Sunday Lunch At Schloss Johannisberg

You have seen this pavement before, right?
Now you know where that picture was taken.

Like I told you last Sunday, we took my mother to Schloss Johannisberg for Sunday lunch. I have only tasted the selection of local specialities there, but I can highly recommend it for a light snack to enjoy with a glass (or three) of local wine. We now shared two servings between my mother, Herr Well, Fräulein and me. Also the desserts in the table next to us looked delicious. You can find the menu *here*.

Two almost finished servings of Johannisberger Brotzeitteller

Schloss Johannisberg is a vineyard in the Rheingau wine area, about 25km from Wiesbaden. This vineyard was the first in the world to plant only Riesling (in 1720).

The bare vines in early March

I have been told that Schloss Johannisberg is now owned by Dr. Oetker's family. Yes, the guy with the frozen pizzas.

The entrance to the palace

Dr. Oetker's garden in October.
I could see myself walking in this garden sipping sparkling wine...

The palace is located on a hill and, as you can see also in the garden picture above, the view is amazing.

The view in October, when the vines were green.

The palace is located at the 50th parallel north.

And what would be the point visiting a vineyard, if you couldn't buy a few bottles as 'take-away'?

The 'Wein-Cabinet' is open every day of the week.

Attractions in Wiesbaden No. 5 - Nerotal

When talking about parks in Wiesbaden, the Kurpark is most likely to be mentioned. Yes, it is beautiful, but it is usually quite crowded, too.

You may not be looking for a quiet spot for sunbathing right now, but in case you would like to see something new on your Sunday walk, I suggest you visit Nerotal.

Nerotal is a park area in southwest Wiesbaden, just below Neroberg. It is surrounded with beautiful buildings and you can also find some art there.

The playground of Nerotal is great also for the smallest children (please see my Playground Review).

From the far end of the park, you can take the Nerobergbahn up to the Neroberg. Unfortunately, it is not in use on wintertime.

The Christmas Spirit of Rüdesheim

Now that our daughter finally has the new car seat (she has grown out of the old one a while ago...) we decided to go for a test drive. We ended up at the Christmas Market in Rüdesheim. Rüdesheim am Rhein is a small city about 30km southwest from Wiesbaden. And like the name indicates, it is located right by the Rhein.

We had heard some nice comments about the city and as they have a Christmas Market of their own, this seemed like a great time to visit. And we weren't dissappointed. The city has really put an effort in the market, like you can see on the web site www.w-d-n.de of the market (also in English).

What made this Christmas Market special and different from the markets in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt, was that it was located on narrow streets in stead of a market place or a square. We need to get back to Rüdesheim on summertime to see how the city looks like in without all the Christmas Market decorations.

Although it was already dark outside, the Christmas lights lit up the market area nicely

The Rabbit Town

The Sunday dinner for two

Little Finland in Rüdesheim

The narrow streets enhance the atmosphere

In Frankfurt I was not able to get close enough to the carousel to take a picture,
here I could not get far enough!

 

Attractions in Wiesbaden No. 4 - the Sternschnuppenmarkt

As I have reported in my previous posts, the Christmas Market has been open here in Wiesbaden for a week and a half now. We usually visit the city centre daily with my daughter, but for some reason I was able to check the Christmas Market only yesterday.

Yes, the Christmas spirit was there, but somehow the market felt a lot smaller than last year. Maybe it was just less crowded, as it was Thursday afternoon, or maybe it was a mistake to visit the market in Frankfurt first. I couldn't help but compare our local, cosy market to that of a bigger city.

But I'll show you a couple of photos, so that you can see for yourselves.

For some reason the spirit isn't there before it gets dark...

The Christmas Market takes place around the Marktkirche

The Christmas tree is certainly more beautiful here in Wiesbaden

The carousel in Wiesbaden is smaller than in Frankfurt, but at least here you are able to get close enough to take a picture...

