Papa's Birthday

After a week in Hamburg to help Ji's friensd we stopped in Cologne for a little birthday get together.
First we stopped in Bensberg for coffee and cake

We left at sunset to join a party at Stefan's place

When we left the next morning there was time for a selfie in fron of the cathedral

Our train took the scenic route along the Rhine:

Unpacking a package back home

Kleinfischlingen

Stefan came for a short visit to see some friends from Finland who were in the area to participate in an exchange with a school in Wiesloch only 16 km south if Heidelberg. It turned out that part of the program on this Sunday was a tour of a winery in Kleinfischlingen - is a municipality in Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinata across the Rhine. One of the local teachers had grown up at the winery and had organized a private tour where we could join.

A lot of wine was stored in huge stainless steel tanks

A wine tasting was part of the tour but Mia of course had some grape juice -it had wone a gold medal at some competition. Luckily she had  brought a book

Konstanz

 The ladies made day trip to Constance by train

A few steps to the Swiss border

The animal park in Kreuzlingen just across the border in Switzerland
 

Old Town in Constance

 

 
On the train back to Heidelberg

Fourth Day in Lisbon

On our last full day in Lisbon we headed back to the Oceanário de Lisboa - the largest indoor aquarium in Europe.
It was a great place to visit

A sea anemon

Jelly fish

A sea dragon

The actic section

Another jelly fish

Mia and the mascot of the aquarium:

The aquarium building from the cable car when we took short ride along the shore

In the evening we discovered a large Christmas market at the Parque Eduardo VII

Entering the Wonderland

Pina Colada

Mia liked the apple fritter

Decoration for the new year at the the Marquês de Pombalsquare

Third Day in Lisbon

The next morning we headed to the Cais des Sodré a big train station by the river to check out the famois indoor food market next door the Mercado da Ribeira

 

The market was verz busy and had lots of coices

Many jummy dishes

Then we explore the nearby neighborhood of the Barrio Alto

Then we took the metro to a modern neigborhood in the north east that was the site of the World's fair in 1998. There is a great aquarium and a cable car which we were going to explore the next day

 There is also a hughe shopping mall and an indoor arena for sport and music events