Autumn Is Here! And So Are Seasonal Tours!

It’s the first official day of fall, which means for me personally, I can start getting excited about Halloween. While I love summer for the warm, endless days, as someone who’s always had a taste for the macabre and a fascination with tales of the paranormal, the fun and spooky atmosphere of Halloween has always been my consolation prize for the cooler temperatures and reduction in sunshine. I make a list of scary movies to watch with my husband, get a kick out of the Spooked! podcast (but not when I’m alone at night!), and I revisit favorite spooky books.

So of course I do a Halloween tour, how could I not? I developed the “bones” of this tour several years ago for the USO, and after a year off due to the virus, the tour is back, new and improved in partnership with my tour guide colleague, Tom Hale of Esslingen City Tours. This is why I became a tour guide in the first place - because I’d be seeking out these historical stories, myths, and legends anyway, so why not share them with others?

This 90 minute tour through the darker side of Esslingen, a city dripping with over 1300 years of history that in some squares looks virtually unchanged from how it appeared 500 years ago, after night has fallen, is an experience you won’t soon forget! I do want to highlight that this tour is designed to be chilling for adults, so please be responsible when choosing to bring your older children. Graphic descriptions of torture and executions as they really happened is part of the dark history discussed on this tour.

I expect this limited tour to sell out, so please email thomasleytonhale@gmail.com to reserve your spot!

Meanwhile, the wine harvest is just about to begin, which means amazing color in the vineyards won’t be far behind! Autumn is the best time to take a Vineyard Wine Walk tour, because it’s never too hot, the scenery is at it’s best, and especially as harvest draws to a close there’s an almost celebratory atmosphere as the winemakers get to relax a bit and enjoy the fruit of their labor, so to speak. I will be doing public tours most Saturdays unless a private group reserves first - so better to reserve your spot now. I can provide private tours any day of the week, and a private tour for 5 people is the same as the cost for 5 on a public tour. Get a few more people and you’re really saving money!

Hope to see you in the vineyards! Zum wohl!

The Harvest is Here - and YOU Can be a Part of It!

The beginning of autumn is a special time in the Stuttgart region. As we enjoy sunny days and mild temperatures, a chill creeps in at night. This contrast in temperature leads to a new sight - farmers, up in their vineyards, inspecting their grapes, trying to find the exact right time when the balance between the naturally-produced sugars and tannins will lead to the best possible wine.

The vineyards above Esslingen are beautiful in the autumn!

Then suddenly, with very short notice, it's time to harvest! Here in the Württemberg region of Germany, the majority of wine grapes are grown in smaller family plots. The farmers enlist friends and family, hopefully with flexible schedules, to spend a few days laboring on the steep hillsides picking grapes, enjoying glorious views and camaraderie over lunch (and wine, of course).

I've talked to many people who travel long distances and spend a lot of money to take part in a wine harvest in Italy or France, not realizing that the opportunity to do so exists right here, in nearby Esslingen. For the first time this year, Stuttgart Steps tours is partnering with Ellen Thomas of Esslingen Tours, Tastings, and More to invite you to have an immersive experience harvesting wine grapes in Esslingen starting, well, any day now!

This could be you!

This is not a guided tour like my other offerings, but an activity. You'll drive or take the train to Weingärtner Esslingen cooperative winery, which you may know from the Esslingen Wine Walk. After parking at their newly-renovated facility, you'll then meet the grape farmers and your fellow workers.. You'll be transported into the vineyards and spend the morning picking grapes (and of course, snapping pictures!). This will be followed by a break for lunch prepared by Oma (with plenty of wine) and then returning to the vineyards until that day’s plot is finished.

This is real physical labor, not a tourist wine-tasting experience, with sharp shears on sometimes muddy hillsides - you will be tired when you’re finished! But in addition to the hearty lunch, you'll be rewarded with a bottle of wine for your efforts and memories that will last a lifetime. You’ll get a chance to bond with other English-speaking workers and German-speaking locals laboring side-by-side with you to finish the harvest. This is best thought of as a cultural experience and a way to meet interesting new people! It is important to note that if you reserve to work a shift that you take the commitment seriously - any missing pair of hands is more work for everyone else.

We are waiting on the winegrowers to find out how many volunteers are needed and on what days. It's expected the first day will be between 19-21 September, and there may be up to 7 days needed after that. Some shifts will fall on weekdays, and others on weekends, through the 2nd week of October.

To find out more information and get on the list for a shift once they’re announced, please join the Esslingen Tours, Tastings, and More, where I am administrator and will be coordinating the harvest shift schedule largely by Facebook Messenger. Please contact me if you do not use Facebook to discuss alternative means of communication. Please note there is a $10 (USD) fee payable in advance to reserve your space on a shift. This fee is to compensate myself and Ellen for the very time-consuming effort of coordinating many people and shifts, as well as advertising the opportunities.

This is a really unique experience that I've been recommending to my tour guests on my Vineyard Wine Hikes and Esslingen City Tours for years, and I'm really excited to be a part of it! See you in the vineyards!

Lunchtime!

Hello Winter, Goodbye Wine Hikes

View fullsize

Making new friends while tasting local wine?  Yes please!  

So I'm more than a little sad that it's time for my last Vineyard Wine Hike of the season tomorrow.  I premiered this "tour" in April and it's quickly become my favorite for a few reasons.  For starters, it's quite informal.  Instead of the typical city tour where I walk, a group follows, I talk for 5 minutes, we walk on, I stop, talk, etc. the Vineyard Wine Hike is far more unstructured and variable.  And we're spending hours walking together, drinking wine, eating - which gives me a chance to get to know my tour guests.  Instead of feeling like the tour "leader" it's a more relaxed experience.

I also love it because it's enabled me to enjoy new places.  I always try to include at least one "Besenwirtschaft" on the tour, but because of the seasonal and ever-changing schedule of these types of institutions, I sometimes have to get creative about our route to the new besen that's open this week, which means it's as much an adventure for me as it is for the tour guest.

View fullsize

View to the Royal Mausoleum on 8 November 2014 hike.  The colors are amazing!

The third reason is hey, I get paid to drink wine and nerd out about history.  That's pretty much my idea of a dream job.

But the weather is changing, the harvest is over, and most of the vineyard besenwirtschaften are closing until Spring.  So tomorrow's special Veterans Day Wine Hike is probably the last one until next April (unless we get a string of just awesome, unseasonably warm weather!)

And there's still space left on the tour!  Better yet, for former and current servicemembers, there is a 10 euro discount on the cost of the tour!  The tour includes transportation to and from the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof as well.  

The vineyards are absolutely lovely, and some sun is predicted for tomorrow, so go ahead and make a reservation!  I'm accepting reservations until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning!