Tagesausflugsmehrzugfahrt

After a week of grandparents and new Christmas toys, the kids were understandably bored. Poor Omama and Opapa are so used to a quiet retiree's house that our two boys wear her out, not to mention the mayhem we bring to their sense of order. It is at this point in every visit that we must fabricate a way to get out of each other's way.

So what do we do for fun around here?

A few years back, Ravensburger Spieleland opened up: the people who bring us those great jigsaw puzzles decided to try the whole Disneyland model applied to the blue-corner brand. The result is a German version of fun park, with a commensurately high ticket price. The first time we were here after its opening, Danny was still in diapers, and the maiden aunts wanted to take our kids there. We said no, earning the title Biggest Party Poopers Ever. But our toddler had been eaten alive by mosquitoes the night before, and it was hot and muggy: an asphalt crush of people was not going to help him stay cool and not scratch. We decided instead to head to the local swimming hole with friends. It had terrific shady spots and muddy banks. We got him wet, covered him in delicious itch-stopping mud, and then sent the men folk to the closest supermarket to get ice cream, which we slurped down greedily because it was melting so quickly.

Two years ago, we hit pay dirt: there was snow on the ground every day for three weeks. We sledded in blizzards, we sledded down the longest hill known to man, the maiden aunts and soon-to-be-uncle-with-the-big-dog took the kids sledding. We built snowmen, and then we sledded some more and had a snowball fight or two. It was perfect fun, and nearly always followed by hot chocolate. No one called us party poopers.

Danny picked up a German train schedule, and said, let's look in here. From the mouths of babes: What could be more fun than spending a cold day riding around trains? We looked at the schedules and saw we could go to Switzerland around Lake Constance (via Austria), or over the lake itself (ferry boat), or both! We figured out the schedule: Sunday morning, departing at 9:07. We had a plan.After breaking our fast to a bright orange sunrise, we arrived at the train station in time to purchase our tickets, only to have the ticket dispenser tell us to buy our ticket at the counter--which didn't open until 9:30. Hmm. And we didn't have a plan B. Alfred knocked on the door of the Fahrdienstleiter (the closest thing to traffic control in the train station), who told us to get on board the 9:07, jump off in Friedrichshafen and grab a regional day ticket (€53 less than the price we found online), then jump back on--we had seven minutes between the time the train would arrive and depart. Once we got there, we found out he had called ahead, so the ticket was ready and waiting for us. We managed with 2 minutes to spare. Our trip ended up taking us via Lindau and Bregenz (talked to some Americans from Dubai who came to escape the warm weather) to St. Gallen, where we bummed around (the library is a UNESCO heritage site and the city is still wearing its Christmas finery) and have a nice lunch (lovely risotto, and a garlic soup I will have to try to replicate), then back via Romanshorn, ferry to Friedrichshafen (we have promised ourselves another trip there for the Zeppelin museum), and returning to Ravensburg in time for supper.

We came back all a bit tired, a bit hungry (sausages and fried potatoes took care of that quickly enough), but tired in a happy way. Supper and jammies, and fall into bed. Not bad for party poopers.