I write regular blog postings about our life here in Germany at the castle hotel. Here are a few excerpts of past blog articles.
For the complete blog with up-to-date pictures and videos please visit: http://bavariancastle.squarespace.com/blog/ and http://vonhalem.blogspot.com/
August 22nd, 2009 - Wine and Merriment
Loud music, much drinking, some food, good weather. Ingredients for a merry party. Oh, and did I mention the wine princesses? Can't have a Weinfest without them. (photo)
May 31st, 2009 - Beer
This part of Franconia is mainly a wine region. But Zeilitzheim is right on the border between wine and beer country. To the East, toward Bamberg, Beer thrives. In the next village over (Krautheim) there is a brewery that brews decent beer (a good Pilsner even Germans from the north like; crisper than the Pils they normally brew around here).
May 29th, 2009 - Weinfest in Germany
What is Franconia (Franken) without its Weinfest season?! I must admit I'm not much of a weinfest goer anymore (compared to my youth). But occasionally we still find time on a Sunday afternoon (the most quiet and agreeable time to do so) to visit a weinfest nearby. Last Sunday we took our daughters to the weinfest in Stammheim and the had a lot of fun, as you can tell by this picture: (picture)
If you visit the region between April and October, be sure to ask me which village has a weinfest on at the time. There is hardly a weekend without one nearby.
May 28th, 2009 - Long Weekend Ahead
Sunday and Monday are national holidays here in Germany: Pentecost (or Whitsun, in German: Pfingsten). It means that the hotel is booked out on Saturday and that we have our annual "Weinbergswanderung" (leisurely hiking through the vineyards from wine stand to wine stand) on Sunday.
May 19th, 2009 - German Wine, Bavarian Wine, Frankenwein
This evening I visited a wine seminar with four of our waitresses. Topic of the evening was the typically Franconian grape "Silvaner". It was an interesting and fun seminar and luckily not dry, though the wine we tasted was dry and very good.
January 30th, 2010 - The Three Missionaries
About the beginnings of Würzburg.
March 2nd, 2010 - Germany - Mecca for Beer Lovers
A description of two of my favorite breweries and an excursion on southern Germany's brewing styles.
... and many more articles at: http://bavariancastle.squarespace.com/blog/ and http://vonhalem.blogspot.com/