Germany Trip - Bastie Bridge

With our Tropical Islands adventure behind us, we had to drive to Butzbach to meet up with Roslyn's family. To break up the drive, we decided to detour to the Bastie Bridge near Dresden. Its about a 2 hour drive south of Tropical Islands. When trying to get there, you can either drive and park right at the bridge or park at a Park and Ride lot about 45 minutes walk away, or a 5 minute bus ride. Both parking and the bus fare were relatively inexpensive at the Park and Ride lot, so I recommend leaving your vehicle there.

After having the bus drop us off we stated walking towards the bridge. There was also an option to take a horse drawn carriage, but we opted out of it. Part way there a path beside the road breaks off and heads north to a look out onto the valley before the bridge.

View from the Lookout Point

After stopping at the lookout and taking in the view we continued onward. We had some wonderful music playing in the background as a man tended to some type of street organ or a similar instrument. Approaching the Bastie Bridge area, there are a few restaurants and souvenir shops before getting to the bridge proper, with most of it being built into the  original fortification.

The buildings here were amazing!

After walking through the shop area, we arrive at the lookout that gives a view of the bridge and surrounding area.

View from the lookout by the Cafe

View from the lookout by the Cafe, take 2

Everyone taking pictures from the lookout

After taking in the view we took a quick trip out onto the bridge. We could only spend about 30 more minutes looking around, so we headed out to try and look at as much as we could. The first few hundred meters are along a path that winds down the side of the valley before heading out onto the bridge.

It was really cool to see how all the path ways and the bridge itself were integrated into the surrounding rock formations. The path way is carve right out of the cliff side, and the supports and small look outs are places along the tops of the rock formations, taking full advantage of what was already there.

Side view of the bridge

View out over the valley to the north

The path heads through the gap in the rock

Panorama of the valley

Looking south towards the river

At about the 20 minute mark we came across one more lookout point before needing to turn around and go back. The climb up to the top of the lookout was wide enough for one person, but required two way traffic. By the time we were at the top if was too packed and people couldn't even get down. I ended up hopping over the handrail to make room and tell people on the stairs to go back down until the lookout could empty a bit.

View from the lookout by the Cafe

Back at the bridge we took a couple group pictures before getting all the way back up to the cafe where we left Omi.

Candace, Jamie, and Roslyn

Roslyn and Connor

Both Roslyn and I would have loved to do the hike all the way down to the valley floor, but we needed to get driving to Butzbach. Once we arrived we went to Roslyn's relatives and hungout for about an hour before Roslyn's great uncle Erich showed us to our apartment, which was about a 5 minute walk away.

We had the upstairs apartment in the pink building

Fully stocked fridge, thanks Erich!

Erich and family stocked the fridge for us, which was awesome since we hadn't had time to go out and buy anything for breakfast. Thanks again guys!

In Roslyn's Words:

Bastie is one of the places I would love to go back to in Germany. We were only able to spend a about two hours here but man, I easily could have spent the whole day (or more). The rock formations are other worldly and the stone bridge looks to be out of a Lord of the Rings movie. There are walking trails up and down the mountain and around the rest of the park which include some cool sights and lots of stairs. Access to the park/trails and the bridge is free, which is awesome, and the only fees you would come across are parking/bus fares and an optional fee of a couple euro that will gain you access to old castle ruins. The area also has some souvenir shops and restaurants if you so desire.

There were some notable differences driving across Germany when comparing to Canada, all for the better too. The construction zones are done much better in Germany, with solid lane division and good utilization of available road space. You can also go faster in general, with a common highway speed limit of 130 kph or no speed limit at all (that was fun). The last thing that I found most interesting was the use of vegetation and trees to separate cloverleaf lanes to give it the feeling of a small road, not a large highway.

Germany Trip - Tropical Islands, Logistics

Tropical Islands was a really fun time, and both Roslyn and I are super glad we went. It was exciting at times, relaxing at times, and romantic when we spent time with just the two of us later in the evening. There's one thing that we would do differently if we went again, and some pointers we'd like to give others.

What We Would Do Differently - Get an Adventure Lodge instead of a Tent

The tent was an experience. It was a thick, heavy canvas tent, with no breathability if you wanted it closed for privacy. There were two single mattresses in it with heave linen sheets. The entire area around the tent was 6 inch deep sand. And it was about 30 degrees celsius and very humid. All in all, the tent was a pretty uncomfortable sleeping experience.

