We woke up bright and early Friday morning and packed up the car and headed over the border to the park, which opened at 10. We thought we needed to get there early so we could make sure to see everything there and not miss out on things! Well... as it turned out, hardly any of the attractions opened at 10, so we spent a good hour wandering the park trying to figure out what we wanted to ride on. Martijn rode on this scary rollercoaster while I watched from behind the fence as someone's cell phone flew out of their pocket and landed about 30 feet away. I was pretty glad it didn't hit my head.
I'm happy to report I did ride the scariest roller coaster in the history of the world without dying. I don't have a picture of that because I was too busy holding onto my glasses and screaming in Martijn's ear to take a photo ;) Speaking of photos, I don't have any other photos of the park, because shortly after that it was raining SO HARD that I didn't dare take out my camera. We spent the next few hours in very fashionable rain ponchos until we decided we'd really ridden all of the rides we wanted to and went to the hotel. If you want to go to a theme park in Europe, I probably wouldn't recommend this one. It was small, expensive, and they didn't open all of the attractions or have shows to watch. It wasn't HORRIBLE, but I think you could spend your money elsewhere and have more fun!
We then took our soggy soggy selves to the little town of Schermbeck, where our hotel was. Martijn checked in and we went to our room to discover...
BUNK BEDS! The hotel had bunk beds! Now just to give a little history here: Every hotel we've stayed at here in Europe has some weird strange sleeping arrangements. I guess they just don't want people sleeping together. When we stayed in Amsterdam we had these two little funny cots on opposite sides of the room. When we went to Eerbeek last summer we ended up with two single beds that we unsuccessfully pushed together. This time? Bunk beds. There was an extra single bed in there that we shoved up against the side of the bunk bed so we could at least be close enough to say hello, but there was a silly board in between us so it wasn't too comfy to try to snuggle on top of it.
On Saturday, we took a nice drive around the countryside while we waited for the weather to clear up. We even found a micro geocache (they're tiny ones in film cannisters) along the way. Then we headed back to Schermbeck to have lunch and do the longer cache we'd printed out. We had to find certain waypoints in the city and then match them up to a series of pictures.
The city was really cute. We walked up and down the "main drag" a little bit.
And then went slightly off the beaten path to find some of them.
Once we got to all the different waypoints and identified which picture belonged to which waypoint, we were able to find the final location and get to the loot!
On Sunday morning we woke up early again because we'd seen a sign that said there would be a flea market in Schermbeck. We ate breakfast and walked across the street to discover it was a very tiny flea market, and that hardly anyone was set up. After discussing it, we decided to go to Wesel (another city nearby) since I'd seen a similar market sign there the day before on our drive. Once we got there we drove around and around and around trying to find it, but it was worth it! It was a nice big one in the center of the city. We didn't buy anything, but it's always fun to browse.
After we'd seen the flea market and eaten an early lunch, we hopped back into the car and headed back towards The Netherlands. We were on a mission to pick up my new sewing machine! By new I really mean "rather old" (60s/70s era). I'll post more about it in another post.
Anyhow, that was our weekend! It was pretty laid back and fun and I hope we can continue doing something like it every once in a while.
7 comments:
Wow, that sounds like such a fun weekend! I must admit, I am a little jealous. One day I will find my way to Europe. Until then, I will just wistfully gaze at the map and wipe the drool away.
I think the chances of my ever getting to that particular theme park are slim to none, but it's always good to know where to go or not to go! This post fits the title of your blog very well. :)
What a fun weekend. Those bunk beds are hilarious. Who would think to do that? And why?
Bunk beds and a tiny flea market, but lucky there were no fleas in those beds, right?! Trying to look on the bright side.
I really like your photos -- cannot get enough of looking at older buildings.
I live the fountain, very cool. The bunk beds made me laugh out loud - I've never seen that at a hotel.
if you ever want to try out another theme park in germany, I can recommend the Phantasialand, I've always had fun there (although I haven't been there for a while)
Sorry it rained when you went to the amusement park--I'm sure you would have had a better time if it hadn't. I feel bad for the person who lost their cell phone on the ride--good thing it didn't hit you! I can't believe that is a hotel room--how horrible looking! Bunk beds at a hotel is just not right unless it's like a family place and some have bunk beds for the kids. That is very weird!
Stopping by from Friday Field Trip.
the pictures are adorable! What a fun story!
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