OK, so much for me trying to limit the photos on this one. They just tell the story so much better, especially considering my limited time to compose these posts. Believe me, it was difficult to even narrow them down to these 30 or so.
What can I say about our train travels through Germany? Well, each direction involved four different trains (not to mention a tram and two metro lines on the Brussels end) and took about 12 hours. The trains were all pretty nice, and in one we got a cozy little 4-seat section with a closing door. Perfect for Zach! Some had restaurant cars where we went to eat, and some just had snack bars, but overall we were pretty comfortable. I'm not sure how the train passes would've compared to plane tickets, but at least we didn't have to drive. Zach did manage to get in a nap on our travel days, but by the end of the trips he got understandably cranky.
Our German relatives (related to Ron, for those of you who haven't heard the whole story) live in
Elstra, Germany, and we stayed at a bed and breakfast in the next little town, literally right down the street. It was a charming place, and ended up costing us less than we'd imagined. It was a good deal indeed, considering the many meals we ate there. There is a courtyard with a beautiful country view (farm animals included) that Zach absolutely adored running rampant in. I'm not sure if our relatives knew the owners personally before setting up the arrangements, but I enjoyed staying in a place where everyone seemed to know each other. It made it slightly easier to communicate, considering that for the most part the Germans don't know English and we don't know German.
We had a very nice room with our own bathroom.
The owner, Rosie, would tell us each evening what time she would serve breakfast, and we all met downstairs. It was delicious and one of my favorite parts of the trip.
We all had dinner at the bed and breakfast a couple of the evenings, in the room on the other side of the courtyard. That's where we filmed Zach's little dancing video :)
One of the days we visited a place called the
Spreewald (another link
here). We had no idea what to expect, but what we got was a boat ride through the canals of the Spree river, with stops at pickle stands and an old village to explore.
At the end of the tour we stopped for some food in a little area with shops (pic of Frank with the bratworst I previously posted). Ron had an electronic translator that was fun to sit around and play with.
Another day we traveled to Dresden. By train it was about half an hour.
Again, I had no idea what to expect to see, though I'd heard that Dresden was full of beauty. The
Zwinger was no exception, and this photo really doesn't do it justice! We basically only walked through, stopping to snap a few pictures and enjoy the fountains, but I believe that the buildings are art galleries.
The first of two gorgeous churches we visited, the
Hofkirche is the Catholic church:
And the
Frauenkirche is the Lutheran church:
We decided to take the elevator up to the cupola, though we didn't know/realize that the elevator ride was very short. Going to the top involved walking most of the way up via a ramp, then some steps. And coming back down there was no elevator! I had to take it slowly.
But we enjoyed the views from the top :)
On our final day we were taken to
Saurier Park. Zach enjoyed it well enough, though most of the stuff was for older kids: climbing, digging in sand, etc. I'm not sure he associated the dinosaurs with his favorite book
Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, but I think he got a kick out of seeing the big figures.
That evening we got some much needed relaxation at a family BBQ. It was a lot of fun for Zach to slide and run around, and a relief for us trying to keep him happy, which you can imagine was not so easy during all of our outings. And the food was excellent! It was a great end to our visit.
We just want to say "Danke!" to all the Germans for planning a great tour for us!
