Taking our friends to Cologne

Of course our friends wanted to see Cologne. So we all took a regional train from Aachen to the main station in Cologne which is right next to the cathedral:

After the one hour train ride we also stopped for a lunch at a restaurant by the Rhine river and the adults and teenager sampled the Kölsch beer

After a quick trip to a Lego store om a shopping street we were back at the cathedral to see it from inside. Since a service was about to start we ended up siiting inside for a special two hours mass with the archbishop , cardinals and dozens or priests and a choir.and many nuns

After this we had lunch at a brew pub where Bill Clinto was guest in 1999 during a summit in Cologne

Once we finished and gout out we walked by the river to enjoy the skyline

The love locks at the Hohenzollern bridge

On the train back to Aachen

Meeting our friends in Aachen

Our friends and former neighbors were taking part in an exchange program with Arlington's German sister city Aachen. After last meeting them in Perugia almost six years ago it was great to see them again. Dan and Nico had arrived five days earlier flying in into Brussels but Sylvia and Luca arrived on Saturday in Frankfurt and we picked them up and drove them to their host family in Aachen. We stayed at a hotel in downtown Aachen and met them at the cathedral on Sunday morning because Sylvia wanted to attend the Palm Sunday Mass at the 1200 year old church which is a UNESCO world heritage site

Mia joined us a bit later after the church service

Unfortunately it was cold and windy but the father of the host family still wanted to give us a guided tour of the city center

Later we met an old friend for a Chinese dinner 

 She walked us back to the city center just a few minuted from our hotel

We also took a picture of Mia by the same fountain on our last trip to Aachen six year ago

World Thinking Day

 For World Thinking Day the girl scouts worked on berets

Papa's birthday

Two cakes were ready for papa's birthday

After breakfast we drove for a second birthday breakfast to Cologne were uncle Stefan had his birthday as well

Back home in the evening the many birthday presents were unpacked

Mia had gotten some strawberry mils and Stefan some Kölsch beer

TRp to Luxembourg

On the first day of the school break in the week of carnival Ji, Mia and her friend hopped on a train to Luxembourg  to explore their second small country after Lichtenstein.

The caste of the Grand Duke Henri

Guarded by soldiers

View from the upper town  down to the lower town

A lift into the lower town

A stop at a famous bakery

The new hotel Atlantic by the Heidelberg train station with some special light effect