Playmobil, Nuremberg, Germany

This was our best bang for our buck in Germany.  We had no plans to visit Playmobil land, but we saw a very small sign as we got off the freeway, and remembered our friends speaking highly of it while they lived in Germany, so we asked a local about it.  We discovered it was not far from where we were staying so we thought we would give it a try.  It only cost 9 Euro to get in (a fraction of what Disneyland costs) and the kids had a blast!.  There were no lines anywhere, everything was powered by the children, and they could roam and play as they please!  How can you beat that?  Later we discovered that there is a Playmobil Land in the USA too.  Who would have thought?

Eli got to push and steer his raft around the pirate lagoon.  The lagoon was only two feet deep, so there were no staff or attendants to police our activities.  The kids really enjoyed being pirates at this stop.

Here they use a little elbow grease to pull themselves across the lagoon on a raft.

The Wild West section had a spot to pan for gold!  Playmobil had constructed a huge sand pit made to look like an old mine shaft.  They also spray painted small rocks a gold color, and kids all over were panning for their treasure.  We finally had to pry them away from the pit in order to make time to see the other sections.

Noah had an ark and the ark is at Playmobil Land.  The ark had a section behind it with

 channels of water and all the toys you could think of in them.  It was cold, and wet, and fun.  

Hand powered motor boats!  As they turn the cranks it 

operates the paddles on the sides of the boat.

The go karts were a huge hit with the older kids.  The pedal propelled go karts were a 

great way to expend some energy as we raced around the track again and again and again.

The castle playground was really the most impressive.  We could storm the castle walls through various means and land ourselves inside this mid evil playground.  We couldn't believe the free reign that the kids were given.  I was certain that in America there would have been safety police everywhere.  It was so nice for the kids to be able to do it all on their own and to feel like others had confidence in their abilities.

When the weather got too cold and the kids needed a minute to relax, we could enter an absolutely huge toy facility with thousands and thousands of dollars of playmobil to play with.  Jonah and Eli couldn't imagine how the day could get any better, and really, how could it?  There were even dozens and dozens of other kids to play with.  Max tried to start several epic Playmobil battles with other kids, but the language barrier proved to be a bit difficult and too frustrating.

The big rainbow inflatable pillow put a whole definition to the word "fun".  Our kids wrestled and jumped all over this thing for a long time.  We were fortunate to have wood chips off the sides so the kids could fall off it without too much damage.  Max managed to go off the pillow head first though, and earned a scar above his lip to prove it.  I don't think he minded much, though, the whole day far exceeded everyone's expectations.