I can't even Yodel!: October 2012

I'm Back!!!! Sorry for the long delay. Fall is definitely here, time to get caught up on summer first.

Before we headed out for for the second leg of our vacation, we had the distinct pleasure to host Miss Aunt Natalie from The Big Apple. Aunt Nat was able to leave her hubby and two girls at home and fly all the way over to Switzerland for a quick 5-day trip, but we were happy to have her for as long as she could sneak away, thanks Aunt Nat!

The day after Nat left, we headed out to Rust, Germany the home of Europa Park, Europe's version of Disneyland. The park is broken up into 16 different areas, 13 of which are named after European countries or regions. It also holds 5 different hotels. The largest, called the Colosseo where we stayed, is a recreation of a Roman Colosseum. It is a pretty awesome site and throughout the park and each of the hotels every detail stays true to the varied themes. The entire place reminded me of a cross between Epcot Center in Florida and Disneyland. There were many VERY close similarities, for example, there is a Monorail which covers the perimeter of the park, the mascot is a mouse named Euromaus, an area called Adventure Land which has an raft ride where you can see different animals (of course we rode it about 10 times) which looked very similar to the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, a Pirates of Batavia ride (again a popular one with our crew) and even a ride in Italy called Piccolo Mondo, which translated literally means It's a Small World! As Europa Park has only been open since 1975, it's clear which theme park was the original. :-)

As I mentioned before, in each region every single detail would follow the particular theme down to even the names of the restrooms - i.e. Ladies and Gents in England and Tarzan and Jane in Adventure Land. The level of detail was impressive in every way. The food and rides in each section would also be tailored to the specific region. For example we rode the Crazy Taxi ride in England and the Volo da Vinci in Italy! I was also impressed with the complete recreation of the famous Shakespearean Globe Theatre in the England area, again every detail completely thought out. Hardy of course wanted to spend most of his time at the Bier Gardens in Germany but Sam and I convinced him to branch out!

Interestingly enough, almost everything was translated into 3 languages - German, Italian and English with nary a mention of that well-known language called French. Apparently there is a long-standing rivalry between the French and Germans for many reasons and I certainly saw proof of that. Something else that caught my eye was that most security guards and employees rode actual bikes to make their way through the rather large park, instead of the motorized scooters that are becoming increasingly common in the US. Genius! It's actual exercise plus a good reminder for all on the basics of bike riding.

In any case we had a fantastic time and it definitely made an impression on Sam. He hasn't stopped asking when we can go back!

Sam at one of the hotel pools.

Hailing a Cab - Crazy Taxi Ride.

Play park in Children's World.

Swings at the Antique German Fair.

Jaws Returns - Scandinavia.

Overall we had a fantastic vacation and thoroughly enjoyed the experience Europa Park had to offer. Here are also a few random summer photos.

The Boys of Summer.