These 'light flowers' you can find all over the city centre

The lights create the atmosphere when the sun is setting

The highlight: Sternschnuppen Rad at Mauritiusplatz

A Cow on a Balcony

I'm not sure, if this should be a part of series 'Attractions in Wiesbaden' or 'Odd German Way'.

Without any label, let me introduce:

A Cow on a Balcony

Attractions in Wiesbaden No. 3 - Russisch-Orthodoxe Kirche

The Christmas Market started today here in Wiesbaden. It was announced that to celebrate the opening, there would be fireworks at 6 pm. I assumed it would be very crowded downtown, so we drove to the Russisch-Orthodoxe Kirche, where there is a great view over the city, to watch the fireworks.

We were there a bit early, so I took some photos of the church in the night-time lighting. A couple of minutes before six we took seats by the view. But nothing happened. Not a single firework. At 6.15, I gave up and we drove back home. Just when I had undressed my daughter - yes, you guessed it - the sounds of the fireworks started. We have a great view from our balcony, but it is not directly to the city, so all we saw was some lights reflecting from the clouds.

But I don't want all that trouble be for nothing, so I'll take this opportunity to introduce you the Russisch-Orthodoxe Kirche or Griechische Kapelle as it is also known. It is one of those attractions, which you can find in Wiesbaden postcards. The church is located up on Neroberg, so it can be seen from far. It has golden onion-shaped domes, which shine beautifully when sun (or at night-time the artificial light) hits them.

in February

today

I won't get into the history in detail, because all my knowledge is based on Wikipedia, which you can study yourself. Let's just say that there was a 19-year-old Russian princess, death in childbirth and a grieving Duke.

Like with the Cuckoo Clock, it is also worth looking around the main attraction. There is a beautiful cemetery, which is the largest Russian Orthodox cemetery outside Russia. And the view over the city is quite amazing.

the view in October

Attractions in Wiesbaden No. 2 - Fasanerie

We don't have a conventional zoo with all kinds of exotic animals here in Wiesbaden. But we do have Fasanerie, where you can find some 'normal' animals living in the woods instead of being displayed in small boxes.

Yesterday it was Father's Day in Finland, so let's pretend that we spent the day as a family in Fasanerie. (To be honest we visited the place already the week before and yesterday my daughter's dad, Herr Welle, was on a business trip in Asia. )

There is no entrance fee and the park is quite large, so it is a great place for spending the day outdoors. As the pens are spacious, some of the animals can be quite far. But on the other hand, the fences are relatively light, so if the animals feel like coming to meet you, you can get very close to them.

The main attractions of the park are the bears and the wolves, but as we visited the park just before closing time, they had already called it a day. The most exciting animals we met were the wild boars. One of them struck a pose for us...

...whereas some of the farm animals were less interested in showing their best angle (or maybe they did?).

In winter time, the Fasanerie is open until 5 pm. But already now it is getting a bit dark before the closing time, so it is better to visit the park earlier. On the other hand, you might get a different kind of experience, if you walk among the wild animals without seeing what is around you...

Our daughter seemed to enjoy the Fasanerie more than the Frankfurt zoo, which we visited a month ago. What a great Father's Day! ;)

 

Attractions in Wiesbaden No. 1 - The Cuckoo Clock

This really isn't The Number One Attraction in Wiesbaden, but I must start somewhere. And I have been told that when Dalai Lama was visiting Wiesbaden in August, his entourage stopped to admire this. So it must be worth introducing:

The (Once) Biggest Cuckoo Clock in the World

Even tough it says 'Die größte Kuckucksuhr der Welt' in the clock, it only held this name for a while after it was built in 1946 (source: wiesbaden.de). But it still is the biggest 'of this type', whatever that means...

I would say that even greater sight is the souvenir store by which this clock is located. There are thousands of small souvenir and gift items by the windows and even more inside. Every time my mother walks pass the store, she says quite loudly 'ooh!'.

And you must not worry: if you are not coming to Wiesbaden anytime soon, you can always shop online: http://www.gifts-from-germany.com/american/index.html