Dinosaur Park

If you are looking for something to do on a Sunday in Germany, this Dinopark is the perfect place to visit.  It's great for kids AND adults.  We all had a great time and even though it poured down rain at the beginning of the day, we still ended up enjoying the scenery and had lots of fun discovering all types of dinosaurs and bones.
When you first enter the park, there are well kept (free) public restrooms.  There is also a shop and ticket building where you purchase your entrance tickets.  You must go through this building in order to enter into the park.

The gift store had goodies from small to large. 

You could purchase toys, t-shirts, binoculars, stones,

stuffed animals and rain gear.

Once you purchase your tickets you can also download a free app that will tell you about the park as you walk along the paths.  It will have an English option and you can listen to facts about each dinosaur and their era.
On the day that we went, there was a rain storm at the start of our day.  Lucky for us, the park had a great covered eating area and a little snack bar, where we purchased some brauts and fries and hunkered down for the storm to lighten up. 

Eating tent to stay out of the elements

There is also some fun things for your kids to keep busy with in this area as well, including an area to uncover dinosaur bones. 

There are also bathrooms in this area, which are free as well.

After eating, the rain let up and we were on our way.  We had a map, provided at the ticket counter for free, which we took with us so we could see where all the paths went.  Dogs are allowed and everyone just seemed to enjoy walking around and exploring.

 

You were able to touch all the dinosaurs that were reachable and in some areas even climb on them.

Towards the end of the park, there is an open play area and playground.

But, what was unexpected was the kids activities that were available.  You could chose from discovering fossils in rocks, to mining activities and discovering copper and silver, to painting your own model dinosaurs. 

All of this was for a small price and there were LOTS of options.
Along the way, there were small placards that told of the dinosaurs and some info about them.  They were in Dutch and English.

At the end of the park, there was a caveman exhibit that had mammoths and other displays.

This was great little family trip.  It's close to the base and will offer 3-6 hours of fun for the entire family.

INFO:
***The 2018 season starts on March 24th and ends on November 4th. ***
The park is open daily-also on Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 to 18:00 hours
Distance from Spangdahlem AB front gate:  32 minutes
Website:  http://www.dinopark-teufelsschlucht.de
Address:  Dinosaurierpark Teufelsschlucht
Ferschweilerstr. 50
54668 Ernzen
Tel (0)652593393-44
Ticket Prices:  8,50 euro for children 4-12
10,50 Euro for above 13

DIY Lego Play Tray

A few Easters ago, instead of giving the kids lots of candy, I decided I wanted to  make something for their Legos.
I started by looking on Pinterest to find fun ways to display and/or store Legos.

I found things like:

These were great, but not quite what I was looking for or wouldn’t work for our needs.
So, I went to the craft store for inspiration and found wooden trays-the kind that look pretty on a cart or counter displaying wine glasses and such.  So, I thought-why not make them each their own Lego play tray!
The got the last 2 trays on the shelf.  They were natural wood, so I painted them when I got home.  Blue for my son and white for my daughter.  I chose these colors because of the vinyl colors I had available to make their names on my cricut, which was my second step after painting them.

After the trays were painted and the vinyl letters applied, it was time to make the trays officially for Legos.  I had ordered 10X10 Lego pieces from amazon.com.  I measured and laid out the 10X10 Lego squares- to see how they would fit, and how I would need to cut and piece the Lego platform inside of the tray.  This worked out easier than I thought due to the dimensions of the tray itself-WIN!

One LEGO 10X10 fit perfectly!  I just needed to cut a second 10X10 to fit in the remainder of the space.

The Lego squares are thin enough that all I needed to do is cut them with my kitchen butcher scissors and super glue them to the bottom of the tray.

After that, it was done!  This had to be one of the easiest and well received DIY gifts for the kids I’ve done yet.  It’s been 2 years and the kids STILL use them.

It’s great because they can pick up the entire tray, without disrupting what they’ve built, and move it from place to place.

What are your Lego creations?

Cochem Castle

Cochem castle is about an hour drive from Spangdahlem Air base, but worth it. 

The castle is gorgeous and has a lot to look at. 

The climb is worth it because the view is spectacular! 

We arrived at the front entrance and went into the little gift shop and asked about some tours we saw advertised.  The woman at the counter spoke English and was able to tell us that they provide tours throughout the castle every 10-15 minutes.  HURRAY!!!!  I paid for a 'family tour pass' which was roughly 16 euro for the ‘family package’, which was definitely worth it.  It covered 2 adults and 2 children. 

The gift shop was super cute and had all kinds of souvenires.  It also had an attached restaraunt with a gorgeous view and bathrooms as well (these were free too-if you are in Germany you will learn that you have to pay to use bathrooms in most cases).

