Luisenpark and Easter Market

On Saturday we headed to Mannheim to go to an Easter market.  We heard that it was in a really cool park so thought the boys might enjoy it also.  The park was AWESOME!!!!  There are so many things there and there will be more in the summer time.  It was cold, so many things were still shut down, the bumper cars, the boats, the playground with water, but many were still open.  They had a Chinese Garden, an amphitheater and so much more. 

 

So we finally got to a parking space, there were tons and tons of detours, construction, our GPS was trying to take us through dead ends.  It took us over 40 minutes longer when we should have been there in 5 minutes, it was crazy and insane.  So we decided to follow all the people, figuring that they were headed to the Easter Market also.  Well then all of a sudden we heard Polizei coming up and a lot of them.  Then we saw this...

 

A LOT of Polizei in full riot gear, they kept coming and coming

 

 

and coming.  I was not sure what was going on so I immediately turned the boys around and we walked the opposite direction.  We found out a little later that there was a soccer match going on right next door.  I wasn't sure if something happened that brought them or if it was a precaution, but I wasn't going to find out so we moved the other way quickly.

 

The boys were working on balancing - this one didn't just go around, it went back and forth. 

 

AJ trying to push Daddy off and LOVING it!!!

 

This was the castle park and of course they have a big slide!!  The thing that surprised me was the fence up at the top.  Normally in Germany they don't have any of those safety precautions.

 

They do like going down the slides together!!

 

AJ is such a monkey!!  :-)

 

 

This led to a really tall fire pole - again I was surprised about the fence around it.

 

 

This was a cool little thing that showed the different stages of a butterfly.

 

This was a really cool tree and a FANTASTIC picture of my boys!!! 

 

 

Me and my two boys!!!  :-)

 

This nest was HUGE!!!  I couldn't believe it!!

 

This is to give it a little perspective, Michael is right beneath the nest and AJ is a little in front of it.

 

 

I just LOVE this kid!! 

 

There were some great flamingos there also!!  I knew there were places to play, but there was a whole gambit of wildlife there.

 

These pelicans let the boys get really close, but David was still keeping a close eye on them just in case.

 

 

Michael jumping down to Daddy, AJ waiting his turn

 

David jumping off of the top - I told him if he hurt himself he was on his own LOL

 

This was really cool, a full size chess board!!  The boys and I played David and we almost won, but David still beat us after we put up a good fight.

 

Another really cool park!  All three of my monkeys on it!

 

David wasn't able to go under this roof, so he had to climb over the top

 

AJ up on top of the bridge instead of on it

 

Climbing up one of the many ladders in the park

 

AJ pushing Daddy down - LOOK OUT!!!

 

AJ very happy getting Daddy off of the slide!

 

Michael climbing the rope - check out the upper body strength

 

AJ's turn - but Michael was messing with the rope.

 

This was a cool bridge, it was one of those bouncy ones

 

Michael bouncing along!!

 

These fish just came right up to the bridge when we were there.  I am thinking that they are used to getting fed because they kept coming to the top looking for food.

 

 

The boys thought it was really cool!!!

 

Here are some parrots they had, one of the many birds that were there.

 

 I couldn't believe my eyes, but there were penguins there also.  Crazy - though it was cold enough for them. 

 

These were the coolest birds.  They are so bright and I found out that they are Scarlet Ibis.  The entire plumage and legs of them are colored bright red.  They live in South America from western Venezuela through the Guyana's.

 

We finally found the Easter market about three hours after we got there.  We didn't even get to all of the different parks, or the Chinese Garden, but that leaves us a reason to go back!  But if you look at the eggs in front of Michael some of those were over 60 Euros (of course that is the one AJ wanted).  There were so many different types, sizes, and colors here.  I couldn't believe how much people can do with eggs.

 

It was in a pretty big room with many different vendors.  They also had wooden eggs and other Easter crafts.  There were some that had small people inside of hollowed out eggs.  Simply amazing!!  But I just couldn't see spending 100 Euros on an egg.  We bought a much cheaper one so if it does break on our way back to the states, it won't be as heart breaking!  After that we headed back to the car, and headed home.