Trip to Kiel

 At the end of our stay in Hamburg we added a short trip to Kiel - a major port city by the Baltic sea where ferries and cruise ships leave for Sweden and other Scandinavian countries

There was a beer festival in the city center not far from the water front - they even had a stand with Kölsch beer

A lake by the old twon

An evening walk by the water fron after dinner

A research village

A Kölsch beer as night cup

Dinner with Li

 Ji's old friend met us at a nice restaurant by the main station for dinner

Trip to Hamburg

The second last week of the summer break we went to Hamburg . Unfortunately our early morning train trip started with an almost one hour delay

 
But we still made it before lunch - good for a half day in the office

 Mia and Ji headed to the Institute Francaise

 In the evening we saw the smoke from a big fire in the harbor that was even in the national news

 

This didn't keep us from heading out for an ice creme

Exploring Reims

On our first full day in Reims we first explored the center

Then we went to the outskirts of town to visit a champagne business

 

Heading back to Heidelberg a day later we  of course had to stop at a large supermarket to do some extra shopping in France

 

 

Reims

 Our flight back from Perugia took us again to Charleroi in Belgium next to the French border

To see something different we stopped for two nights in Reims which is famous for its cathedral.  After we checked in our hotel in the center we walked over to have a look

  

 

 

Then it was time to find a good place for dinner. Luckily we found a part of the old town with many bars and restaurants 

Assisi

Seven years after our first trip to Perugia we also went back to Assisi - mainly to see the places were Saint Francis of Assisi lived and is buried. Mia got picked up at the old city gate by the Cacciatos who had an extra spot in their car - we had to wait a bit for them to show up

 - we took the train and then walked to the church which was our meeting point. A holy father helped us to go the right way

Inside the church was a chapel that Saint Francis had build and when we left a big souvenir shop

Then we went uphill to the town of Assisi to the church were St. Francis is buried:

 

 

We spend more than an hour inside but picture taking was not allowed - but we made up for it outside

 

 Someone was singing a song that was based on y prayer by St. Francis - beautifully videotaped by Dan

Outside the compound was peace bell donated by the state of Bavaria to show the harmony of the four main religions in the world

 

 

Then it was time to head back since the Cachiattos were invited for dinner -

 

 

Since there was not much time the seven of us squeezed  into the car with Mia and Nico in the  back of the Ford Focus station wagon

 
We had a nice evening dinner in a restaurant down the street from our hotel before leaving town the next morning