Ray had an extended stay in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany for some new equipment checkout. Although he didn't have a car, he did rent a bike the first weekend he was there, giving him a little further reach than he would have by foot. Bad Oeynhausen claimed its fame when salt springs were found in the area. One farmer's pigs did better than a lot of other pigs, and the farmer found they were drinking from some natural springs in the area. This was found to be healthy not only for the pigs, but also for humans, and a new industry was born. The pigs and farmer are immortalized by a statue downtown on their main promenade street.
The first evening, he went downtown for dinner and discovered multiple restaurants to choose from, including Argentinian, Greek, Spanish,Chinese, American, and even some German. The first night was the Argentina restaurant, but the others helped fill in the remaining evening meals. The culture here is very much cash based as many of the local restaurants do not take credit cards, an some do not even have formal receipts. They just keep track of what you order on blank note pads and give you a final total when you are done. Some keep count of your beers by marking your coasters with every beer you order (so make sure you get a fresh coaster)
The park behind the hotel is known as Kurpark (or cure park) and is the home of the original bath houses (badhaus) utilizing the natural salty spring water for which the area is known. One of the earlier kaisers built a retreat there and there were also many public bath houses or spas built over time. Besides the spas, there are many medical clinics in the area and people come from all over Germany for treatments. There are many fountains in the Kurpark due to the natural springs in the area. During the park festival, there were many kids, and some adults cooling off in the fountains, which put on a 15 minute show every hour.
During the first weekend, there was a large festival in the park and it included artwork, food vendors, music and fireworks on Saturday night. One of the interesting activities they had for the kids on Sunday was very large air filled tube that was controlled by by an operator for both air flow and angle of the tube. The operator would let the tube come to the ground and all the kids would jump on it. He then increase the air and lifted it skyward and would and would literally dump all the kids off it. I'm sure a few came away some bruises. It is fun to listen to the kids on the video below as the large air tube attacks them or bounces them up and down.
There was a lot of art in the park this weekend.
One area of the park had a river
created with bottle filled with glow sticks that wound its way under a
small bridge. I would have liked to have seen that all lit up. Another had a tree with facial features along with a crow and hawk wired into the branches. I watched a few people jump as they walked by and noticed the crow in the tree just above eye level.
There were also some very good food vendors, serving grilled bratwurst, french fries, gyros, ice cream and beer. One had a large 6' charcoal grill in their stand and were grilling all sorts of meat, from pork, to steak and sausages. I was fortunate to be able to place all my orders for food without too much trouble, between barely pronouncing food in German (Bier=Beer--not bad, but pommes frites=French Fries--need some inside info). Another vendor had a booth for magnetic health jewelry, but I think they would have to reconsider the name if they did the same in the US.
I happened past a small jagermann (everyman) golf course that looked like it was mowed out of a pasture. The greens were just short cut grass, not greens as we know them. Tee boxes were driving range mats, and most of the holes looked to be 60 to 100 yards long. I did see some people on the course, with full bags in tow on pull carts. The most interesting area of the course was the driving range, which hit into an orchard. About 60 yards from the tee mats was a stand of apple trees. It must be interesting picking the balls up and not getting any fallen apples. i'm sure a few apples get bruised along the way too.
Another park I rode through was called Agua magic. There were many relaxation area and different customized garden areas, along with a couple of play areas for the kids. For the adults, there was a nice shady beer garden to enjoy a beverage from.
Bad Oeynhausen is situated in a valley. There is a lot of farming done in the area. After climbing out of the valley, the views of the farm fields, European architecture and the surrounding hills was enjoyable and worth the ride up the hills. The bike i had rented was a seven speed with the gearing in the hub, like the old 3 speed bikes of many years ago. It took a little while to get used to the shifting as you have to back pedal slightly to allow the gear to shift, rather than keeping pedaling like on a derailleur system.
In an area north of town called Sielpark, was a structure that was used for removing the salt from the spring water. The salt works graduation tower was giant structure (about 10' wide by 35' tall and 225' long) filled with sticks and branches which had the spring water pours over the top. The water cascaded down the branches and the salt would form deposits on the branches. These branches were then removed to obtain the salt deposited during the process.
Many of the sidewalks, parking lots and even some roadways are made from individual pavers. The advantage of these is when they have to repair an area, they can pull up the pavers, do the repair and then place them back down. If some get damaged, they can be replaced individually. I was very impressed with how well the parking lots and walkways held up. They used different color pavers to indicate bike and pedestrian lanes
One evening I went to dinner at Trollinger Hof on the north side of town. This is a small bed and breakfast type place. At the salad bar was some small items that looked like mini watermelons, maybe an inch or two long. They were actually more like mini cucumbers in taste though. The restaurant owner also made her own after dinner liqueurs, made from flavor infused alcohol. My favorite was here cinnamon liqueur. It was cinnamon flavored tequila, but there was no hint of the tequila, and it was very smooth. She also had some orange infused rum, along with rose, lavender and about 2 dozen other flavors. She placed the finished product in various containers and displayed them in the eating area.
Walking through the park on the second weekend, I was surprised how many weeding groups were there taking photos. I saw at least 6 bridal parties taking pictures in front of the various fountains and flower beds.
The city is very much a bike culture. I tried to rent a bike for the second weekend, but they had already all been reserved for the weekend. Even the postal service (Duetch Post) delivers their mail by bike
.
Out in front of one of the medical buildings was in interesting stature that was half full body and half a cut away showing the internal organs and structure.
Ray and LeAnn headed south on Sunday to visit some Minnesota and Wisconsin Wineries which are part of the Great River Road Wine Trail. It is a group of 9 wineries up and down the Mississippi river in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa who market themselves together. Sunday was beautiful day in Minnesota as the temperatures rose into the mid 70's and was sunny and calm--perfect for traipsing through the vineyards. 
Our first stop was the Maiden Rock Winery and Cidery in Stockholm, WI. This winery not only makes wine, but also cider and hard cider. During our wine tasting we tried 2 different hard ciders, a couple of wines made at the winery and also some wines from other Wisconsin wineries in Green Bay and Bayfield. The Maiden Rock Winery grows their own grapes, crab apples and apples for use in their wine and cider. They use the apples in various wines and their cider. You can also buy apples that have been picked on site, or pick some of your own. We bought a bottle of Skeeter Bite Forest to bring home. I wish they had been launching the apples from the catapult while we were there, but it was all locked up
We then went north to Prescott, WI and visited the Valley Vineyard. This was located at the end of a dead end residential street, so if it wasn't for the signs indicating where to turn, you wouldn't think you were headed to the winery. All the grapes had already been harvested, but we walked through the vineyard anyway to take some photos. The vineyard is small, with about 6 acres, but multiple grape varieties are grown and harvested. They had over a dozen different wines made by them available for tasting. We enjoyed the variety of wines and purchased a bottle of the Sweet Elegance. Most of wines in this region are combinations of various cool weather grapes (some developed at the Univ of MN) and sometimes blended with fruit or honey. 
Our last stop was at the Falconer Winery in red Wing, MN. They have recently built a Bistro overlooking the vineyard and the view is wonderful. They have a wood fueled, brick oven that they make specialized pizza (including one with grapes, which was very good. To get from the tasting room to the bistro, you walk right through the winery which is full of various barrels and vats filled with wine in various stages of fermentation.
We then headed home after a full day of sightseeing, wine tasting, and relaxation. A very fun way to spend a Sunday on a Minnesota fall day
