Lahr in Germany

For a larger selection of photos go to: https://goo.gl/photos/7sLVqK4vFrr8otQy7

Josh says:
Sorry we are really behind will only do good things and rush a bit again.

Lahr was very nice a little chilly. Our Airbnb accommodation was one was one of the nicest we have stayed in.

The first day we went to the Black Forest and it was nice we went for a couple of walks. We went to 1 castle, water fall and explored some towns. The last thing we did was we went to a toboggan run. It was really fun and you could control how fast you went. I went on my own and Leesh went with Dad. Unfortunately we couldn't race as you had to keep a 20m distance from each other.

In one of the towns on the Romantic road we got gelatti. I got a pasta gelatti.... It was actually vanilla icecream as the spaghetti, strawberry sauce and white chocolate as a parmesan cheese.

Spaghetti icecream

The next day was a surprise for Leesh as I over heard it the night before. We were going to Europa Park which is a German Disney Land. The cool thing was that there was 13 major European countries, Arthur Land which was crap and Fairytale world. Ireland was getting constructed. All the rides wear amazing we could go on them all as well. We all had heaps of fun and a good time. In the end we got to go on all the rides we wanted, before closing time which was about 6pm. Sorry for my language about but I really don't like Arthur the movie. The ride was OK though.

Alicia says:

We went to Europa Park which is a theme park. Well we also went to some other places like The Black Forest and we also went on a Toboggan ride. Yeah they are all great but the really cool thing that I can't wait to tell you about is.... Europa Park. In Europa Park we went on lots of rides like this really big roller coaster, some wet rides. The one that l like the best was the really big roller coaster. The thing was that Josh (brother) and me didn't even know that we where going to Europa Park, it was a nice surprise.

Dad says:
Due to our slow internet connection I will not add my pictures. I hope to upload some, but dont hold your breath.

Lahr is a small town on the western edge of Germany, very close to the French border and is near the Black Forest region and Europa Park. Firstly our accommodation was perfect, it was five stars from me. Not only was the place nice, they provided some extra items like milk, they also supplied some really nice country bread and smoked prosciutto.

My expectations of the Black Forest were for lots of really big pine trees and lots of undercover. There was a lot of woodlands, but also many green rolling hills and pine trees really did not dominate, it was pretty nether-less. We visited a few areas and towns, saw some cascading waterfalls and stopped off on the side of the road to take a few photos. We also saw a old castle tower that was a bit of a ruin. The good thing about this was that there were virtually no tourists there and it was a nice pretty walk to the top. Unfortunately not only I am old, I am unfit and somehow hurt my quad and so I was limping that day. It has been all right ever since, due to my superhuman recovery powers no doubt.

I am sure the kids will talk about Europa Park, but it was a lot of fun. They loved all the rides, roller coasters and just having fun. We managed to get on all the rides we wanted and didn't get too wet on the water attractions.

We have one more day in Germany before making a stay over in Strasbourg. We had a few car issues this time. We were not able to return our car in Strasbourg (or anywhere in France), so our original plan was to drop it off in a town near the border (Offenberg) and do a quick train trip back across (25km or 30 mins). We fortunately realised the day before that the travel company incorrectly booked it in for Offenbach, which is in Frankfurt (220km or 2+ hours by train). I was able to change the car drop off location which in itself was a bit of a story that is too hard to explain right now. After touring Strasbourg I drove back myself to drop off the car. Due to meeting the rep the previous day we struck up a conversation and he dropped me back into town rather than waiting for a bus (or 1 hour walk), which was really nice. I then tried to book the train and got a price of 150EUR. What!!! I tried again and the same price, even for a later train. Forget that, so I went off looking for a bus. I managed to see a train rep and queried about the price of a trip and he said about 8EUR. So after trying again (for the same 150EUR price) he came to help. I was trying to go to Strasburg (Germany), not Strasbourg (France). Oh, yes the difference was an "o", 142EUR, 8 hours and 900 kilometres (near the border of Poland in the North East of Germany). So REALLY REALLY REALLY check the spelling and ensure you spell it out, as they all sound the same to me. Note with the place that I dropped of the car (Offenburg, on the west border), there is also an Offenberg (East border) and Ofenberg (South border).

I really enjoyed Germany. The people were very nice, most spoke English and it was quite pretty and enjoyable where we explored.

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