We have switched blogging platforms from WordPress to Blogger. This is a bit of an experiment, but for a while we will be updating our new site at senneffsieben.blogspot.com. This site will remain (but unupdated) until we’ve either worked all the bugs out or decided to throw in the towel and switch back.
Cheers!
The Senneff Sieben
This place is amazing.
The next stop in our Italian getaway was Cinque Terre, an area along the Ligurian coasts of Italy where five small sun-drenched towns are linked together only by boat, train, or hiking trails through the Cinque Terre National Park. 
We drove to Riomaggiore, the western-most town, and decided to walk the only stretch of the hike that is stroller-friendly to the neighboring town of Manarolo.
The path between Riomaggiore and Manorola is cut into the side of the cliff and provided some really dramatic blue-water sea views:
Although filled with plenty of tourists, the towns themselves are quaint, colorful, and memorable.
The stretch of hike between Riomaggiore and Manorolo is aptly named the Via dell’ Amore (Pathway of Love). It is littered with padlocks clasped to fences, wires and anywhere else space can be found. It is tradition for two lovers to close a padlock together somewhere along this romantic stroll as a symbol of their love, and so the path is decorated by thousands of them.
The kissing bench.
If a way down to the water can be found, sunbathers seem to find a perch on a rocky outcropping to soak in the sun or do a little cliff diving.
There is something about the towns themselves, with their harbors, colors, laid-back Italy attitude, and sea-side culture that make them very attractive places to be. It is easy to see why people fall in love with the area.
It was a really memorable experience for the whole Senneff Sieben:
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THEY CALL IT THE SQUARE of Miracles, and now I know why: because it is a miracle that you can cram so many people in to one small patch of grass, each one of them vying for position to take … Continue reading
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OUR FIRST LEG of our three stop Italy tour was a little resort town by the name of Bocca di Magra directly on the Ligurian coast. Dad chose it because it was conveniently nestled between Cinque Terra and Pisa, but … Continue reading
THE GAME is called Kasten Klettern. The object is to build a ladder out of empty plastic coke crates, stacked on by one…while standing on the ladder. This Sunday was Erlebnistag Deutsch Weinstrasse, the day our street closes for 330,000 bike riders who ride up and down the Weinstrasse stopping for food, music and wine, and occasionally stop for entertainment. Its also the day when the local boy scouts set up a Kasten Klettern rig across the street. For a while the spectators stopped to watch little Kiersten, among the youngest of the days competitors, scamper up a very respectable 12 crates. She will hold the title of the best Kletterer of the Senneff Sieben for at least the next year.
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A WHILE BACK a co-worker sent the the results of a survey a local radio station did to identify the top 50 places for an outing in Rhineland-Pfalz. With a long weekend and the grandparents in town, we dusted … Continue reading
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Another day, another wine fest, this time in Deidesheim, about 10 minutes up the train tracks. It meant another trip around the ferris wheel, another stroll through an idyllic town, another visit to an old church, another Riesling Schorle (this … Continue reading
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The capital of the Alsace region of France is just an hour or so down the road, so Sunday we went to pay it a visit. I don’t know how many cathedrals we have seen at this point – … Continue reading
Deutschland, you’ve outdone yourself.
WHEN I WAS A KID, I used to play at McManus Park in Bettendorf. Better known on the street as the “Rocket Park” because it featured a giant upright metal rocket that you could climb to the top, level by level. Each level an awkward series of rusty metal bars, ladders, stairs and hatches. Everything was hard, sharp, and the risk of falling, bumping, scraping was high – it was hard to get to the top unscathed. 20 or so feet below was a sand play area, the only problem being that the sand had either all been relocated to the rocket (where it got kicked in your eyes as you climbed) or had been blown away years ago, and all that remained was the bedrock below. Other play things like slides and merry-go-rounds were old, metal, rusty, and wicked fast. Those were the good ol’ days.
A few years ago we took our kids back to that park of my childhood to play and found it had been replaced with this. The three story rocket was gone, everything was made of some sort of soft composite. Even the sand had been replaced with some recycled tire material. It was clean, organized and super safe.
In otherwords, it sucked.
Enter the city parks in Germany, in this case the Luisenpark in Mannheim. First, there’s the play equipment. There are zip lines for kids, a tire swing contraption where the object is to actually collide with your partner, trampolines, and all manner of whip-lashing contraptions for kids:
Then there’s the wildlife, including a reptile zoo, aquarium, birds in cages as well as a few roaming free:
Jazz, if you can catch that bird I'll give you a Euro. "Ohtay, Daddy!"
There’s a Chinese garden replete with Koi pond:
A little adventure course with rope bridges and a chance to get your feet wet:
And this. A playset made of real stone and metal, with a slide that will rip the skin off your back. Ladders and fireman’s poles, big brick blocks and a million kids running wild. The kind of place that gives you a cold sweat watching your kids play.
The way kids were meant to play.
And not a single broken bone.
This time.
THIS WEEK the world famous Iowa State Fair rages back home. I admit, I would not mind the chance to walk up and down the fair grounds in Des Moines munching on a turkey leg and snickering at the mulletts. I sort of miss the (what’s the right word?)…corny-ness?…but what we lack in Butter Cows and friend Twinkies here in Rhineland-Pfalz we make up for in Winefests.
The perennial, omnipresent Winefest. From spring to summer to fall, all up and down the Deutsch Weinstraßse, communities lay claim to a weekend to celebrate. If wine is part of the culture here, then the winefests in the Pflaz area are the traditions that keep that culture vibrant. There are literally hundreds of Winefests in communities big and small in the area. Just this weekend, for example, there are no less than eleven communities with separate Winefests in about a 50km radius. They range from grand, world renowned events, like the Durkheimer Würstmarkt, to alleyway festivals of neighbors, like the Hambach Jakobskerwe last weekend.
While not the Iowa State fair, they all ring familiar to us by now. Each winefest is unique, but they also follow a cadence. Take the Jakobskerwe last weekend as a case study:
There’s the music, often times a live band:
The candied nuts, always a stand of candied nuts:
Usually located in the quaint city center:
Grilled würst or schnitzel, right off the schwencker…
Games and rides for the kids….
Elbow to elbow, a mass of people…
And of course, the wine, served in a unique glass that’s yours as a souvenir, if you are willing to forgo the 2€ deposit..
Senneff Sieben. 
