We finished the old year with our marvelous friends and welcomed the new year with a splash!
December 31 was not only my sweet nephew Niko's birthday (I hope he got lots of trains!), but also a holiday here in Germany. Well, a half holiday anyway. Many shops are open until noon, but by the time Alex and I woke up and were ready to get out of the house, all the establishments near us were already closed. We got in touch with our friends and walked to their house for a fun-filled day. The walk took us along the picturesque Neckar river and was only about 30 minutes at a leisurely stroll. I am sure we will do that walk many more times. We hung out with the Föhrs all day, which was fun and relaxing at the same time. In the afternoon, we went back to the banks of the Neckar to explore the fabulous playground where the kids played (i.e. the girls entertained Alex) and Sherry and I sat on a sunny bench to chat. Wonderful.
The park was full of people and families and Sherry and Christian ran into various people they knew. In that sense it was a little like Greencastle and I was wondering if Alex and I will meet friends in the park and on the streets in a few months. For dinner, Sherry made a local specialty - Flammkuchen. It's kind of like a pizza (in fact, the kids' version was very much like pizza with tomato sauce and mozarella - though Alex's corner also included bacon), but the dough gets rolled out almost impossibly thinly and then topped with sour cream, onions, and bacon bits. I definitely have to get the recipe for it.
Then (well, after we waited for a long time for the "rush" delivery of our stroller) we all took the bus back to our place. I was thrilled to find out that there is a bus we can take from their front door to ours (for those days or evenings when the 30 minute walk along the Neckar might seem too long) and Alex was just thrilled to ride the bus (especially once he realized that it passes right by his new school). The grown-ups settled in a with a really nice bottle of champagne and the girls mixed delicious cocktails of various fruit juices complete with sugar rims and citrus decorations.
Our friends had also brought a typical Silvester (New Year's Eve) treat: Luftschlangen. These are basically colorful paper streamers that you blow out to decorate the room (or make a huge mess). Alex LOVED them.
Our friends left before midnight and we headed to bed, only to be awoken at the stroke of midnight by fireworks being shot off all around us. There are no organized fireworks as far as I know, but individuals just shoot off whatever they want at midnight and the display in the night sky over the city of Heidelberg was spectacular. My camera really doesn't do it justice.
What a fun and festive way to welcome in the New Year. As I was watching the explosions I remembered standing on my grandmother's balcony in Hamburg oh so many years ago watching a similar display.
Today, we welcomed in the New year in a really fun way. We joined the Föhrs and many of their friends on their annual New Year's trip to a fantastic and huge indoor water park in a nearby town. We took the tram to the closest stop and then Christian led us on a walk through the town and across some fields to the pool. Alex giggled and I was amazed when we caught our first glimpse of it:
The structure seemed like a magical dream that suddenly appeared in the otherwise pretty barren landscape. What a treat it was! We spent a full 6 hours frolicking in the water! There were various pools including one with huge artificial waves, several thermal pools with lazy rivers and other water features in both regular pool water and salt water. These had both indoor and outdoor sections. Alex was up for everything. He played in the water the entire time (his little hands and feet were really shriveled by the end of the day). All those trips to the pool last summer really paid off when I saw him literally throwing himself into the waves, floating for long whiles in the saltwater thermal pool, swimming between our friends, and, of course, hurtling down gigantic water slides that would never ever be open to kids his age and size in the US. We all had a blast! All day we wandered from pool to pool and the experience ended with an almost impossibly enchanted final trip to the salt water outdoor pool after the sun had gone down and the huge salt statues we had been admiring all day were lit up in various colors and the steam from the hot water was rising into the dark and cold night air. What a great way to start the year.
We hope you all had a great start to the year as well and we wish you a happy and healthy year full of wonderful new experiences.
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