Trip to Tokyo

This year we combined out family trip to Shanghai with one to Tokyo. Since the whole trip was on one ticket with a Chinese airline  it was not much more expensive than just going to Shanghai.
We left Frankfurt in the afternoon

The next morning we transferred to our Tokyo flight in Beijing were we had enough time for a breakfast

On approach to Haneda Airport we could see Mount Fuji on the left - luckily Mia had a window seat

From Handeda airport it was a short bus ride to our hotel in Sumida City distict of Tokyo

View from our hotel

Poppy Seed Cake

We found some poppy seed baking mix in a kitchen drawer that was close to its expiration date.  So we jumped into action and made a cake - it turned out really well

Saying Good Bye to Chloe

Chloe's flight to back to Washington DC via Paris left very early from the new terminal 3. So we arrived at 5 am  to say good bye

Partial solar eclipse

In the evening we could watch a partial solar eclipse in Heidelberg. All the special glasses were sold out days ago but thanks to some instructions from the internet we managed ti build a pinpoint projector out of a cereal box. From the Ernst Waltz bridge we had a good view at the sun which was close to sunset

At the end of the peak coverage a nice lady gave us her self made glasses

Chloe in town

Mia's old childhood friend was traveling in Italy and added a few days in Heidelberg to see Mia. We tool her to a traditional German restaurant close by where we love to take visitors and friends

Eating Out

When mama had a fancy dinner with the girl scout ladies we decides to go to our favourite Italian restaurant for some pizza and pasta

 The food was great but unfortunately Mia got bitten by a lot of mosquitos

Watching a Quarter Final

On a beautiful summer evening we met in the old town in Heidelberg to watch the world cup quarter final between Spain and Belgium outdoors with many other people

 The final result was a 2:1 wn for Spain

Final day of Camporee

The final day of Camporee is all about handing out badges and the bridging to the next girl scout level.
Of course flags are involved as well 

 

 
A surprise gift for the volunteer who had helped out a lot during the year when no other leader was available for a girl scout meeting

Bridging

Some extra pictures

Getting ready to leave

Camporee 2026

The girl scouting ended like the years before with the traditional Camporee in Zwingeberg at the Neckar. Meeting point was like always the main station here in Heidelberg 

As a service the luggage was delivered by car so that the girls didn't have to carry it from the train station to the campground

The girls had to set up the tents but at least the weather was perfect and a bit on the cooler side after a heat wave a week earlier

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

 

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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