Venice getaway

In the middle of October Adrianne and I could elope for four days to Venice. My mom watched the kids. It is only a 50 minute flight for us. South of the Alps - in Venice - the weather was very pleasant (back home it just hovered above freezing). Since we both have been here several times already, there was no pressure to do the "must see" sights. Instead, we strolled the back alleys, hopped on a vaporetto (water bus) when we were tired and explored some lesser known parts like San Giorgio Monastery and Giudecca island. It was great fun. I researched some restaurants ahead of time, and so we could really avoid the tourist traps.

My lunch (baby cuttle fish with salad & polenta):

San Giorgio Maggiore Island and Monestary from the Doge Palace:Back alley:

Victoria's 10th Birthday

Yes, she turned 10 on October 7th. We had some cake and celebrated as a small family. The following weekend we celebrated with seven of her best friends (see picture). They competed in groups of two and had tests on horse knowledge, puzzle and did craft (a cute horse head out of Champaign cork). Of course the obligatory pizza and cup cakes was also served. She has nice friends here too. They had fun.

In early October the weather was also quite nice for watching some soccer games. Our town's team of 11&12 year olds - where Mark is playing - is doing well. He is either in midfield or defense. They still have two games to play, but have so far 4 wins, 1 tie and 1 loss. They are right now in third place.

Trainer instructions before a game:

Bike Accident

September gave us a big scare. On his way home from school Mark had a bike accident. He had a frontal crash with another biker at a downhill curve entering an underpass. Stupidly he cut the corner. Within minutes the ER doctor was there, followed by the police and ambulance. They took him to the local doctor's office, from where he called us. Luckily he wore his helmet, so nothing serious happened. The other person (an adult) was not hurt. Mark had the biggest goose egg that I have ever seen! Gigantic. The next day we had to go to the police station, where he was questioned and an accident report was filed. Since he is under 14 he was not charged with anything. The picture shows him on the next day. By the end of the week the scabs were gone, and a couple days later the goose egg practically disappeared. I guess he won't be cutting corners any more.
It was nice also to get away from it all. So a week after the accident we visited Lichtenstein Castle and the Marbach Stud Farm of Baden-Wurttemberg (the federal state we live in). Both are about an hour away from our house. In Marbach some amazingly skilled Hungarian riders put up an amazing horse show including one guy riding five horses.

Lichtenstein Castle:
Riding on Five Horses:

Summer Vacation in Scandinavia

It was quite a trip. We traveled from Hildrizhausen all the way to the Songe Fjord in Norway. Over two and a half weeks we stopped along the way to explore cultural sites and natural beauty. Some of the highlights were the Lejre Experimental Station that is an interactive outdoor museum devoted to Stone and Iron Age culture. Here children can learn to make fire, or learn some Viking battle techniques, including how to break through a shield wall (there was no class in pillaging and other useful skills). One of the most memorable was to see the demonstration of the wounds the different types of arrow heads cause on a real pig (it was already dead, and suspended from a rope), followed by an autopsy for the children to see. Victoria could not take it, but the Danish children (think descendents of Vikings) were delighted.

We also rode in a Viking ship (Roskilde Viking Ship Museum), where with fellow tourists we had to row, steer and sail the ship (there was a guide, that told us what to do, but we did the work).

In Sweden we visited a fortified Viking village and saw a lot of Bronze Age petroglyphs. I thought that they were really cool, though Mark called them scratches. Sweden and Norway totally reminded us of the good old Pacific Northwest.

In Norway we visited the famous Viking Ship Museum of Oslo, and before reaching the Songe Fjord we did a 10mile hike in the Yotunheim National Park. The trail lead along a ridge above a beautiful turquoise colored lake.

The further north we got the worse weather we had (see picture above indicating 4 Celsius about 39 Fahrenheit at two in the afternoon on August 13th!). So we had to cut short our Songe Fjord visit. We sill had time on the only good afternoon to ride on kayaks in the fjord. But our glacier hike was done in the rain, and ferry ride was done in rain. To the kids delight we stopped in Denmark for a couple of days and visited Legoland, and the old capital of Denmark (Ribe). In all of Denmark we had gorgeous weather. We also stopped at my aunt in North Germany, and did a side trip to Greifswald (Northeast Germany), where I was born.

Pig autopsy in Denmark:

Fjallbaka fishing village in Sweden:


Yotunheim National Park hike in Norway: