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[davewasbaloo]

It was Easter and our Anniversary. the Easter Bunny had found us, so we started the day with an Easter Egg hunt. THen I cooked up some wurst and eggs for breakfast and presented Sarah with a token anniversary gift - Eiffel Tower ear rings (sad, I know).

We then got in the car to head into Cochem, but the place was heaving. Couldn't get in any of the car parks, not even at the chair lift, so we drove on to the 10th-17th century castle Burg Elz. Which you guessed it, was under scaffolding. Lol. as compensation, they gave us some gold collector medals as well as free cookies for the kids.

Sadly there are not many photos as they are not allowed inside the main castle :-( We took the tour in German, and I tried to translate to the family. One of the really interesting points however, in medieval and renaissance Germany, it was not uncommon for the great hall or public places to have a wall freeze of a jester or fool. Under this, the speaker could freely speak their mind without retribution, and when someone then passed the symbol of a sun or a flower, they could not speak of what they heard in that room or area. Facinating.

The kids loved the medieval flushing toilets and the toys, Sarah loved the oldest renaissance bed in Germany, and I was taken by the weaponry and trophies. Lol. The castle was beautiful and very much worth while.

I had been to it in school, but I did not really appreciate it then sadly.

We had a light bite of Curry wurst, apple cake and black forest cake at the castle, the kids bought some medieval figure toys with their pocket money, and we made our way back when it started to rain.

Thankfully it was only brief. So when we returned to the wine kelter, we went into the back garden and I bbqed while the children played. Sarah procured a bottle of wine from the cellar while I cooked up some Windsor steaks (marinated pork steaks - delicious). We did the kids some bratwurst and rotwurst (which we enjoyed too) as well as having saurkraut, gerkins, and german potatoe salad. It was lovely.

As the evening set it, it cooled down, so I set a fire going in the fireplace/bbq. And we enjoyed the sun setting together in candle and firelight.

We then put the kids to bed and had a long soaking bath in the tub with some more wine. It was delightful and a very good day.

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[davewasbaloo]

I keep checking back every few hours for updates!

I am loving reading your reports and looking at your pictures!

Thanks Laura, that is very kind. It is worth while if people are enjoying it. I know I always get such great ideas reading others' reports.  :thumbs:

[kmara]

I love your report! Still have trouble with the internet, that's why I don't post more and reply; esp. about EP which I have visited for about 28 years now.
Good to hear you had such a wonderful trip!

[dagobert]

Thanks for another wonderful trip report. I really enjoy reading it.

You have been to a very beautiful area in Germany. I have been to the Black Forest  with my parents many years ago, but I can't remember anything. I was too young. Your pictures are great, like always.

[davewasbaloo]

I love your report! Still have trouble with the internet, that's why I don't post more and reply; esp. about EP which I have visited for about 28 years now.
Good to hear you had such a wonderful trip!

Thanks Kmara, I hope you will be able to comment more once you are back up and running.

I know I got a few facts wrong. Blue Fire is a MACK coaster, not B&M. And Crazy Taxi is actually a Zamperela. Ooopps  :oops:

[davewasbaloo]

Thanks Dagobert, more to come. I am currently uploading the pictures from Roman Trier - Sarah's favorite city of our trip, and certainly my favorite German city that we visited.

[davewasbaloo]

Ok, now Trier is a wonderful city that I had heard much about over the years. It was a roman settlement with some of the best ruins and restorations outside of Italy, the capital for the Roman Emporer Constantine, the supposed resting place of Jesus Christ's robe, a see of the Holy Roman Empire, a strategic lynch pin for Napolean and then the Prussians, birthplace of Karl Marx, and a modern thriving University town. It was wonderful, exploring the different stratas of history (a UNESCO heritage site for good reason), where we then later headed on to Luxenbourg.

We started at the Roman Gate - Porta Negra, and contemplated tourist buses and the like as we were tired. But seeing how pedestrianised and wonderful the city was, we mustered the energy to walk all day again. And glad we did (I put on 6 lbs this vacation, but thanks to the walking, I am sure it could have been 20 ;-)

The Gate, the town square, the cathedrals and churches, Constantine's throne room, the civic palace, Marx's birthplace and fantastic ice cream in fresh made cones. It was wonderful in temps in the upper 70's, pushing 80. We then headed off for Luxembourg, in the upcoming album.

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[davewasbaloo]

After visiting Trier, we were only about 10 miles from the border of Luxembourg, a very small country that is nestled between France, Germany and Belgium. We thought it would be great to have a look at the capital city (which we would have liked to explore more, but the kids fell asleep and we were exhausted).

We filled up with fuel here as it is the cheapest in Europe - 30% cheaper than the UK, France, Germany or Belgium. Also popular were the cheaper cigarettes and coffee (they all have reduced tax compared to the rest of Europe).

When we filled up, Sarah offered to go in to pay. The guy to her left spoke French, the one to the right, German, and the one in front Luxembourger. Sarah was thinking about how to tell her the number when the staff member said in English "I bet you are thinking about what language to speak" lol. You would never get someone multilingual working minimum wage in the UK or US.

We returned home, had a soaky bath and crashed out.

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[dagobert]

Just out of interest, how much did you pay for the fuel per liter and how much do you have to pay in the UK?

[davewasbaloo]

We paid 1.19 a litre for Diesel. Yesterday in the UK I paid 1.66 euro.

