In 1857, Michael Harm traveled from Freinsheim, Germany to New York harbor on the packet ship Helvetia with 297 passengers on board. The journey took 46 days. In 2010, Dave and I flew from Seattle to Freinsheim on a Boeing 777, packed to capacity at 440 passengers, in 9 hours and 20 minutes. We flew over the Atlantic under the beacon of a full moon. We arrived at dawn.
My cousin first gave us a walking tour of Freinsheim, and what I’ve written for my thesis so far has instantly eroded to sandstone rubble. Knowing a place through books is like knowing the German language through an on-line computer class — 
sketchy at best. Along the Freinsheim wall walk, we encountered some narrow passages, one nicknamed “stink alley”. Once upon a time there were only two gates in and out of the village. The one pictured here is the Eisentor.
The wine farmer statue in the picture behind Matthias and me has a Logel on his back, a special barrel backpack for lugging around harvested grapes. Did I mention it is harvest time? I may get to harvest grapes while I’m here — I’m definitely getting to sample the vintages.
In the evening we went to the final day of the Wurstmarkt in Bad Durkheim, the oldest and largest wine festival in the world. I’m told the Wurstmarkt is celebrating its 570th year. (Official mention of the festival dates to 1830.) 
Back at the start, farmers wheeled casks of wine to the town in wheelbarrows, set up tents and served food and drink. All these tents in the photo shelter thousands of wine drinkers. My cousin tells me the whole point is to cram together, to drink and to laugh and to meet people. Willkommen auf Deutschland.