Wein, Sekt, und Roses

We enjoyed a day in Eltville am Rhein, the wine, sparkling wine, and rose city, as it was the location for Eric's company's Values Day. The company organized numerous activities for employees and their families to participate in throughout the oldest city on the Rhine River. 

When school was finished, we drove to Eltville. We first arrived at the welcoming center which was at Kurfürstliche Castle, an old castle along the Rhine River with beautiful rose gardens.

Our first activity was a Rhinegau Adventure treasure hunt. It turned out to be a family oriented tour of the city and the guide did her best to incorporate the children into looking for unique things on buildings and structures. We did learn many interesting facts about the city and found it amazing how a little town has over 350 types of roses growing throughout it. I am assuming we reached the treasure when we ended up sampling a local Reisling wine and the kids had kinder wine at a wine tasting venue. 

Eric was able to quickly get from Zurich to join us in time for the Cafe Tour. We were given a list of the three cafes in town and their specialities we could sample or choose our own. Our table was reserved for us in the first cafe when we arrived. We ate chocolate tortes while Eric selected a strawberry torte. Continuing on, we stopped at the ice cream cafe. Emmie's selection of a Mickey Mouse ice cream treat was the highlight. 

At the Altstadtcafe Glockenhof and our final cafe, we choose the famous Eltviller Rosentorte. It was very pretty, but we were not very hungry by this time. The inside filling was good, but not being a marzipan fan, we nibbled on the rose.

Fortunately, the weather cleared up and it became warm for the outdoor evening festivities. We strolled over to the other castle, Castle Crass. They served appetizers and drinks on the lawn overlooking the Rhine River. They also had a few activities for the kids to keep busy and carnival games to keep the adults entertained. Emmie managed to catch a little nap on one of the huge beanbags they had on the lawn, too. 

For dinner, they offered a wonderful BBQ buffet with many delicious meats and salads to choose from. It  was nice to have dinner sitting along the Rhine River. For dessert, everyone enjoyed the dessert table that included crepes with Nutella. We spent the evening relaxing on the beanbags and chatting with Eric's co-workers. It started to rain, so we found a tent to move under for a little while. When the rain let up, we ended our wonderful time in the city of Eltville.