Erlebnispark

Ever woken up in the morning and felt like you would really like to ride on a giant mushroom? If so, then Erlebnispark Steinau is the place to head (watch out for the talking donkey on that link. It gave me a heart-attack the first time). Our upstairs neighbour, L, took us there on Sunday with her son and some of their friends. It's about an hours drive from Frankfurt and definitely worth the drive. There were bbq facilities (naturlich) and there were fun things to play on - like a luge-type arrangement called a Sommenrodelbahn. There were trampolines on masse and there were weird rolling rides shaped like storks that you pedalled across an elevated platform. Mads and I rode on one together and Thieu rode the one behind us on his own. Half way through the ride, Thieu's friend Strutts Thieu from Australia called. 'Hey Strutts!' said Thieu. 'Twenty bucks if you can you guess where I am?' Strutts didn't guess.


There was so much to admire. I loved the slightly scary, slightly battered old-school rides:





And the strange Grimm Brothers-themed chairs in the cafe:



We heartily embraced every cheesy photo opportunity:





And oh, to have this wonderful fart-predicting machine for our very own!


I even loved the toilet paper dispensers...



...and the sanitary disposal bag dispenser (although this kind of freaked me out too.)



But most of all I loved the little carts that the locals had which seemed to be especially designed for ferrying your stuff from the car to your picnic location:



The one in this photo is actually kind of inferior because it doesn't have solid sides. I saw some much better ones, but I started to feel a bit self-conscious photographing peoples' stuff as they wheeled efficently past me. These trollies are so useful, so solid and so very German. They look like something my dad would make, although he isn't German. But perhaps he is at heart?