Touring Hamburg

After a grey and rainy Fridday where we could only go for a walk on the Alste.

Saturday was a sunny with blue skies.
 First we headed to the Landungsbrücken for a little boat tour on the river Elbe

We got off at a little beach with nice restaurants

The next stop was the "Dom" a big fair with many rides that was running for the two weeks after Easter

Mia liked the "Fun Houses" where you had to navigate an obstacle course over different levels. At the end then was a long slide

Trip to Hamburg

Almost seven years after our last trip to Hamburg we went there again over the Easter Weekend to see some old friends of Ji.
The best and fastest way was to go by ICE - the high speed train took only 4.5 hours. We had reserved seats with a table and could play games and have a little snack

The next day Mia took a picture of he parents

 Then we headed to a Chinese restaurant to meet an old friend of Ji for lunch

Then we went to the old warehouses by the harbor to look at a new attraction in Hamburg the "Miniature world". A huge model landscape over many rooms with trains, ships and airplanes and may intersting details

One could discover details like a tunnel built for a bank robbery and many other things

The whole exhibition cycled through day and night views

There was also a winter landscape of Scandinavia

After the exhibition we walked back to the subway stop through some older parts of the city

Luckily we could stay at the grand place of Ji's friends that is more than 125 years old

Absteinach

On a grey Sunday we decided to check out yet another Alla Hop playground - this time in Absteinach, a tiny village in the Odenwald hills and already in Hesse which is the state just north.
There was a lot of climbing and balancing

 A wall to climb sideways was pretty challenging

After a few tries Mia made it

She also liked the zip line

 

 

 Mia also likes this kind of swing

Then we went for  little hike

It was a pretty nice and peaceful countryside

After some looking we foud an old border stone from 1822 for what is now the boarder between Hesse and Baden Würtemberg.

 

Warm Feet

It was still a bit chily but Mia had a great idea to keep her feet warm - three pairs of house shoes

Almauftrieb am Klosterhof

The farm that is attached to the monastery between Heidelberg and Ziegelhausen had a big event planned for the first day of spring.  The 14 cows and the bull Max who had spent all winter in the stable were lead to the pasture right next  to monastery for the first time this year. The public was invited.
First we checked out the cows on the stable and the young calves

Then Mia and the many other kids fed the goats

The big crowed was asked to move to the side of the pasture

While waiting for the big event two para gliders made a landing  on a pasture nearby

Finally the stars of the afternoon arrived

 They were obviously very happy and made a few big jumps and were running around very excitedly

After all this excitement  Mia wanted to try some climbing on wall of the of the monastery

Then it was time for some lunch with beer and cheese we bought at the store there

We left for little hike up there mountain where Mia had had a summer camp - but not before saying good bye to the goats

Mia still remembered the way

She was proud when we arrived at the sports complex where we caught the bus