A trip to a bakery

After a visit to the grandparents apartment....

..
Mia also wamted to visit her favourite backer chain again 89 C

Later we headeed to the former French concession to see some former colleagues and meet for lunch

A well trained dog waiting for his owner outside a restaurant in the Xuijahui area

Meeting Liane

Our old neighbor from Arlington has been living in Shanghai as an English teacher for more that three years now. Of course we had to get together for a cup of coffee and sinner. Coincidentally she lives in the south west of Shanghai just a few metro stops from where we are staying close to Ji's parents

 
A bit of shopping at the local Aldi

Walking back to the hotel 

View from our hotel room

 

Flying to Shanghai

After almost four years we were able to go back to Shanghai. Getting the visa was not easy and also getting to the airport after all the trains between Darmstadt and  Frankfurt were stopped after an accident - but all worked out in the end:

Luckily we had booked on Air China - the Lufthansa flight was delayed by a day

The airport at take off

Frankfurt from above - the stadium is in the left corner:

Mia took pictures of the clouds as we were flying east:

Maria and Cloe

On very short notice Maria and Cloe, our old friends from Arlington came to Heidelberg for a short visit before meeting family in France.
picked them up at the airport in Frankfurt and started the visit with an outside dinner down the street

It was great to see them again and to show them around Heidelberg a bit the next two days

Tapas in Weststadt

Lichtenstein

The principality of Lichtenstein, the small country on the upper Rhine river, wedged between Switzerland and Austria, has been on the travel list for a long time. With a convenient train connection from Heidelberg on an Austrian train and the summer vacation in full swing it was finally time to go:

In Feldkirch an Austrian town just outside Lichtenstein one had to change to another traintpwrds Zuorch, Switzerland

In Buchs it was only a short hop over the border to Lichtenstein

Finally in Vaduz - the capitol of Lichtenstein:

For a small fee Mia could get her passport stamped

 

 

On the throne - well not the real one

The castle was under renovation:

Liechtenstein has one of the highest GDP per person in the world

Before heading back to Heidelberg a short visit at the Lakre in Werdenberg across the border in Switzerland

More fancy cars

Back at the border

On the train back to Heidelberg

Geislinger Steigee - Schwäbische Alp east of Stuttgart

Main station in Heidelberg at 9:10 pm - 14 hours after leaving: