Girl Scout Sleepover

Mia joined an American girl scout group at the end of the summer - maybe a good way to make new friends. As a perpetration for future camping trips  a mother with a big house invited the older girls for a sleepover the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Right after the drop of we had to leave but thanks to Facebook we received some pictures later -

There was a late Thanksgiving potluck dinner

There was a ginger bread house building activity

The next morning the had to get up at 7 am

Time for breakfast

View from the front yard

A walk in the woods

On a sunny Sunday afternoon we set out for a walk along the hills of the Neckar valley towards Heidelberg. The fall colors of the leaves were really beautiful

Towards the we could see the river and the castle between the trees

 A little break

 T
he old town and the castle

Düsseldorf

We November 1 - All Saints day - a public holiday in southern Germany and Mia with a one week fall break we decided to go for a mini vacation to Düsseldorf. The city is the capitol of North Rhine Westphalia and got top rankings in some "best towns to live in the world" rankings. Also our old friend Claudia lives there.
It was raining pretty hard on our first afternoon and we met Claudia and her boyfriend in a brew pubg were we tries the local Alt beer - Mia tried a lemonade

 After the rain had stopped we walked around in the old twon a bit

The next morning we walked along the  Köningsallee of Kö a famous high end shopping  street tying to find an ATM

We ended up in the old town and tried the ferries wheel which offered some nice views

Apparently Düsseldorf was famous for boys who made meoey by showing their cart wheels. Mia tried some too but didn't get any money

We walked to the parliament building on the Rhine and the TV tower

We had dinner at another brew pub after buying a basket ball for Mia

Saturday we checked out an aquarium everybody had recommended

The zoo in Heidelberg has no penguins or shark and many other animals that need an aquarium so it was nice to see those at the Aquazoo

Mia's first overnight school trip

Mia went for her first overnight school trip. Both fourth grade classes - a total of 30 children and three teachers - went to stay on castle 30 minutes north of Heidelberg.
Monday morning everyone met at the school yard and then the whole group left to walk to catch a streetcar and then a train to Heppenheim 

Two days later we drove up in the morning to pick up the luggage since two parents and their cars were needed to bring the small suitcases and bags back. The children would not have been able to bring everything up the mountain from the train station in town.

A walk along the "Wine Street"

At the foot of the hills in the Palatinate the "Winse Street" connects a string of small villages and towns that are surrounded by vineyards. On a sunny fal day we took the local train across the river
for a little walk through these vineyards.

 

Wissembourg

October 3 is the national holiday in Germany - Reunification day - and we made good use of the job ticket that allows weekend and holiday trips for the whole family as far as the French border in Wissembourg - a 90 minute train rode on local trains from Heidelberg,
The small town was full of Germans who also had the idea to do some sight seeing and shopping across the border in France

There was even a small festival with fresh wine and Flammkuchen for the German visitors

 After a short break there we went for a walk in the picturesque town

We stopped at a nice bakery and then later got some good French cheese at a supermarket

On the way back we had to change trains in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse were an museum train was
leaving the train station