To Complete Our Tour of Southern Germany

...Heidelberg.

It happened to be on our way home.

 We actually hiked up this hill, even Sophie. That was before we found out that the train rides up and down the hill were included in the admission ticket to the castle courtyard. On the plus-side, we burned off some of last night's dinner that way.

 While Nanny and Pops took a guided tour of the castle, we played prince and princess in the courtyard.

 My funny parents.

 Castle shots

 a lot of it in ruins, but still very impressive

 Sophie also spotted this dragonfly in the castle courtyard. 

Needless to say when we were done, we took the train back downtown.

View of the castle and Princess Sophie from the old bridge.

Then off to find a place for dinner. All that walking made us hungry.

Enough medieval towns for a couple of days.

A Corner of Germany and One of France

With our visitors here and a rental car at hand, we thought we would go and see a bit of Germany and hop across the border to France just because it is right there. So we headed south along the Rhine towards Koblenz. Andrew had been here before, so he served as the guide.

We strolled through the old town to the giant Kaiser Wilhelm I (the grandfather) statue at the Deutsches Eck (German corner), where the Moselle and the Rhine meet. Having been bombed and destroyed during the War, the controversial statue was re-erected in the early 90s and now serves as a memorial to German reunification. 

 The view from the monument: Mother Moselle on the left and Father Rhine on the right.

 Fortress Ehrenbreitstein on the opposite shore of the Rhine - the second largest fortress in Europe still standing.

 What a place for a picnic! We felt some envious looks around us. 

 With our tummies filled, we strolled along the shore to the electoral palace. It housed no doubt some of the finest public bathrooms in the world. 

 Then it was time to climb back into the car to head further south through the Palatinate (wine everywhere) across the border to Wissembourg, France. A little medieval town only one kilometer into the Alsace, but what a difference. 

 After much research, we picked this restaurant for our big French meal out. We had been daydreaming about these dishes for weeks. It turned out that it was a good choice.

 Anticipation

Enjoying a wonderful meal!

How about that for dessert? Crème brûlée, calvados, profiteroles and armagnac. 

Somebody was slowly getting tired though. Sophie has been so good and is clearly enjoying the company.

Nanny and Pops in France.

A Saturday in the Life of Sophie (and her parents)

Today was shaping to be a beautiful day, filled with fun activities and lots of sunshine.

In the morning, Sophie played with Lina.

 Here they are taking a moment to read a story. Sophie is actually translating the book for Lina as it is a story in English.

 Then Lina had to get ready and head off to the airport to go on vacation. Incidentally we were also taking the bikes on the train to the airport in order to go to a birthday party nearby. We promised to look out for Lina's plane. This one here is a plane just like the one Daddy usually takes to and from Leipzig.

 There was a bike path right along the perimeter of the airport. Perfect for plane spotting. Of course, we ended up being late for the party. "Just one more airplane." We were so close we could hear the wake turbulence from the planes.

 Although impossible to tell from the picture, this was Lina's flight taking off.

 Sophie was invited to Lara's 5th birthday garden party. It was her first drop off birthday party. Judging by Sophie's statements afterwards, she had a great time.

And it was an opportunity for Andrew and I to "kill" a few hours in Kaiserswerth. We cycled past the nearby moat castle in Kalkum, on to the Rhine, had a drink at the beer garden next to the Kairserpfalz castle and a lazy picnic near the Rhine River shore. What a way to spend a sunny afternoon. 

British Country Fair

A real British country fair with cream tea, curry and Paddington Bear was meant to take place in the nearby city of Krefeld. We had to check it out. The weather was perfect for it.

 Sophie making silly faces with Andrew on the train.

 This was the setting: around the castle Linn.

 A piper and Paddington with whom Sophie was flirting away.

 You can't have a proper festival without face painting.

All in all well worth the trip. It's an annual event and next year we will certainly try to make it for the Proms concert in the castle courtyard. We will also try to come for the family day when there are more activities for each family member (Highland games, Wellie throwing, teddybear's picnic...).

