Italian? German? Who cares? PRETTY!

My love for Tuscany decór and the fact that it was Maifest weekend, led us on a family outing to the vineyards of Hermann, MO. Yes, I am mixing my ethnic cultures. I realize that we were in German country and they were celebrating a German holiday. But in my mind, grapes and wine making belong to the Italians! While I don't drink (I won't judge those who do), I like grape designs and all stemware glasses. I'm looking for a couple of ideas on grape themed designs to add to my dining room. I loved browsing the gift shop at the winery. Everything was beautiful but also very pricey. I wanted to buy it all. But since the economy is the way it is and I have a budget to stick to, I just browsed. This required a lot of self-discipline on my part!!!! I did, however, get an idea of something I could put on top of my curio hutch. I think I can come up with the same look by shopping at Gordman's...or better yet, the dollar shop.

Chatty was in charge of the camera for the day. Because;

(1.) she is a much better photographer than I.

AND
(2.) I was too busy drooling over everything.

Hermann is a river town. It's citizens have managed to keep a lot of it's old architectural structures maintained and well preserved. Chatty failed to get pictures of the street vendors, old houses and buildings, or the gift shop. Maybe next time we visit this town, we will get more pictures to show to you. I guess she was busy drooling, too.

Here are some of the pictures she remembered to take:

This is the door leading to the restaurant on the vineyard property. The restaurant was originally a horse stable. They were able to revamp it into a stylish restaurant while leaving a lot of the stable's original floor plan and fixtures. The tables are made from old wine barrels. It has an elegant atmosphere. But you have to watch what you order, because Germans really like sour tasting food. Apparently, they add horseradish and vinegar to a lot of their food. They must also be great fans of meat and potatoes.

"VINEYARD PHOTOS"

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We were taken on a tour through the wine making process. At the end, there was wine tasting. We skipped out on that part and went directly to the gift shop. :-D!

This was at the entrance to the gift shop. My thought was, "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Very pretty. But that won't fit anywhere in my dining room....So let's hurry on into the gift shop so I can soak up some creative ideas that I can use and will fit in my dining room!"

From the gift shop, Chatty bought 2 bottles of grape juice and a bag of cheese curds. Mr. Chat bought what he thought were 4 glasses with grapes painted on the outside. He likes finding great bargains. Especially when he thinks he is getting a two-for-one deal. Pleasing me AND doing it cheaply. He took his purchase to the car. On closer inspection, he saw that what he really bought were 4 plastic tumblers. I don't think he thought it was such a great deal after all. ----But I was thankful. (I won't use them for decor but they will make great drinking glasses. Which my family will be grateful for. When I get something really pretty, they have been trained to ask, "Is this for decorations or can we actually use it?" I'm still trying to train Chatty's friend. He couldn't figure out why everyone at our dinner table gasped when he grabbed my spice grinder. Chatty discreetly took the grinder out of his hand, cleared her throat, said, "Decoration". Then she handed him already ground spices and said, "Usable spices." At the time, the only response he made was, "Huh?" I think he thinks I'm weird. But I have every confidence that I will get him trained, too. Either that, or he will take her out to eat a lot more! )----Getting back to the gift shop.---- My wallet stayed closed and my finances intact. The only thing I lost was a lot of saliva from the drooling I did over the pretty displays.

"ADVENTURE RATING"

I don't have Siskel & Ebert...

But I do have Sissie

AND

SISSIE SAYS:

2 thumbs up on our vineyard experience.