Meeting with friends

Like last year Mia's first teach from the German school in Washington DC was in town and we met a few times.

She stayed again a winery on the hills in the south of Heidelberg. There was a beautiful view and the very cute dog of a friend

 

World cup trading cards

A friend had started Mia with collecting the trading cards of the German team for the 2026 FIFA world cup.  She used to collect these cards many years ago so it was a bit about bringing back memories

 

With his great connections to the local supermarket where one would get cards after spending a certain amount he manged to get all the cards to get the complete collection of 172 cards when we were invited for dinner

World Cup

The second game of the US team at the 2026 FIFA world cup was against Australia and we could watch since it was not in the middle of the night in our time zone

The result was a 2:0 for the US team which was the qualification for the knock out phase

Ulm

At the end of the two week break over Pentecost we tool the train to Ulm - a city at the river Danube in the south west of Baden Würtemberg. Using only local trains it was gain a free trip with our rail passes

Wen we stepped out the main station in Ulm we first stopped in a shopping mall to get some drinks and do some window shopping

Of course we had to climb the Ulmer Münster - with 161 m he tallest church tower in the world until it was surpassed by the Sagreada Familia in Barcelona just a few months ago on 30 October 2025 when its central tower reached 162.91 m.

It was a long climb up but worth it.

Then we explored the old town by the river. The old water mill was the resturant were we ended up having dinner later that day

A famous leaning house which is still used as a hotel

 

The public library stands out 

 

 

Gernsbach

For a short free weekend trip with our rail passes we took a train to Gernsbach. Its a small town at the river Murg in the northern part of the Black Forrest and only about a 90 minute train ride away.
Our first stop on the way on the train station to the city center was an old baroque garden - Katz'scher Garten- hat had been restored a few years ago  

The next stop was the city center

German American Friendship Festival

The family of friends of Mia took her along to the German American Friendship at the outskirts of Heidelberg

Adelboden

 Of course the snow didn't stay for long and there was sun on the last day