While jesse thought that picking grapes would be a "waste of time", sean and i thought that it would be good for us to go back and try it for another day. We both really liked Kappelrodeck and were excited to spend more time with Dagmar and Bernd, the owners of the vinyard. The first night we were there, they took us to another town for the Wine Festival. It reminded us a bit of Oktoberfest because there was a midway and a huge tent that held a stage and a hundred tables, all filled with drunken, happy Germans. They band was awsome and they even managed to throw in some english oldies in between all the german songs. Bernd introduced us to "Neu Wein" which looked a bit like red lemonade and didn't taste like any wine i had ever tried. Sean loved it and drank quite a bit before Dagmar warned us of how strong it was. We ended up having a great time. P.S. Dagmar and Bernd, if you guys read this, please sent us your address again. we sort of lost it.
We didn't actually pick grapes again until we had been there for two days. The second time around the work seemd to be a bit easier, but it was still the hardest work I've ever had to do. We picked green grapes this time so our hands weren't stained purple, but my fingernails were dirty for about a week after. We definatly learned to appreciate all the work that goes into making wine. Sean even promised Bernd that he would never buy a cheap bottle again.
I decided that since Jesse didn't end up meeting us in Milan, it would be a good idea to buy my own camera.
Milan was a nice city. We went into this beautiful church called Duomo where you couldn't talk or take pictures. As we came out of the church, Sean was accosted by men with food for the pigeons. They dumped the food into his hands and I took pictures as the birds landed all over him. Then they gave me some food and took pictures of both of us. They seemed nice unti they demanded four euros for a handful of corn. Sean gave them only two and they strode off in a huff.
We managed to find a great Thai restaurant that was fairly close to our hotel. The place was absolutly beautiful inside. The pictures don't do it justice. Our waiter was hilariously gay and totally nice, but the highlight of the place was the bathroom.
We spent the next thirty-six hours of our lives travelling from Milan to Athens. The "highlight" of the trip was the twenty-one hour ferry ride, where we had no place to sleep except for a tiny couch outside the disco. Technically we weren't even supposed to sleep there and got yelled at every three hours by angry greek men.
We stayed in Athens for a couple of days and managed to do nothing exciting. The best part of Greece was when we took a speed boat to Hydra, one of the islands Dagmar recommended, and stayed there for two nights. I loved this island because of how peaceful it was, no cars allowed. They used donkeys and mules to transport luggage and groceries and stuff. And there were stray cats everywhere! We made friends with a whole bunch but my favourite was a cross-eyed cat that i called Retard.
After Hydra, we found a flight from Athens to Frankfurt, and then took a train to meet Jesse in Paris.
