We had nowhere to be, and it was raining, so we slept in late, had coffee in bed, and I blogged for a while. Every-so-often we heard a tractor putter by.

We left the house in the afternoon when the rain stopped to take a hike. There were many hiking routes in the area. For reference we took a picture of the trail map posted next to our house and then started looking for signs to get us going in the right direction. The air was moist and earthy. Following steps between a fence and trees we we found many snails and banana slugs hiking along the path with us, but much slower, we had to be careful not to step on them. The kids stopped often to inspect the critters. Belia was complaining about the grass on her legs, and was worried we would want to do too much hiking, so we had some encouraging to do. Not much further the trail opened up onto a road running parallel to the river, and in between vineyards. To one side we looked up a steep bank blanketed in grape vines retained by mossy stone walls, and to the other side we looked down the bank at more rows of Riesling grapes; many rows were marked by a sign naming who they belong to. Because of the steep grade a metal track with a chair and cart runs in between the plants. Workers ride along the track to tend the vines, and in fall bring the harvest in. With a birds eye view of the Mosel, we watched a boat slowly disappear into a lock and reappear on the other side. Trekking along we followed a sign up another set of stairs bringing us to a lookout tower. The view continued to impress us. Belia had a bounce in her step by now, and was enthusiastically following us through a narrow path. Many types of flowers, grasses and moss colored the landscape. We found steep stone steps that brought us down to another paved road and we walked it back to town.

At home we ate supper, and spent the evening watching a movie.