Germany 2014 - Part 5

With Chad's meeting over (he'll write a post about how that went) and the kids and I being thoroughly sick of McDonalds, we were excited to hit the road again.  We packed up and decided to drive up the Rhine River.  I was very excited to get to see this area, since it's just covered with old castles!  We took a ferry over the river and headed to the city Rudesheim am Rhein.  It was a very touristy city, with a lot of river cruise participants meandering around, but, it was also one of our favorite places of the trip.  Why?  Because of the incredibly awesome tram ride we took up the hill, over the grape vineyards. 

The gondola ride takes you up to the top of the hill to the Niederwalddenkmal monument.  The monument, built in the late 1800's to commemorate the foundation of the German Empire, was very impressive.

 But really, the ride up to it and back down was the highlight of the day.  Noah couldn't quit exclaiming, "That was so awesome! That was so awesome!"  The town of Rudesheim had a few fun streets to walk down and the kids bought a couple of fun souvenirs. 

After lunch, we headed back up the river.  We didn't really stop again, but it was a very enjoyable drive.  The river and surrounding hills were so beautiful.  I've decided one of my life goals is to take a Rhine River cruise.  As we drove, we saw castle after castle.  It was really fun. 

These pictures were all taken out the car window as we drove by the castles, so they aren't great.

After leaving the river, we drove through to The Netherlands, stopping briefly for dinner (at KFC!) and then on to our place in Belgium.  We found this really fun camping resort to stay at.  We got our own 2-story cabin, complete with 3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, bathroom and a BATHTUB!!!!! (We don't have a bathtub here in Denmark, so I definitely took advantage of having a tub!) When we arrived, it was pouring rain, so it was a little hectic, cold and wet getting checked in.  But, it was very exciting getting settled in for the night.  The next morning, we got up and went a exploring a little.  The resort had a lake, bike paths, playgrounds, boating and a large indoor area that included a koi pond, soft play for the kids, a bunch of restaurants, a store, ping pong tables, a spa and not to mention, a huge swimming area, with a wave pool, lazy river, and several slides.  We spent all day long swimming, playing in the soft play and ping pong table area and then some more swimming.  We were quite sad we had only 1 day there, it was a very fun place.  And although we spent our entire trip, seeing old castles, churches, museums, etc, the kids favorite part was definitely the swimming. 

The Koi Pond was really fun.  The fish swam up as soon as they saw you approaching.  They even had a couple of turtles for us to feed.

We could not figure out what this sign meant.  Any idea?

After a sad good-bye to the resort, we drove straight home, back through Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany and up through Jutland back home.  The highlight of the day was finding a Carl's Jr in Kolding Denmark!  After waiting nearly an hour for our "fast food", we were still happy about finding a taste from home.  It was a long day of driving, so it was nice to make it back home.

 The trip was wonderful.  Germany is a really beautiful country and I hope to spend more time there in the future.