Ice Skating

Part of the Christmas market in Heidelberg is a little ice rink. Now that Mia got new ice skates that fit more comfortable on her birthday we tried them out there on a Sunday afternoon

Two days later Mia went to the same ice rink again with her class as part of a little outing in the last week of school before Christmas

They all had to walk the 3 km from the school and back

Birthday Weekend

On Ji's and Mia's birthday weekend the first guest was Christian who dropped by for breakfast on his way back from Frankfurt to Munich.

The we picked up uncle Stefan and Malin from the train station who had come for the weekend from Cologne.

The birthday party for her friends from school was in the afternoon at a bowling ally across the street from our apartment

It included dinner after two hours of bowling

Then we just relaxed at home and watched the "Frag doch mal die Muas" show on TV

The next morning we all went to see Mia perform with a kids choir at the music school which is just across the street from her school and a five minute walk away

Eight Years Old

Mia started her eighth birthday with a look at her presents of course

Since the old ice skating shoes had become too small she got a new pair

Then Oma called from Cologne to wish her a happy birthday as well

After a busy day at school with a little celebration in class and after care and practise for the Christmas musical it was time to rleax with a good bottle of lemonade at an Italian restaurant

 Of course she picked a pizza after some cheese and olives from Sardinia as appetizer

Back at home we had some special cake from our favorite backery

Start of the Ice Skating season

The cold weather was a good opportunity to start the outdoor ice skating season for Mia.

Part of the Heidelberg Christmas market is a nice ice skating rink

We found out that he old skates are a bit tight now so she will get new ones for her birthday

Meeting Barbara in Stuttgart

When we talked about meeting up with cousin Barbara we decided on Stuttgart. There is a interesting museum by Merceds Benz that combines cars and history and a famous Christmas market in Esslingen.
None of us had been to museum before which covers the time from the 1880'es until now with many cars and lots of information about the different time periods.

Little side exhibitions cover buses, trucks, police cars, ambulances and other vehicles besides passenger cars

Some of the cars could also be in a design or art museum

A look into the futures includes of course computers

Then it was time to leave and Mia of course tried to make a little race out of it

  Three S-Bahn stops away on the river Neckar was the historic town of Esslingen

 The Christmas marked there was really crowded  on a Sunday afternoon

Another cold day that called fr a hot Glühwein to warm up a bit

Mia wanted to try the rides at the section with the theme from the middle ages

A surprise music performance

It turned dark around 5 pm and got even colder

At the train station we had a look at an historic train with a steam engine

Was kind of nice to stand next to hot steam engine on a cold winter night - nut then the local train was also nice and warm inside

Christmas Market Deidesheim

We had heard nice things about the Christmas market in Deidesheim, an historic village in the wine area in Palatine across the Rhine, so we decided to make a little trip on a cold Saturday afternoon.
When we arrived it had just turned dark and we saw a beautiful half moon and a bright Venus in the evening sky

We first looked for something to warm up with - like a hot soup or a Glühwein

Then we looked around a bit

A fire was also a good place to warm up

It was not too cold for Mia to try the ferries wheel