Freinsheim City Wall Festival

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Freinsheim is a small, quaint, walled, village located in the Palantine vineyards. Freinsheim has been continuously inhabitate by humans for about 5000 years. Throughout the years the village has sustained substantial damage most notably in 1689 in the Nine Year' War when only the foundations of the Wall were left standing.

Every July they host the Stadmauer or City Wall Festival. The narrow streets along the Wall are lined with vendors offering regional specialties and local wines. We attended this festival through the USO tours available to military families. Typically, we would have a couple of beers but this particular festival celebrates wine so we tried a Weinschorle which is mixture of 2/3 wine and 1/3 sparkeling water(basically a spritzer). According to Maria, our USO guide, the good people start off consuming Schorles in order to drink more throughout the celebration. After having just one of these drinks in a .5lt glass I can't imagine how it would help you drink MORE!!

We met a fun and fabulous lady in the form of one Sarah Gonzalez with whom we spent the evening wondering the perimeter of the wall, laughing with the locals and examining the vendors wares. One vendor was selling these crocheted sacks to be worn around the neck and used to hold your wine or beer glass. We all purchased one in various colors and refered to them as our "third hand". Live music was scattered throughout the festival, much of it was good ole American Rock and Roll so Bill and I put on our dancing shoes and did a well received swing to Johnny B. Goode.

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