top of our lungs, and dancing along to the music.
Somehow, we still managed to leave at a reasonable hour—everyone still on their feet and feeling good. We headed back to the hotel, enjoyed a restful night’s sleep, woke up refreshed, had breakfast, and made our way home. By 10 AM, we were back in Stuttgart. I even squeezed in a trip to the commissary for a big grocery run—something I’d been putting off forever. Honestly, those wine Schorles are pure magic if you want to dodge a hangover!
When I got home, Matt was already there, and since we had no plans for the day, we grabbed our bikes and headed out for a ride into the Schönbuch Forest. The Schönbuch is a sprawling, nature reserve known for its hiking and biking trails, towering trees, and wildlife, just minutes from the city and our house. While its not a dense as the Black Forest, its similar. The tightly packed trees and limited sunlight create a moss covered floor, making it look like its straight out of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.
We made a 30km loop to the Schönbuch Tower and back—a perfect way to stretch our legs.
The Schönbuch Turm is a tall wooden and steel, helix-shaped lookout tower near Herrenberg. If you’re brave enough to climb to the top, you’ll get amazing views of the Schönbuch forest, the Swabian Alps, and even the Black Forest on a clear day, which it was.
Although the day was clear, it was also incredibly windy. The tower is designed to be flexible to withstand strong gusts, but it was swaying so much that after snapping a few pictures, we quickly made our way back down. We biked home with just enough time for a quick nap before heading out again for a birthday party. Two of our dear friends have birthdays just two days apart, and we celebrated by sharing a few magnum-sized bottles of wine. Don’t worry—there were plenty of people to help us polish them off!
We spent Sunday relaxing and catching up on things around the house. Since school started, the weeks have been so busy that our weekends haven’t been nearly as adventurous as I’d like, and that honestly makes me a little sad. I feel a pang of guilt whenever I look out the window at the sunshine and think about my long Germany bucket list—and all the places I’m still trying to visit. I’m trying to go easier on myself but it’s definitely a learning process! We have a busy few weeks ahead of us so we are going to be taking it easy on adventures for awhile!
Gilcrests Abroad 