My trip to Germany

[Matt D.]

I had the opportunity to travel to Germany from April 9-16 to work in our office there for a week. I spent most of my time in Mainz, though on Saturday we went north to the old city of Idstein, then west toward Koblenz to hit up the Konigsbacher brewery then back to Mainz. On Sunday my coworker and I took the train from Mainz south to Mannheim, a German coworker picked us up there and we went to Heidelberg for most of the day. Lots of castles and beautiful countryside, awesome food and amazing beer. I can't wait to go back again.

The gallery of pictures I took is here: http://picasaweb.google.com/matt.dereus/GermanyTrip

A few pictures that I like the most...
A crooked house in Idstein. Yes, the salon next door says www.hairkiller.de on the window.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/09d1f4ad.jpg

A view of one of the massive amounts of vineyards in the area. Nearly every hillside that faces the sun is terraced like this and covered with grape vines, and many of the fields are vineyards as well.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/5fa4e18a.jpg

The Eltz family castle.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/f1b89077.jpg

The castle in Heidelberg from the town square. (more pictures from inside in the gallery)
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/a899f9a3.jpg

Inside the church in Heidelberg.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/e0647313.jpg

And some cars I was able to get pictures of:
Three different Porsches
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/c9991fb4.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/d035cd6a.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/383cefcb.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/109b7772.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/c352bd2c.jpg

[Matt D.]

Three convertibles: A Ford Escort, BMW 3-series, BMW Z4
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/18d42af0.jpg
Audi S6 Avant with the 429hp V10
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/37b122f4.jpg
Renault F1 car on display in the Amsterdam airport
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/6f0770aa.jpg

[Matt D.]

The beer pictures because people are too lazy to look at the gallery. :)

This is the Zischke unfiltered pils brewed by Konisbacher. The brewery is on the hill overlooking the Rhein River. The building itself is very tall because the tanks holding the beer are built up tall to take up less space. Beyond the color the German pilsner isn't much like the American pilsner. It has a little bite but more flavor, not watered down at all.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/d6efe313.jpg

The Konigsbacher mai bock. Tastes like pretty much like the mai bock you can get here, but it had a bit more bite though was very smooth. 6.4% alcohol as most mai bocks are.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/708cf5f2.jpg

This is a dark beer (dunkel) at a small brewery in the middle of downtown Heidelberg. You probably see a dark beer and think it's like Guinness, thick and heavy. They're nothing like that, very tasty and extremely smooth. Notice the beer coaster... 33%! They brew a 33% alcohol beer and sold it in .2 liter glasses, but they were all out when we were there. :( That mug is .5 liter.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/d69f7776.jpg

This blurry picture is from the Eisgrub brewery, downtown Mainz. They had a couple of different brews, both on the darker side though I can't even begin to describe the flavor. You could tell they were darker by the taste, but were smooth like butter. I had a couple too many of these on my last night there, basically passed out in my hotel room and woke up the next morning without the slightest sign of a hangover. I bought one of those clay mugs to bring home.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/00436ea5.jpg

Two other different beers my coworker and I had... Can't remember what these were.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/805fbf0d.jpg

And for fun... While in Idstein we wanted a snack, saw this Italian ice cream shop with a bunch of people outside eating ice cream and drinking coffee so we thought it would be a good place to go. They had these amazing milk shakes. Mine had bananas and rum and my coworker got strawberries and whiskey. Best ice cream and milk shakes I have ever had.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mdereus/b5b80fc1.jpg

[scheides]

Seriously, the germans have it all figured out! What are the three coolest things in life? Porsches, Castles, and BEER! Nice pics Matt!

[MustGoFaster]

Porsches, Castles, and BEER, OH MY!

Looks like you had a good time, especially for being there to work.

[Kracka]

Looks fun!

[DSM_421]

Looks like fun, and damn can they parallel park!

[Kevin 1G Drummer]

That S6 Avant is frickin awesome! I've always wanted a fast wagon :)

[JET]

The german beer was good, but I liked beer in England even better! I definately want to go back to Germany. I like WWII a lot and there is a ton of history there. Looks like a fun trip Matt!!