The alternatives to the tent are the Adventure Lodge and the Comfort Rooms. The Adventure Lodges had full double beds, air conditioning, tables and chairs. The Adventure Lodges did not have a bathroom or shower though, they were essentially just a full bedroom. This would still have been preferable as the air conditioning would have made sleeping possible. The Adventure Lodge costs 20 euro more a night which would have definitely been worth it.

The other alternative, the Comfort Room, was basically a full hotel suite. These came in different levels (Comfort, Premium, and Designer) which are basically just upgrades of each other. These came with a a bedroom and full bathroom. The downside is that they are 45 euro more per night than the tents were.

If we were to go again, we would get an Adventure Lodge

Pointer #1- Overnight Stays Get 2 Full Day Access Passes

We did not take advantage of this on our second day because we had to get going, but if you stay overnight you get access from 6 am the day you check in until midnight the day after. This is a massive window, so take advantage of it by staying until after supper on day 2.

Pointer #2 - The Change Rooms and Sauna/Spa are Coed

The public change rooms are coed. The locker areas are for everyone and there are private stalls to actually change in, but there's people of both sexes there. Also, Candace went to the sauna/spa and the saunas are also coed, which means you need to be comfortable around nude people of the opposite sex. This is probably just a problem for North Americans.

Pointer #3 - There's a Large Outdoor Area Too!

While the main theme of the area is a giant indoor rainforest and swimming pool, there is a large outdoor area, with a pool, loungers, volley ball, and picnic tables. If its a nice day out, its probably easier to find a lounging chair outside than inside.

I hope that helps if you plan on going!

Germany Trip - A Fun Filled day at Tropical Islands

After our Berlin adventure, we headed out on Day 4 to Tropical Islands Resort, which is an indoor rain forest water park located about an hour south of Berlin. To start our day off we packed up the apartment, walked to the vehicle and then headed off through Berlin until we hit the autobahn which took us the rest of the way to the resort.

The drive to Tropical Islands ended with a left turn off of a road through a forest, which opened up to a view of the hangar used to house the resort. The building is an old blimp hangar which was no longer is use, and then converted into the world's largest indoor rain forest.

Parking and checking into the resort was quick and easy. They do not allow outside food or drinks into the resort and they have security at the front entrance going through bags, so don't bother trying. One group was caught and refused entrance until they returned the drinks to their vehicle. It may sound time consuming, but the search process was quick and efficient and delayed us for no more than a minute or two.

Once you check in, you need to wait until 4 pm to get your room key, but every person has a locker reserved for them large enough to store most small sized suitcases and backpacks. You are also given a wrist back which acts as a key fob for the locker, your room if you reserved one, and as a swipe card for purchases so you do not need to carry money around, it just gets charged to your account.

One thing that took a bit of getting used to was the sheer scale of the building. There were two hot air balloons, one which could hold up to 4 people while the other had a seat for two under it, that were pulled around by guys to give people an aerial view of the resort. There are also quite a few two and three story buildings inside and some giant water slides.

Hot air balloon being towed around

Water slides from about half way across the resort

Other than the scale, the inside of the resort had quite a bit else that was simply amazing. The rain forest in it is well laid out and fairly large, taking us about a half hour to walk through. There's a pond inside the area as well with flamingos, turtles, and giant coy fish. You also get to watch plenty of colorful birds strut around the place. There were also dozens of remarkable plants.

Plantain Tree

Pretty white flower

Not sure what these are either, but Roslyn enjoyed them

Sea Urchin Flower?

View from the top of the rain forest

Aside from walking around, we also hit up the water slides, the giant indoor pool, and the not-so-lazy river that started indoors but ended outside. All of the water attractions were really fun to enjoy, but difficult to get pictures of because we tried to leave our phones in our lockers so we didn't have to worry about them.

View of the pool and the island in it

All three water slides up closer

As the day wound down we became more sedate and ended up going to a more sedate pool, and then going to have a night cap at the last bar that was open (there are 3-4 places to drink in the resort). With that done around 1 am we headed to our acoomodations.

The tents we slept in

Because we were used to sleeping in tents, and because they are cheap, we slept in tents! Now these were thick heavy tents, without windows and they had to be zipped shut to lock them. This would have been okay, except that it was about 30 to 32 degrees celsius and really humid. Needless to say our sleep was not the best given the environment. There are other sleeping, the Adventure Lodge and the Comfort Room, which Candace and Omi took advantage of. I will talk about those more in our logistics post.

