Sightseeing in Heidelberg

After a nice breakfast and some playing we had to show our visitors the touristic highlights of Heidelberg

 First stop was the marketplace

Ben had to get a wooden sword - the girls just tested some

Then we had to check out a nice bakery

After we tool the funicular up the Königsstuhl Mia showed her cousins the play area there

Then it was time for some ice cream at the castle

Ella and Ben in Town

Ji's cousin from outside Washington DC and her two children started off their European vacation in Heidelberg before taking a cruise out of Barcelona 10 days later.
We had stayed at their place in Maryland many times when we lived in Arlington and with Ella one and a half years younger and Ben one and a half years older it was always fun for Mia who likes to play with both

On the first day after their arrival Mia had to show them an ice cream parlor and a nice playground after coming home from school

Then we all took a bus for the 15 minute bus ride to a beer garden in the hills above Heidelberg.
On the way we had to stop a yet another playground

The children saw - and smelled - lots of cows and enjoyed the food

We missed the last bus back into yown ant 7:45 pm but it was only a 30 minute walk to a street car stop for the ride back

Just before the street car stop was another nice playground in a school yard with some nice rock climbing

We made it home in time for the opening game of the Euro 2016

Children's Festival and the Main Station

The store owners inside the Heidelberg main station had announced a Children's festival inside the station on Sunday afternoon. When coming back from a flee market that was interrupted by a thunderstorm we stopped by not expecting much: What could three be besides some face painting and a table for coloring. It turned out ro be quite a good program with a nice performance every 30 minutes.
After an acrobat there was an interactive theater performance for kids

Mia had an idea on how to get off an island

In other parts of the station there was an acrobat

Of course there was also a magic show

Elsa made it Heidelberg as well - she could really explain to Mia though why Anna was not around

Flooding in Heidelberg

After some heavy rain upriver the Neckar flooded some streets in the old parts of Heidelberg. This was worth checking out

 

A young woman pushed her bike trough the water which was really dangerous. When she realized this it was too late to turn around because the current was so strong but luckily she mad out okay

On the way back Mia wanted to ride her mother's bike - which is still a bit too big for her

Winefest in Edenkoben

The Pfalz is famous for its wine and many villages have wine festivals in the summer or fall. We took the train to Edenkoben to check out the one there.

The carousel was from 1906

The other rides were a also a bit older but still fun for Mia

The wine in the Pfalz comes in big 0,5 l glasses - something we are not really used to. Mia had her Fanta

The pony ride was free

When Mia didn't behave we could use some old fashioned pedagogical device that was in the medival part of the festival

Picking Strawberries

We have a couple of farms nearby where one can pick strawberries yourself. We tried one in Ladenburg which we knew  from the fall when had gone there for a corn maze

Of course we also had quite a few during picking

Bike Tour along the Neckar

The last Thursday in May was a public vacation day and we used to nice weather for a bike tour along the Neckar. We took the S-Bahn with our bikes to Neckargmünd and the rode back to Heidelberg.  Parts of the ride were very nice along the river at other parts we ad to ride along noisy street.

Half way we stopped for ice cream