Back in Germany -Part II

We spent the last few days in and around Bremen and up at the North Sea in a town called Bremerhaven. 

The musicians of Bremen

The coast in that part of the country is like what I imagine the 'beaches' are like in the UK all overcast windy and cold, no sand and mainly mud-flats due to a tide that seems to be permanently out. It's impossible to swim as you'd first have to walk almost a kilometer out on the mud flats to find the water but at least the kids loved playing in the mud. The caravan park we stayed at on the North Sea was super busy because this week in Germany is 'family week' as Thursday was Father's day and Sunday is mother's day. Lots of families are cycling along the ocean, others are flying kites and some people are just relaxing and drinking.

Our camping spot on the north sea

We arrived in Bremerhaven after having spent two nights in Hamburg. When we first arrived in Hamburg we parked the car on the outskirts and walked into the city exploring the centre and Zac was on a mission to find a wee train shop he saw on the internet. We ended up walking around for four hours which was fine until it started absolutely pouring and my rain jacket soaked through so I got cold. Then it wasn't fun anymore. That night we drove around the city looking for somewhere to sleep the night and seeing as we planned a visit to 'Miniatur Wunderland' (the largest miniature train layout in the world!) the next day we thought we'd suss out that area for parking. We knew we were in luck when we saw another van and a motor home already parked up in the carpark for Miniature Wonderland. We pulled up next to the other van and thought we'd ask them to double check it was ok for us to stay there overnight, the guy didn't speak English and when I told him I spoke a little German he was off like a rocket of excitement speaking at a hundred miles an hour about how awesome miniature wonderland is (he had been before). Usually when I tell people my German's not the best they speak slower and clearer to me but this dude was way too excited to bother. I managed to understand when he was explaining how big the place is, and about the different themes the place has and about the calendar he bought at the gift shop on special for 9 Euros when it was advertised on the internet for 15. Zac asked me to ask him if he collects trains and he told me only 'Feuerwehr' which I thought I must've misheard because that means he collects only fire engines but Zac told me a lot of people in Germany seem to do the same. 

Our camping spot outside Miniature Wonderland

Miniature Wonderland was pretty darn awesome, there was just so much to look at and all so teeny-tiny. At one point one of the teeny villages had a fire start in it so the teeny-tiny fire brigade was deployed and drove to the scene of the fire with teeny lights flashing and sirens blaring. Super cute.

Even the cafe was train themed

After Miniatur Wunderland we went to Hamburg's port and walked around because it was 'HafenGerburtstag', a five day festival in Hamburg, so the waterfront was full of stalls. 

That's 1 big sausage and out of proportion bun

There was a Russian submarine parked up so we had a look inside it which was pretty awesome. All those American movies I've seen where the crew run around like mad inside a sub during an emergency is a crock, there's no way anybody's running inside a sub without hitting their head or arms on something.

peek-a-boo

see - no room for running

Part 1 I will have to write about in the next couple of days pending when we again have internet. Unfortunately I can't finish it all now like i had hoped as uploading all these photos has taken sometime (hours!) and Zac's getting impatient and is now waiting in the car :-)
I might take him a piece of cake from this cafe I'm sitting in to keep him quiet.

We're now heading to Amsterdam for a few days which will no doubt be fun. Will keep you posted...