A Very Special Guest

Back in Duesseldorf, Andrew back to work, back to routine - except that we had a very special visitor coming from a long way away. My very good friend Birgit was in Germany for a couple of weeks on a visit from Australia. She managed to add a few days to her business trip and spent them with us. 

 One day we went to Duesseldorf's largest book fair right on the Königsallee. At one stand, they were giving out tongue tattoos. Very entertaining!

 We did not really manage to browse the books and watch Sophie at the same time (it was probably a good thing for my wallet), but we found a tent with children's story time and a stand with very elaborate instruments. When Sophie recognized one of the odd-looking instruments from preschool, we found out that they were actually supplying her school with them. Sophie was fascinated by the collection of gongs. Must sign her up for music classes!

After the book fair, Birgit took us on a tour of her favorite shops and boutiques in town. She used to live here.

In one of the shops, we ran into Daddy! (I wish I had had my camera ready.) He had left for work early in the morning to be on call 3 hours from here. As he arrived he was given another 24 hours off and decided to turn around and surprise Sophie. Success!

With Andrew home, we had a babysitter for a girls' night out. Thank you!

 The next day, Andrew was really on his way, and we decided to explore another part of Duesseldorf: Kaiserswerth. It housed the rebuilt ruins of a once large and impressive castle, the Kaiserpfalz (imperial palace), built in 1045. It lay right by the shore of the river Rhine. For Sophie, the ruins made an excellent spot for some climbing (she is my daughter after all). 

 Balancing along the outline of the former keep. She could not get enough of this place.

 We managed to bribe her away from the rocks with the promise of a waffle at the adjacent beer garden.  We are in Germany after all. 

 Then we scrambled down to the Rhine shore. We spotted a lot of shells on the beach and many excellent skipping stones. Unfortunately, we also found a lot of glass, so we dragged Sophie back to the bike path.

 Two elves.

Sophie finished off the day in style with a good old water fight in the garden with Lina.

Blue sky in Duesseldorf.

Skye Is The Limit (at least for us on this trip)

The weather had turned quite a bit cooler today, so we had made a wise decision in moving our trip to the Isle of Skye from yesterday to today.

 At Mallaig harbor, on our way to the ferry, Grandad showed us his boat. In the row of four, it's the second one from the right. 

 I asked Sophie to pose in front of our ferry...

 ...the she asked me to pose in front of this bus. 

 Leaving Mallaig. It was about a half hour ferry ride to Armadale - enough time to walk the entire ship once, via the cafe and the souvenir shop. 

 Between the Red and the Black Cuillins. We ordered some tea and scones in a restaurant at the crossroads just before a busload of French tourists arrived.

 Debra and I

 We drove past Talisker Whisky Distillery, erroneously thinking that it was closed for construction, on our way to Dunvegan Castle. I was impressed to find a castle like this in so remote a spot. 

 And such elaborate gardens!

We wanted to have an "inbetween" lunch/dinner in Portree (the main town on Skye), but found out after walking the entire "downtown", that every restaurant was closing between lunch and dinner. We thought we were cutting it a little close for the last ferry to the mainland, only to find out that the ferry was delayed coming in.

Ben could spot his home from the railing.

Castle and Afternoon Tea

More sightseeing today; another city to explore.

 Unfortunately a lot of construction in the city due to a stalling tram line construction project, not very much in favor with the locals.

 Edinburgh Castle

We walked past some lovely shops on our way up there.

 It was a cold day, especially up by the castle. We were happy to take a break inside the cafe at the castle to finally have some afternoon tea.

 Deep in thought about that scone.

 St. Margaret's Chapel, the oldest building in the castle still standing from the 12th century.

 Views from the top. We also saw the One O'Clock Gun, but I must have been too busy holding or lifting Sophie to take a picture, but it was exactly like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjwkOW1HL40

In fact I even think it was the same woman doing it.

After a long day of walking and shopping, Karen and Chris cooked us a lovely dinner of haggis and tatties. Preceded by scallops and followed by whisky. 

Thank you for letting us stay in your nice place, Karen and Chris!