April 21-22-Trier, Germany

One of the places we have had on our list this year is Trier, Germany.  It is often claimed to be the oldest city in Germany dating back to 16 BC.  We rode three different trains to get to Trier totaling about 6 hours.  The terrain in the southwestern part of Germany is much different than the rest of the country we have seen and I think we have seen a lot.  We travelled along the Rhine River for a long time and there were lots of castles overlooking the river.

I thought this bridge was impressive.

We made it to Trier and checked out our hotel.  We had a 2 story hotel room.  It was a fun place to stay.  This day was Easter Monday and is a holiday in Germany.  We realized about 40 minutes before our train left that the bus would not run on its regular schedule so we bolted out the door and ran and walked VERY quickly to the Bahnhof (train station).  When we first arrived in Göttingen it took us 45 minutes to walk to the train station.  As we're running and a little nervous about missing the train, Seth just kept saying it was the best day ever.  He loves an adventure!

Port Nigra is translated Black Gate in English. It was the northern gate for the old Roman city.

A view out of Port Nigra of what the city used to look like.

The Trier Cathedral

City of Trier

The Imperial Baths built in the 4th century A.D.

These were some of the tunnels underground in the baths...they were a little creepy to me.

Roman Amphitheater. When Seth realized that gladiators were killed here just for sport he did not like it at all.  As I was taking his picture he said, "This is not my thing".  It was so funny.

I love to see them holding hands, so sweet.

The Constantine Basilika and the Electoral Palace. It was a place where Constantine had a throne.

This is the house in which Karl Marx, the philosopher behind communism, was born in 1818.

The Roman Bridge across the Moselle River, it has some old with some new.

Time to get on the train again and head home.  I was able to get some more pictures of castles along the way.

You can see there are lots of vineyards on the right side.  Brooke and Seth are determined that all of the vineyards everywhere should be destroyed so there will be no more wine in the world.  They are completely anti-alcohol.  We try to tell them grapes are a good thing.

Another fun adventure that we were able to have together!

April 10-14, 2014-Denmark

First train stop: Hamburg, Germany.  We were there for a very short train connection, but we stepped out of the train station briefly.  This is a picture of the Bahnhof (train station).

We arrived in Denmark and rode the bus for an hour and a half to get to Billunds which is home of the Original Legoland.

This is the price of gas per liter in Krones.  When you do the exchange, it is about $8.24/gallon.

Pretty excited to see Legoland.

We had a bit of an adventure finding our apartment.  We'll just say we took the road less traveled...not the short route.

In Denmark their currency is called Krones.  It takes about 1 US dollar to equal 7 Krones so the numbers on items got big quickly.  It was quite a mental block for me to see these numbers.

We enjoyed our cabin.  It even had a washer and a dryer!  After not having this in our Germany apartment, I was excited to be able to do laundry.

We rode this little train from our cabin to Lalandia.  Lalandia is located near Legoland and has an Aquadome full of water slides, a big area for kids to play, restaurants, bowling, ice skating, a grocery store and shopping.  It was a very fun place.

This is a picture of the Aquadome located in Lalandia.

Next two days, Legoland!

All of the things that were built out of Legos were so impressive.

Brooke likes the Friends Legos. 

This is Neuschwanstein made out of Legos.  We visited this castle in Bavaria.  The Lego model is just like the real castle.

This is Lego Mini Town.

Brooke with some Friends.

Seth with Chima

Luke with Chima.

All of the heads are made from Lego bricks.

Maw Maw in the Lego figure store.

One of the fun things Brooke and Seth did was go to driving school and then drive a Lego car.  They chose their country's flag to attach to the front of their car, made out of Legos, of course.

Brooke was a happy driver.

Seth visited the gas station frequently and thankfully will have lots of years to practice before he starts driving.  It just didn't make any sense to him that he had to use the same foot for the gas and the brake.

Hello Abe

This dragon is made of Legos.  It was part of a water ride.

This was fun.  If you bought a package with a mini figure you could open it and then trade it with these on display. Or you could trade with someone that worked in the park since They had a mini figure attached to their name tag.

This is Lego Headquarters...a little disappointing that they don't give tours.

Some of the country in Denmark.

The roofs of these houses looked like they had sod and moss on them.