An 800-Year-Old Silver Mine...

We got to the top of the mountain just in time to walk back down a little ways to the entrance to the Schauinsland Silver Mine Museum. Nina was just getting over a cold, so she opted out of joining us in the cold mine. Bill booked us for the 3-hour adventure tour. Little did I know that would mean climbing ladders down 18 stories and then back up again in the dark!

Yes, this is my big butt coming through one of the small holes just to prove that I did actually make the climbs.

The first half of the tour was with a large group for the 1.5 hour family tour, which climbed just the first 9 stories. Most of the tour was in German, but Bill was a great interpreter.

Hiking in the Black Forest...

We left Europa Park just before it closed on Friday night to catch a bus and train down to Freiburg to spend the weekend with Bill (aka Webfoot from the San Diego Hash) and his wife Nina. On Saturday, they led us into the nearby Black Forest to go on a wonderful hike.

Despite an 800 meter (2,600 feet) ascent, it was a fairly easy hike with beautiful views. In fact, it was just a minor warm-up for the real adventure that Bill had in store for us.

Another Kind of Roller Coaster...

We were really impressed with the food offerings in the park, including that we could be served French sparkling wine while sitting beside the faux Seine River while the park closed around us. Most of all, we enjoyed going to the Food Loop Restaurant, where the food traveled over mini-coasters to the tables.

Jimmy sweet talked some employees into letting him tape his GoPro to one of delivery contraptions where it managed to survive going upside down. Unfortunately, he hasn't edited the footage yet, so I’ll have to post the video later.

Here you can see Ashlynn’s Sprite on the way to our table. Not only was this entertaining, but the food was surprisingly good.

Awesome Roller Coasters!

Europa-Park boasts 11 roller coasters. My favorite was the Alpenexpress Mine Train in Austria that goes inside a mine alongside a water log ride and a walking path. I also really liked the Wodan Timbur Coaster, the new wooden coaster that just opened in Iceland in March. I skipped this one, the Blue Fire in Iceland.

I must confess that my tolerance for roller coasters isn’t what it was when I was younger. I still don’t mind loops, but can’t handle corkscrews anymore. I also don’t like too many twists, so there were several coasters that Jimmy and the girls went on without me.

Somehow they did manage to convince me to try the hyper coaster Silver Star in France. I should have remembered that I don’t really like long drops either as the 219-foot drop at 79MPH followed by a 160-foot drop was intense. Luckily, Ashlynn was so proud of me for trying, that I was off the hook for a repeat ride.

Europa-Park...

We accompanied Debby and Tim to the Rotterdam train station where they caught a train to Paris. I booked us tickets for the same time to head to Bavaria. We spent three nights at an apartment in the village of Rust so that we could spend three days at Europa-Park, Germany’s largest amusement park.

Built in 1975, the park is owned by a family that has been in the roller coaster business since the 20’s. The park is split into different country sections complete with regional architecture and foods. Although there were several original rides, many of the rides seemed vaguely familiar just like their mascots. Regardless of some obvious copying, we loved it! It wasn’t too crowded, the weather was perfect and there was plenty to do to keep us occupied for three days.

Finally Seeing Kinderdijk...

Hard to believe that it took us over 6.5 years to finally get down to Kinderdijk. So glad that the weather was perfect for another nice cycle ride. Bummer that the girls weren’t along.

After exploring, we hopped on another ferry, then cycled into Rotterdam. As we crossed the Erasmus Bridge, we came across the ending of a relay race from Paris to Rotterdam with over 300 teams raising money for cancer support. After 65K (40 miles), we wimped out and took a tram home. Got to the grocery store just minutes before it closed; Debby must think we live in a 3rd world nation since there wasn’t any fresh meat, veggies or bread left in the whole store.

Arriving at Kinderdijk...

We took a ferry on the last leg of the ride to Kinderdijk. We were all impressed how many bikes could be squeezed on. We were even more impressed of the view of the 19 windmills built around 1740.

After lunch, we watched a movie about the history of Kinderdijk, then visited the windmill that is set aside as a museum; the remaining 18 windmills are still lived in.