What is the Golden Gate bridge doing here, in the small Swiss village of Trasadingen? The bridge was the portal to the grape festival, with John Denver’s song “Country Roads, take me home” as the central theme. The ‘Wild West’ theme continued all throughout main street. There the typical oil well pump (actually ‘pumping’), there old railway tracks complete with tumbleweed, a piece of dessert with sand, yucca and a bleached beef skull. And a country band playing “Country Roads” and “Folsom Prison Blues”.

Grape Festival Time in Switzerland

Many parts of Switzerland are one big party at this time of year, just as the grape harvest begins. Our area, the Klettgau of Schaffhausen, has a full weekend program for the next month, with festivals going on in the various villages. The decorations are elaborate and time consuming, the programs designed to attract and entertain as many visitors as possible. All the wineries are open, wine tasting a big part of the party. The wineries in the Klettgau have won some prestigious awards for their wines. I’ve got my own favorites – one of them the “Aagne” wines from Hallau. I know I can’t go wrong when I bring someone a bottle from there.

Hey, those are Canadians!

On our bike tour of 47 km yesterday, Robert and I stopped in at the little restaurant “Räbhüüsli Münderet” in the vineyards of Hallau. The “Blanc de Noir”, a white wine from the “Weingut Atlingen”, was superb with the Raclette from an Alp. Then to Trasadingen, and later to the big Fleamarket and Village party in Wutöschingen, Germany. And the highlight of the day? Meeting two Canadian couples at Trasadingen. I saw Robert’s Canadian biking shirt coming towards us – they were biking through Europe.