The next morning we were up early to eat breakfast and then on the road again, happy to have stayed at Tropical Islands Resort.

In Roslyn's words:

You may have seen videos of this place on facebook, that is where I found out about it. The world's largest indoor waterpark and rain forest. It was one of our must see items on our list and I am very glad we went to check it out. The pools themselves were very neat, with interesting features like waterfalls, cave tunnels, whirlpools and fountains and were open 24/7 (there is a cleaning schedule that will close a pool a night). The waterslides inside were lots of fun but my favorite was actually the water rapids “slide” outside in their Amazonia area. It was a little rough but still my favorite. Be prepared for a co-ed locker room, open public showers (gender separated), and nude co-ed saunas (according to my sister).

The way they do nightly accommodations is definitely different. They charge per person per night, not by room, so there is not such thing as splitting the cost of a hotel room. Getting 4 hotel rooms is the same cost as 4 people sharing 1 room. Because of this, everyone in our group selected what level of accommodation they wanted. Connor and I went with the tent which is a cool novelty, but man was it hot and sticky. If we were to ever go back, I would have upgraded to an adventure lodge (where my one sister stayed) that had AC.

It was a little busy, especially for a Wednesday, but you really only noticed when trying to find a lounger or were waiting for a waterslide. It was also, in general, very pricey. They did have a cool way of keeping a tab though. You receive a wrist token that you tap for purchases and then pay at the end. We did pre-purchase a meal voucher which was really not worth it. It could have been cheaper to just pay for supper there. Even though it was expensive, and for us, and uncomfortable sleep, I am still glad we had the experience at Tropical Islands.

Germany Trip - 3 Days in Berlin, The Logistics

With the fun bits about Berlin already said, this post is about the basics of getting around Berlin and what the city was like. There will also be some lessons learned on what we would do next time that we didn't do this time, or stuff we wouldn't do again.

Finding a place to stay in Berlin was relatively easy to do. Roslyn looked at hotels and at Airbnb and found a fairly inexpensive apartment to rent, which came out to about $12 per person per night. The apartment was rented out closer to down town and had staff at the front desk 10 hours per day. The experience with the Airbnb rental was pretty good and we would definitely do this again.

For getting around in Berlin/Germany we initially had a rental car, which we drove from an airport to the Airbnb. We struggled to find free street parking the first evening so we ended up parking in a parkade, but move the car to a free spot the next day. Other than that, we did not use the car at all while we stayed in Berlin. The public transit system is inexpensive, convenient, and easy to use. The buses, trams, trains, and subway system all had frequent service and we didn't wait for more then 5-10 minutes on any given route we were taking.

Another thing about driving in Germany, especially if you are from North America, is that there are probably 2-3 times more road signs than we use at home. I spent a good portion of the first few days looking up and memorizing new road sign meanings and other traffic conventions that were different. I used the below site to get a basic understanding and Wikipedia to look up road signs that were new to me. All in all though driving was pretty fun.

Driving in Germany info: http://www.gettingaroundgermany.info/fahren.shtml

For food we ended up buying some groceries for breakfasts and snacks, and I think one lunch. Otherwise we at out at a variety of restaurants. Roslyn and I found that the small coffee/sandwich stops in the subway were both good tasting and fairly cheap. Local grocery stores tended to be inexpensive as well. Small local Mom n' Pop style restaurants were both very good tasting and less pricey. The basic exchange here however was that we traded time when we went looking for cheaper alternatives.

Pretty much everything we did in Berlin was done via the Berlin Pass. This was a great find by Roslyn and led to an exciting three day in Berlin. Essentially, the Berlin Pass is a prepaid entrance fee into dozens of exhibits, museums, and tourist attractions. We both highly recommend getting this if you plan on going to Berlin as it was a great deal for us.

Here's a link to the Berlin Pass website: Berlin Pass Website

This is everything that we did in Berlin that was included on the Berlin Pass:

Hop on, Hop Off Bus Tour of Berlin
Madame Tussaud's
Victory Column
Check Point Charlie
Berlin Dom
River Boat Tour
Berlin Dungeon
Aqua Dome
Little Big City Berlin
Greek and Roman Museum
Natural History Museum

All of that was on the Berlin Pass.

