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

Heidelberger Herbst

The last weekend in September was warm and sunny and perfect for the Heidelberger Herbst a big festival in the old town of Heidelberg with music and food. Mia was busy on Saturday because of a birthh birthday party but on Sunday afternoon we went for a quick visit in the afternoon.

Mia wanted to try a small climbing course

We also tried the Flammkuchen

Hockenheim Corn Maze

On a sunny late summer Sunday we checked out a corn maze north of Hockenheim.

Inside we had to find five wooden piglets but one we missed. The maze was so big and difficult we considered ourselves lucky when we finnaly made it out again after more than one hour.

 Once out we took a break

Then we explored an old side arm of the Rhine in Ketsch

An island that can be reached by a wodden bridge is a nature preserve and a place for walking and biking. There also some wild pigs that liked the acorns we had collected for them

Pancakes

Mia had noticed a recipe for pancakes in her "Frag doch mal die Maus" calendar and wanted to make some as a surprise for us.

They turned out pretty nice

Colmar

The day after the wedding we drover across the Rhine to the French city of Comar - a place in the Alsace region we always wanted to visit.
Our first stop was at a covered market hall

We tried some bread and sausages and sampled some cheese. We also bought a big container of chorcoute

Then we got in line for a tour on a small canal in an old fishing boat. There was a bit of a wait

But it was certainly worth it- even though the weather was not so nice. It was grey and a bit cold

After this we walked around in the city which had many nice corners