McDonalds, Monkeys and Monster Slugs

We continued to drive... the kids were holding up remarkably well, the rotating Nintendo DS helped A LOT.  At the last gas station, we paid 101 Euros ( approx $125!!!) to fill up our rented Ford minivan.  That's a small fortune. And that's for diesel (1,60 Euro per liter) which is much cheaper than unleaded. These prices coupled with the severe lack of adequate parking spots makes riding your bike or taking public transportation very attractive.   So we'd take advantage of rest stops and Emma, our nature lover never ceased to find frogs, salamanders and slugs.  The ones in the North are enormous - kind of like a slimy Twix bar.



The European flavor was evident in the dessert options



Despite the wonderful variety of local restaurants you'd find in a town, along the Autobahn your choices are more limited and since we didn't want to stray too far we ended up eating at McDonald's one night. (I know!  I'm not proud of it either...)  The kids all got their Happy Meals (pronouced Heppy) which included a choice of organic apples, organic side salad or fries.  They could have either strawberry or chocolate milk.  You get a bottle of milk (organic of course! Biomilch) and then a straw with little flavor pebbles.  As you drink, the milk passes through the pebbles and takes on the flavor.  Ingenious!  Now if only you didn't have to pay extra for your condiments...



We visited Affenwald in Staussberg which did not disappoint.  Free roaming Berber monkeys and lemurs from Madagascar and Morocco were clearly used to contact with humans.  Although signs forbade feeding them, we saw two people giving them grapes and the monkeys literally crawled in their pockets to get more. There were unfortunately no rangers or attendants to enforce this policy (it would have been helpful to have someone there to answer questions as well).   The kids loved having them crawl and cuddle and for some strange reason, the "lickers" were mostly drawn to Declan and Andrew.       

                                      

Central Germany

On our drive down to Bavaria, we toured the Rammelsberg mine, near Goslar.  The ore mine was closed in1988 but had been in use for over 1000 years!  As Andrew likes to point out, older than my country!  Glueckauf!


The beautiful city of Goslar is known for being home of the once traveling Kaiserpfalz and for its well maintained exposed timbered homes Fachwerkhaeuser For centuries it was the favored seat of government in northern Germany.  In the term Kaiserpfalz, the pfalz part means the seat of the Kaiser, or ruler.  The street scenes seemed to be from the middle ages (minus sewage in the streets) but Declan mostly wanted to know why the roads were all "broken" ie cobble stone.

 

The next day we visited our first ruins...Reichsburg in Kyffhausen.  Friedrich I. Barbarossa (1152-1190) ruled during its completion. It had the deepest castle well in the world! (176 meters)

Declan shooting arrows at attackers, Serena just wanted to rest and Emma just wanted to catch frogs.  Has "Castle Fatigue" arrived already?

 

Northern Germany

We've been doing several daytrips in and around Schleswig-Holstein, Germany's northernmost state.  Tolk Schau is always a hit with the kids - how can it not be with 100+ life size dinosaurs!?  The kids loved all the rides and we immediately noticed a few differences between this Fun Park and a place like Bay Beach or Great America.  At Tolk Schau, "Parents are responsible for their children" is taken literally.  Basically non-existent safety rails, signs, etc. Most rides had no attendant.  You climb in, sometimes there's a seat belt, pull the bar down and the next person in line pushes the green button to start the ride.  If no one's there, you just have to wait or call to a passerby to start the ride!  Apparently the danger of being sued is lower here.  The main draw for the kids is hunting/panning for crystals.  They could spend hours "discovering" these precious gems. 

Another stop on our tour of Schleswig-Holstein was Friedrichkoog.  We visited the Seehundstation which helps injured and abandoned seals reenter the North Sea.  This area is quite unique for its high and low tides which create tidal mud flats.  It takes 6 hours for the tide to go in or out and when it's out, you can walk out for kilometers (see, the metric is growing on me...).  The mud is relatively firm near the shore but then the closer you get to the receding water, the slimier it gets.  We discovered lots of crabs, sea worms and several basketball-sized jellyfish which apparently just weren't fast enough.

Emma just couldn't get enough of this and could only be lured back to shore by the promise of ice cream.  Neither Andrew nor I could go deeper than this - yes, it's as gross as it looks!

Driving in Germany

Many people associate the Autobahn with the joy of no speed limit.  I associate it with people speeding by at 220 km/hour and giving me an ulcer because I'm not getting back in the "slow" lane fast enough.  These Krauts take the role of the left passing lane very seriously! My comfort level ceases at around 130 and Andrew's 150 gives me  stomach cramps and white knuckles.  Plus, there's so much construction -- sometimes it seems like more of the road is reduced to 80 than not.

We drove down to Neumarkt to meet our swap family (about 7 1/2 hours if you drove straight).  Of course along the way, we took lots of breaks.  Our first castle of the year is Marienberg just outside of Hildesheim.  All Declan wanted to see was where the king sits!

Then at Hainich National Park ( a UNESCO World Heritage site) we took a stroll on a fantastic tree top path Baumkronenpfad.  The kids and I loved it and poor Andrew (fear of heights) stayed very close to the wall.  The nature center was wonderfully done complete with eggs that tell you the story of their contents!

Yahoo!  We made it! Heathrow was not as crazy as we thought it'd be on the second day of the Olmpics although it's still such a tangled, inefficient mess. Jetlag is slowly wearing off - girls have been going to bed between 1-2 am and sleeping til 12 pm.  

Some things we noticed right away: 

• Still lots of people smoke here!  The kids react like they're breaking the law "Mama, look what that man is doing..." 
• Solar panels everywhere - Andrew's brother Martin also has them installed.  What a great investment.  Right now he's breaking even (the electric company buys his surplus) and within 9 years, they'll be paid off and he'll enjoy a nice profit.
• Knowing imperical measurements will get you nowhere.  Our "Navi" (GPS) on our rental will tell me to turn in 6,8 kilometers.  Then she gets all urgent because action is necessary in 175 meters.  Who thinks in meters?  Tomorrow the temps should reach, 25 Celcius.... good?
• German keyboards are different than American ones.  Itäs verz difficult to tzpe anzthing without looking carefullz! 

We're enjoying spending time with Andrew's family and today we went to a water park.  Coed changing rooms.  Don't know if I'll ever get used to that...