I still can't believe that I saw heavy snow three out of four days this week! Unfortunately, spring hasn't quite got the memo that it's supposed to begin. Even so, I'm looking forward to the many wine hikes and festivals that are starting to fill up my calendar. If you'd like to keep up, then be sure to mark off the following dates:
- April 16th to May 8th Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest -- If you haven't made it to the spring festival yet, don't worry. You've got another week left to soak up all the rides, carnival food, and beer-drinking songs. The weather looks like it'll finally get better for it, too. Check out my post on the same festival that takes place in the fall, called the Canstatter Wasen, for an idea of what to expect. Be sure to keep an eye out for the candied nut stall that sells candied pecans (a rarity in Germany).
- May 5th Weinwandertag Obertürkheim -- I'm trying this "wine hiking day" with some friends next week. The hike begins at 11:00 at the Obertürkheim train station and goes to Ailenberg -- a 3.5 km walk. Along the way, walkers can sample wine from Weinmanufaktur Untertürkheim. Should be fun!
- May 8th Weinwandertag Esslingen -- This walk starts at either the Frauenkirche or the Kelter in Esslingen-Mettingen and goes towards the city center. Along the way, you can taste wines from Weingärtner Esslingen named after historic Esslingen landmarks. I've never been, but I love Esslingen and would like to go if the weather is nice.
- May 26th GaumenFreude Street Food Market -- It looks like the Thursday Street Food Market in the Karlsplatz will start up again in May and go on through summer. Though I wasn't entirely blown away by the food at the first one, they featured some different food trucks from week-to-week and I managed to find a few gems, including some pretty good quesadillas, Cuban arepas, and even a chicken teriyaki bun. I'll definitely be going from time to time, so do like my page on Facebook to see my photo updates.
- June 11th Weinbergwanderung am Uhlbacher Götzenberg -- I attended this wine walk two years ago and can't stress enough how much fun it was. You get the opportunity to walk along the vineyards around Stuttgart and sample the wines of Collegium Wirtemberg. As a rule, I like to stick to the whites in this region, but on a recent trip to Uhlbach I tried their 2012 Lemberger. It has some surprising depth for a local red and a nice smokiness to it. If you go, be sure to get some.
- June 23rd to 26th Marienplatzfest -- This yearly festival at Marienplatz celebrates the fun, laid-back atmosphere of the neighborhood. There's tons of great music, urban art installations, and, of course, street food. We found some delicious African food from the nearby Madagascar restaurant and some excellent chili cheese fries from Nachtschicht when we went last year. Plus there's always gelato at Café Kaiserbau, which is definitely one of my top three in the city. In short, I can highly recommend this one!
I will also mention that Comic Con Germany will be at the Stuttgart Messe for the last week in June. Though it's not exactly food-related, I'm still pretty excited to attend and thought you should know about it, too.
Do you know of any other food-related events in the area that I should add to the list? Leave them in the comments below.