We ended up with an absolutely wonderful tour guide.  She spoke little English, but enough to help us understand what we were looking at throughout the tour.  She gave the tour in German and then spoke English here and there letting us know some history of each place the tour stopped.  She also had handouts on the castle on certain points of interest.  The hand outs were in English, Spanish, Hungarian, and just about any and all languages you can imagine.  My children (5 and 7 years old) stayed interested through the entire tour, which lasted about 45 minutes. 

At the end of the tour, in the final room, the tour guide had my children open a door to a secret cubbie hidden into a wall.  Inside was an old looking treasure chest.  When the tour guide opened it, my children “aaaahhhhd” aloud as they saw hundreds of golden wrapped chocolate coins.  The tour guide let them each take one.  My kiddos thought this was fantastic! She was wonderful and the tour was very informative!!!!!  I cannot tell you how interesting this tour was.  My kids had a great time.  We even went into a dining room where Adolph Hitler ate and we saw his secret escape passage way that he had built into the castle.  It was fascinating. 

Dining room where Adolph Hitler dined.

They also had rooms with knight’s armor on display.  (I had a camera malfunction and these are the only pictures I could salvage.  You'll just have to go for yourself to see how unique this castle was.  The tour is worth it!!!)

The history of this castle is one of the most fascinating we have been to yet.  You can view a brief overview of the history of Cochem here.    

In the summertime, at the bottom of the castle, is a very small ice cream shop which we visited on the way out.  It was the perfect ending to our hot summer day-eating ice cream in the shade while looking up at a gorgeous castle.  Perfect! 

Here's the Cochem Castle homepage.

Across the way is a chairlift that takes you to the top of a mountain where you can see the view of Cochem castle from a distance.  You can read more about the Cochem chairlift in this post.

Things to know:

Location:  Reichsburg Cochem GmbH, Schloßstraße 36, 56812 Cochem
Parking:  Upon arrival there is a small parking lot at the bottom of the castle.  If this is full, there is some alternative parking.  Just before the bottom of the hill, that Cochem castle is on, there is some scattered parking along the road.  That is where we parked and it was free.

Once parked, you have to go up a slightly steep incline to get to the castle entrance. 

Hours:  Their hours of operation differ for each season, so be sure to check their website.

Prices: 

Guided castle tours
Duration apprx. 40 minutes
Adults	6,- €
Children (6 - 17 years)	3,- €
Groups (12 people and more)	per person 5,- €
Pupils over 18 years old, Students	5,- €
Family Ticket (Parents with at least 2 children aged below 18 years)	16,- €
Individual guided tours
Only by arrangement and booking in advance and subject to availability
Normal minimum fixed rate price	100,- €
Children’s tour
Only available by advance booking - Duration apprx. 40 minutes Child orientated guided tour through the usual rooms in the castle
Minimum fixed rate price	60,- €
Children	3,- €
Adults	5,- €

Photo from Cochem Castle website

Metz France-Ice Sculptures 2017

Metz France! OO La la!

I recently went to Metz and fell in love with the area.  I took my mom to the cathedral there (you can read my post on the Cathedral here) and Christmas markets.  While walking around, we stumbled across the ice sculptures. 

We returned with my kids, the following week and walked into a (very) cold Disney wonder land.

(We went last year to the ice sculptures, which were in Belgium.  The theme last year was Star Wars-2015).  So, we knew how to prepare for the cold and what to expect.  Each year the sculpture theme changes and the location rotates throughout Europe.

This year the theme was Disney.

Maleficent

You could take your picture in Cinderella's coach.

Beauty and the Beast

I can almost hear her saying "mirror mirror on the wall.."

The dome is 1400 sqm filled with about 600 tons of ice that many talented ice sculptors formed into some of our favorite Disney characters.  This year, there was 33 sculptures-including an ice slide. 

The ice slide is great and because the dome is kept at -6C, there is no condensation at all so your toosh doesn’t get wet.  While my kids were enjoying the slide MANY times, my mom and I enjoyed a nice hot cup of hot chocolate and Gluhwein (2 Euro/each). 

We loved it and it was a great way to spend half of a day, walking around the surrounding Christmas markets and enjoying the ice sculptures.

Things to know:

Where:  Metz, France (about 1 hr. 15 minutes from Spangdahlem)

Website:  http://www.tourisme-metz.com/en/events/metz-feerie-de-glace_-s.html#.WGjtSIWcFPY

Dress:  Hats and gloves are a MUST!  My kids wear their snowsuits/pants and long johns as well.  This year we weren’t freezing, but last we froze b/c we did not know how extremely cold it would be in the dome.

-Open daily from 10am to 8pm 
-Prices:  Adults-  are 12 euro each, kids (4-11) are 8 euro each, kids under 3 are free        
-Parking:  Parking Republique is the closest, but it's only about a 10 min. walk from the cathedral.                                   
                                                                                                         

-Go during the week to avoid the crowds