Visiting friends in Basel

With a nice weather forcast for the weekend we decided to go to Basel for the weekend to say Hi to some old friends from the US that had transferred there last summer. By coincidence Kenny was visiting the same weekend from New York City - he had jumped on the opportunity to get  a free trip for frequent flier miles.
Dale showed us around. The Mittlere Brücke (Middle Bridge) is some of the oldest permanent crossing on the Rhine and has been there for almost 800 years

Peter is showing Mia an old garden by the river

 Old town

There were many fountains with drinking water

Old friends at the Münster - a church that was finished in 1480.

One of the old city gates

Dale and his family had great penthouse apartment with roof access and an empty pool. Peter showed Mia the view

The we were invited for raclette - the famous Swiss dish with melted cheese

Kenny explained Mia how a Rubic's cube

Making Von Gogh

After the Matisse exhibition in Mannheim we checked out another big art exhibition: We drove up to Frankfurt to see "Making van Gogh" at the Städel museum. With about 100  originals by van Gogh and about the same by contemporary painters it told how he became famous after he had died unknown and poor.
 First we had to stand in line to get in - more that two hours

Mia had brought something to read

But it was worth the wait and we enjoyed it

The dog walker

Mia always liked to spend some time with the dogs of a friend that lives in the old town

She was very happy to go for a walk with the dogs

Gawain in Town

Gawain, an old friend from Louisiana that used to be in Heidelberg a lot came for a visit all the way from Alaska to show the town to his Russian girlfriend.
One evening we meet for German food in the old town

We also showed them the castle on a rainy Saturday

We had to take a breal inside

 

 

 

Sunday Walk

A walk along the Neckar on a Sunday afternoon was a good opportunity to try out the new camera

The new camera also has a "sweet child" setting

Matisse Exhibition

This weekend was the end of the big "Inspiration Matisse" exhibition at the art museum in Mannheim. It showed paintings and sculptures by Matisse and and other artists from hos period.
Ji had seen it before with the ladies from her book club but th erest of the family wanted to see it was well.
First we had to wait in line

 Mia walked through the exhibition with an audio guide

No picture taking was allowed so I had to take these in secret

Playing the Flute

As part of her music classed at school Mia has to learn to play the flute - sometimes she partices in the evening