Out & About Group in Eltville

Another Out & About Group event... 

Touring the City of Eltville (ELT' villa)

This was actually our first "official" event.  We had such a great turnout!  Our Relief Society President, Lonette Bushman, lives in this cute down right on the Rhine River.  She got us pamphlets and little bags as souvenirs.  From then on, it was hard to top her tour.

Here's Lonette telling us all about the house she lives in (why didn't I get a picture?) and how it used to be the stable for the main villa (which was being rebuilt before).  The bricks on the driveway, however, are original.

On our way to the castle in the city. Burg is another word for "castle."

Vineyards

Just some amazing architecture in their houses.  The houses in Eltville are really amazing. There's a reason the word "villa" is in their name.  These are all beautiful villas by the river.  As you drive on the road out of town, you will see huge mansions with their own acres of land, something reminiscent of the old South in the United States.

This is their records building.  I think it used to be a prison, or something like that. I tried looking it up again but didn't find it. I'll check with Lonette and change this once I get my facts right! :)

Part of the Group

Fun architecture walking through the streets

I think this is one of their oldest wineries.  Eltville is known for their amazing wine, as well as their roses (which I'll get to later). You can see part of an old wine press to the right.

This is Lonette. She's giving us a little history of a few things. How cute is she?  She'll be moving back to the States soon and we're all so sad. They've been her for 17 years (not the norm for Americans living over here).

This is where the famous Johannes Gutenberg lived.  You may remember him as inventing the printing press that printed the first Bible.  His museum is in the nearby city of Mainz.

The door leading into his house

And the window.  Cute little coal door, huh?  There was a woman in the window cleaning the curtains and I wondered if she gets sick of people passing by to look at Gutenberg's house.

Fun, old-fashioned signs

The main church

I love taking pictures of doors.  There are just a myriad of beautiful doors here in Europe.

The quaint houses next to the church

Looking down the street from the church

Church Front Door

Inside the church. I wish I could remember all the details, but the paintings on the walls I do remember are original from the 1400's.  

You could see in certain places where the paint has been fading it over time.

As I said, they are known as "The City of Roses."  All over town there are vines growing like this.  It's quite breathtaking.

This is one of their favorite restaurants.  It is a famous story in town that this is where Sean Connery used to frequent when he was filming a 1986 movie called, "The Name of the Rose" in a nearby town.

A fun little fountain.  I "think" this is where a duck pond used to be but they had to get rid of it so they erected a fountain in its place. The ducks all move around and the kids can shoot water or turn the leaves to make the water go in different directions.

Part of the old wall.

We've walked down to the river and these trees are lining the entire bank of the river.  I think this was one of my most favorite parts.

There was this random book cart by the side of the river where by "honor code" you could take a book and either read it by the river, or put money in to buy it.  Be still my heart. :)

Feeding the ducks by the river

Such a beautiful view. The pictures don't even do it justice.

Isn't Becca so cute?  Their family already moved, but she was in a lot of my pictures because she is just such a cute little model. :)

It's hard to see this picture but if you look sort of to the left you can see a bit sign that says Muller.  This is one of their own biggest sparkling wine making place (aka champagne, but can't call it champagne cuz only products that come from Champagne, France can call it that).  I wish I would have gotten better pictures.

More roses.

Burg Crass... We made a big circle. Even though we saw the sign, we didn't see it until the end of our tour.

These pictures do not do any of this justice.  This whole city was breathtaking.

Last but not least (and I didn't get very great pictures), this is the island across the river, known as Marien's Island.  There is a palace there for the Princess Marien (I think). Not sure what it was for, but you can cross it by ferry, take a bike ride down the length of the island and go visit. Haven't done that yet. I forgot until just now as I'm posting these pictures. Gotta make sure I do that.

Thank you, Lonette for showing us around your quaint town, and to all the people who were able to come to the first official Out & About Group event. Yay!  Onto the next one. :)