[dagobert]

Thanks for answering. I thought it is expensive over here, but it's even more expensive in the UK. On Tuesday I paid 1.329 Euros for one liter Diesel.

[davewasbaloo]

To be fair, I do buy the Ultra Diesel, but still, it is only a few cents more per litre. tax acounts for nearly 70% of the costs in the UK.

[Laura678]

Just as an addition Diesel here is 1.479 a litre.... But can be found for about 1.449 in simple fuel stations in Industrial Estates

[davewasbaloo]

Wow, Ireland has high prices too. Hmmm. Anyway...

Day 17 - By the Rhine

Well, I felt we had to go and explore the Rhine on our last full day. My sat nav only covers the UK, and as the cost for each added country = 1 DLP Dream pass, we took Sarah's sat nav to cover Europe. Sadly her memory capacity was not big enough to cover all the areas we went to. so we kept Hesse out of it. I thought Rudesheim am Rhine was in Westphalia - wrong Rudesheim.

But when trying to find the Rhine from there, we chanced upon a sign for a war cemetary. Not knowing what it could be (Franco Russian? Napoleanics? The two world wars?), I thought it worth the explore.

We ventured over a mile down a dirt track and happened on the WWII cemetary where 2300 boys and old men were burried, not given notice until 10 years after they were interred. Very sad considering they would have been the last line of defence.

We then followed the Rhine from Rudesheim (we did find it) through to Bacharach (where we stopped for lunch) and then on to Koblenz where we followed the Mosel back to our appartment (Koblenz, the corner of Germany where the Rhine and Mosel meet).

We enjoyed a few glasses of wine and games in the wine cellar and went to bed very late. Great last day on the Mosel (which despite being smaller and more demure than the Rhein, was our preference).

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[davewasbaloo]

And here comes Phantasialand, Day 18:

We were so tired the next morning and the weather, after being glorious for so long, was wet and cold. We packed up the car and had plans to head to Collogne to visit the Catherdral while enroute to Phantasialand. I had been to Collogne many times in my youth and knew it was best for modern shopping, but it was the cathedral that was of interest.

When we got their the visability was poor, the scaffolding was up, the kids were asleep and the parking was difficult, so after a drive by (and no photos), we decided to simply head to the Phantasialand and the Ling Bao chinese hotel, the one Jessica was really looking forward to.

I had not been to Phantasialand since the 1980's, a park I remember being fun, but light on the theming except the German and Chinese parts. However, they reinvented themselves over the years and really started to develop highly themed areas. I still was not sure if we would do the park (given the foul weather), but we opted to try their flagship hotel given the cost including breakfast was almost the same as a family room elsewhere that would not include breakfast. and boy, am I glad we did.

We stayed at one of the best themed hotels I have in my life (remember I am a theme whore) and had one of the finest meals of the trip, and certainly on par with a Napa Rose or Victoria and Albert experience.

We checked in swiftly and the rain had stopped, it even warmed up a little. We went up to our room and were in awe the whole way. everything was highly themed (not the token theming of WDW or DLP here). Disney tend to theme the architecture and public areas, but I always have found the rooms light on themeing. That certainly was not the case here.

We unloaded our stuff and decided to explore. Given we were staying in the flag ship hotel, we decided to explore the moderate african hotel down the road, the Matamba hotel. Now, I have to say, it was almost as good as Animal Kingdom Lodge - minus the animals. It was awesome, the bathrooms looked like clean African bathrooms using oil drums for sinks and corregated metal for the stalls. The fire pit, the art work, the music, the african cast, it was all on point. Now this hotel does not have a pool (it is a moderate), but it did have a fire pit, and extensive adventure playground, a killer view of the beautiful B&M Black Mamba coaster and an exclusive entrance to the park! What a great moderate hotel.

We then explored our hotel and fell even more in love. The gardens were exquisite, rivaling the Japanese tea garden in San Francisco (though chinese in this case) and others too. The coi ponds were well stocked with mature fish, the music and lighting, including burning torches were fabulous, and it blended in with the chinese area where there was an exclusive hotel entrance.

The kids area was highly themed, as were the two bars and two restaurants. The indoor/outdoor heated pool was nice (not the most amazing, but nice, but indoors had a giant dragon who "breathed water" every 15 minutes. There was an adult only clothing optional steam room. And a Madala spa as well. Lovely.

We ran back up to the room to get changed and went for a swim. It was superb. When we returned to our room after showering (with asian herb relaxing shower gel), there were two free souvenir t shirts on the children's junk themed bunk beds!!!! Disney would never do that. They are the kind you can colour in, and the front desk had the pens if we wanted to do that for the evening (we decided to save that for a home activity).

We got changed into some nice clothes - Jess wore her silk chinese shift dress, Mikey his scottish dress attire from last year's vacation, me in my western shirt and mama in a dress and sweater.

We went down to the Lu Chi restaurant, a locally reknowned place for the high quality food, service, and singing waiters and waitresses. We had a blast and a delicious meal. The entertainment was great too - the waitress did 1950's lounge numbers like Sway and that ilk, the fantastically fun Thai waiter did rock n roll numbers with audience participation (I did not photo, but I did video). It was brilliant. We then went off to the room, and having had such an amazing evening, we discussed whether we would go into the park the next day or not (we agreed to see how we felt the next morning and see what the weather was doing.

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