Wurstmarkt

Last weekend Chris, two friends of ours and I went to the Wurstmarkt in Bad Dürkheim (fun times!). A must for us since we come from a wine-growing area. The Wurstmarkt or Worschdmarkt (which basically translates to sausage market/fair :) is actually the world's largest wine festival (at least that's what they state on their web page.) It takes place every year around the 2nd and 3rd weekend in September and it really became a tradition for us to go there (my parents used to take me there since I've been a little kiddy).

Chris and I enjoying our Weinschorle

Of course, the most important thing at a wine festival is .. yep, the wine. The main part of the Wurstmarkt, and the part where you get the good stuff (wine), are the so-called Schubkärchler, which comes from the german word for hand-barrow. In this part there are 36 tents where different vine dressers from our region sell their wine. You can decide if you want your wine pure or as spritzer. If you go for the spritzer, you get a 0,5 liter glass filled with three quarters wine and one quarter water. The special glasses are called Dubbeglas, because they have spots on them. Tradition has it that butchers from Bad Dürkheim invented the Dubbeglas in order to get a better grip on them, because normal smooth glasses would slip easily out of their greasy hands.

caramelized almonds, yummy!

 Aside from the (very good) wine you get at the Wurstmarkt there is also food food food! You get all the good stuff from sweet to spicy. And of course Wurst, all kinds of Bratwurst (even a half-a-meter Bratwurst!). In addition to that you find a whole lot of typical food from the Rhineland area where we're from. 

Lebkuchen hearts, ham sandwich, cotton candy and Brezel

All in all we had a super fun time, although it was crammed with people, Chris even got to talk to some nice Americans. Looking forward to next year.
And now, have some more picuters:

top right corner: The Dürkheimer Riesenfass, the biggest wine barrel in the world (what a coincidence). There's no wine inside, but a whole restaurant

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