All in all our stay in Berlin went great, both the logistically and the experience in general.

Germany Trip - 3 Days in Berlin, The Fun Stuff

This post is going to cover the activities we did while we were in Berlin. I will have another post on the logistics of it, how public transit was, etc. There was too much to fit all in one go.

This year, Roslyn and I spent two weeks in Germany with Roslyn's sisters and grandmother. Roslyn's grandmother is from Germany so the three sisters got to experience Germany and meet a bunch of new family members. 

Germany started with a flight from Winnipeg to Toronto, followed by a flight to Rekyavik, then to Berlin. We took WestJet for the Winnipeg to Toronto, which was a fairly normal flight. The flight to Iceland on IcelandAir was quite wonderful though, as was the flight to Berlin on the same air line. Rekyavik air port is very nice, clean, plenty of restaurants. The entry point into Europe was easy, quick, and efficient. The staff on the Iceland Air flight was one of the best flight crews I have had the pleasure to fly with.

First beer in Germany

Once we landed we picked up our rental car and found the Air BnB we were staying at. Finding free parking was hard so we parked in a parkade for night (we did eventually find free parking a short walk away the next day). The Air BnB was nice, spacious and slept 5. The only problem with it was that it was one room and a bathroom. After settling in, we went out for supper and picked up groceries on our way home.

The first full day in Berlin we did a Hop-on Hop-off bus tour. We made an early breakfast, jumped onto the subway, then walked about 10 minutes to the bus stop. At the stop there was an old church with a flower garden, and the Fountain of Poseidon in front of it. 

One of the flowers with a tower in the background

Fountain of Poseidon

Shortly after jumping on the bus we drove past the Berlin Dom. It was a majestic building sitting on the rivers edge. While we went past it on Day 1, we planned to visit it on Day 2 and it did not disappoint. For now we just settled on driving by it and heading onto our first adventure for the day.

Berlin Dom drove by

Group shot on the tour bus

Our first stop on the tour was Madame Tussaud's, a wax museum. The wax creations inside were extraordinary, and the overview of how they are made at the end was interesting as well. You can take pictures of all the exhibits except the Hitler exhibit, but I would still strongly recommend going to it if you are in Berlin because the pictures can't capture the detail or feeling of them well enough.

 Roslyn and I with Einstein

Roslyn's Omi with Vader

With Madame Tussaud's behind us, we jumped back onto the tour bus and headed off to our next stop, the Berlin Victory Column. The Column has a nice green space all around it and is centered in a three lane round about. To get to it you need to take a tunnel underneath the road. While we walked through the tunnel a guitarist played classical music which seemed otherworldly due to the acoustics of the tunnel.

Roslyn and I in front of the Victory Column

Stair to the top of the Victory Column

The Victory Column had a small museum to the different historical monuments in Germany. There is also a staircase up to colonnade where there is a mosaic wrapping around the base of the Column. The a longer staircase then takes you up to the top of the tower which gives a great view out over the city park.

After seeing all of the Victory Column, we ate a quick lunch and had a beer at a near by patio, then jumped back on the tour bus. This time we were headed to Check Point Charlie for a bit of a history review.

Church left and even reinforced in its destroyed state to memorialize WWII

Recreated checkpoint

Single piece of the Berlin wall, we didn't get to see the longer section

Check Point Charlie was pretty interesting. We went into the museum and read through the information stations, listed and watched the videos and just tried to soak it all in. We were there for about an hour and a half and we only made it about half way through before we decided to call it quits. The museum is deceivingly large and we were getting pretty worn down by that point. After leaving Check Point Charlie we headed out to a restaurant then went back to the Air BnB.

Interesting fountain we found on the way home on Day 2

Day 2 started off nice and early again. After a subway trip and a walk we were at the Berlin Dom, ready to see what waited for us inside. We were actually a bit in awe at the main level of the building and the view from the roof. There is also a crypt, which we walked through and looked at the sarcophagi, but we refrained from taking pictures there. The Dom is still an active church with services every Sunday, but the rest of the week they allow tourists into the building.

Side door of the Berlin Dom

Imposing main entrance 

View from the courtyard in front of the Dom

The left side of the main hall, entrance door on the left, altar on the right. The room is circular but it's hard to capture that in a picture 

 The right side of the main hall, continuing onward from the altar

After the Berlin Dom, we walked over to a river boat tour and waited for the next one to start. We didn't take any pictures of the tour but did get quite a bit of video. We will be showing video of the river boat tour, as well as everything else on our trip, on our YouTube channel starting next week!

