Make this weekend all about your mother
Published: May 10, 2012
Happy Mother’s Day, Moms! If you’re in Germany, you’re in luck, because May 13 is Muttertag there as well. Lots of restaurants will be featuring special menus. Other venues, from wineries to pleasure ships plying the rivers, roll out a special welcome. Looking for a trip somewhere this weekend? Here are a few ideas:
In Zweibrücken, a Street Theater Spectacle will take over the streets of the Rose City on Saturday and Sunday. Enjoy street theater, markets and music in the area around Herzogplatz. Each year has a theme; this year’s is “God and the World.” Hours are 3-10 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sunday.
In Bayreuth, Mom can enjoy some delicious wheat beer during Maisel’s Weissbierfest, which runs through Sunday. If mom’s musical taste runs to the nontraditional, she can rock out to the sounds of what’s billed as “Heavy Volxmusic” by the group Troglauer Buam at 5 p.m.
Let Mom pick out her own gift a couple of days early by taking her to Nuremberg’s massive Trempelmarkt. It kicks off Friday at 4 p.m. and runs to midnight; on Saturday, it’s open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. She’ll find treasures galore to sift through in the area between the Old Rathaus and the Lorenzkirche.
On Sunday, RheinRadeln gives you a roughly 15-mile stretch of auto-free highway between Oppenheim and Worms, within the greater area between Mainz and Mannheim. The route will take you through numerous picturesque wine villages, with food and drink aplenty along the way. Traffic-free hours are between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Would Mom like nothing better than to go on a scary ride? She can do that at any number of fun fairs this weekend, to include Kaiserslautern’s Lautrer Kerwe, Stuttgart’s Frühlingfest or Mannheim’s Maimess.
If Mom’s the Middle Ages festival type, or at least cheerfully attends them to make the kids happy, a good bet might be the Mittelalterlich Phantasie Spektakulum in Wassenberg, southwest of Mönchengladbach. This is the world’s biggest traveling Middle Ages culture festival in the world, comprised of 1,000 tents, stands and installations. If you miss it, don’t despair --- it travels throughout the country from April to October.
There's much to do along the ever-lovely German Wine Road. Herxheim am Berg offers “Culinary Walking” on Saturday and Sunday. Seven wine producers, the local wine co-op, and a Sekt bar will see to it Mother doesn’t get parched. A similar event is happening in Bockenheim. “WEINperPEDES” offers about five miles of walking through the vineyards and ten food and wine stands en route. Bad Bergzabern is the site of a farmer’s market on Sunday between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Around 90 stands offer quality foods and handmade goods. Some of the tasty treats are for taking home, while others are meant to be consumed on the spot.
Whatever you choose, won’t Mom be pleased to be spending the day with her favorite people?