With the river boat excitement behind us we went to a funny scary haunted house called the Berlin Dungeon. The Dungeon walks you through a somewhat interactive haunted house that plays up some parts of Berlin's past to be both a tiny bit scary and quite a bit humorous.

 The outside of the Berlin Dungeon, no pictures allowed inside

After the Berlin dungeon we did a tour of the Aqua Dome, which is an aquarium amusement park. We didn't get many good pictures because of the lighting and the tanks shapes, but it was pretty fun to see all the fish.

Once we wrapped up the Aqua Dome, we spent the last bit of our day perusing Little Berlin. Little Berlin is a history of the city of Berlin recreated in miniature. There were lots of little hidden gems to go looking for and a few interactive 'race' games that were fun to play against each other.

One of the set pieces in Little Berlin, the craftsmanship was amazing

Little Berlin tired us out completely and we headed back to the room. On the way we stopped at an Italian restaurant for some pizza. The pizza there was the best pizza we had ever eaten at the time (some Sicilian pizza we had in Munich ended up being even better!).

As Day 3 dawned we were a bit tired from all the walking the previous two days, but determined to persevere. We headed back to the Berlin Dom and went to a Greek and Roman museum that was adjacent to it. After he Greek and Roman Museum we grabbed a trolley, a subway and a bus to get to the Natural History Museum.

Greek and Roman history museum

Different Greek hoplite helmets from different regions

Front of the Natural History Museum

Dinosaur skeletons are always cool 

A fully  complete T-rex

Up close T-rex skull

One of the stuffed specimens, a nice jaguar

Both of the museums were enjoyable, and we spent about 3 hours in the Greek and Roman Museum and 2 in the Natural History Museum. The exhibits in both  were expansive and the effort needed to maintain enthusiasm the whole time was pretty exhausting, but all five of us enjoyed it in the end.

With the museums completed, we headed to another restaurant for supper, grabbed some beer from a local grocer who labelled himself as a "YouTube Tourist", and had a relaxing evening at the Air BnB before heading out to Tropical Islands the next day.

In Roslyn's words:

Germany was a once in a lifetime trip, not because we will never be going back, (believe me, we will) but rather because we were able to go with my Omi (grandma) to where she was born and raised. It was something me and my sisters always kinda talked about, and with all of us now out of school, it was the perfect time.

I have been on a big trip before, but not one where I was a responsible party member (aka I’m in charge now). It definitely adds some extra pressure, even more so when you were the one planning the majority of the trip for the group. Will the Airbnbs work out? Will the neighborhoods be sketchy? Will the great deal on that combo attraction ticket actually pan out? Thankfully by the end of the trip my organization and planning efforts all payed off.

The first stop on our adventure was Berlin and man was it awesome. From the seamless transit system to the kind of architecture you can only have from an well aged culture, there was so much to experience and so little time. And just as it was there, there is no way to touch on everything in this post so here are my top five favorite things from Berlin.

The hop on hop off bus tours - They may seem super awful touristy and you will probably get tired of people running around with 6 foot flags on their back trying to sell you a ticket, but I actually really enjoyed it. You can see a bunch of interesting sites and just jump off at the ones you want to explore. It works especially well with the Berlin pass as you can cash in some free entrance locations along the way.

The Berlin Dungeons - Again, super touristy and much more showy than what one thinks of when going to Berlin, but what a great time. Great actors and audience interactions, amazingly well detailed sets, lots of laughs, and a few screams to boot. There was also some added humour from simply watching my Omi react to some of the dirtier jokes made.

Museum Island - I could have spent the whole three days wandering from museum to museum. We had attempted to do a musium day but overestimated our history stamina. If I were to go again, I would try to mix up the attractions and museums more.

Mum n pop restaurants and shops - Having an Airbnb a little bit aways from the main tourist center of the city, we were able to enjoy a few family run establishments. A few times we walked down the street a half block and picked up some bread and fruits from a small family market as well as have a super delicious meal for 7 euro a person (that ended up lasting me for 3 meals). Moral of the story, explore more then the center of Berlin.

Amazing architecture you just cant find in Canada - Just building after building, each grand in it’s own way from gold leaf everything to expansive mosaics. Simply otherworldly for this prairie girl.