Seeing Europe in two days’ time

 

Continental Europeans have this biting joke about American tourists wanting to see the whole of Europe in a record two weeks’ time: “What day is it today?” one Yankee asked another. “It is Thursday”, came the reply. “Aha”, interjected  the third one, “Wednesday was Paris, so we must be in Vienna now”.  

 

But last week, my family and I topped that ‘record’. For just two days we ‘saw’ Europe and we didn’t even have to fly with Airbus to do that.

 

Because of my wife’s sudden business schedules, our planned autumn break in Berlin went pffifft, so as a compromise we hauled Martin and Anna to the Europa Park near Freiburg, instead.

 

I thought that Europa Park was just the European version of the highly commercial Disneyland and that’s why we never ‘succumbed’ to our son Martin’s wish to visit there before- cutting him off everytime he cajoled us about it with “you’ve already been to Disneyland in Paris and they’re the same”.  But then my wife and I were in for a pleasant surprise.   

 

 

Okey, right off, I must admit that Europa Park has also its share of ‘mass marketing syndrome’ with its fancy theme  hotels that would probably fit more in Las Vegas  than with the famed Black Forest landescape nearby. That Mercedez Benz Museum, on the other hand,  is really nothing more than a merchandizing shop for Formula One fans spiced with some  prototype of old cars here and there, a café, and a fastfood resto.  To call it a museum is rather stretching the imagination, if not downright misleading.

 

But Europa Park, billed as one of the biggest theme Parks in Europe,  has also a lot of other interesting things to offer,  from small kids to senior citizens.

 

True to its name, the park is divided into different European countries like Germany, France, England, and so on. And it is not only that all entertainment are designed to represent a certain  country like for instance, bobsled for Switzerland, or Fjord rafting in Norway, the park also recreated that country’s ambience. Hence, one feels like being transported to London’s Baker Street  or inside a Norwegian wooden chapel from the Middle Age.

 

What’s more since the park is cleverly located very near to the Swiss and French borders, it’s visitors speak different languages, giving the Park a distinct European feel. 

 

Easily, the favourite for the family was Greece where the children enjoyed a roller-coaster  ride in a boat named Poseidon while my wife and I were enjoying the sun outside the taverns of the miniature village of Mykonos. There, we were amazed to see that true to Greek culture, every corner – even those near the garbage bins- were planted with spices like origano, rosemary, and thyme. And the flowers on their restaurant table were real not plastic.

 

In the afternoon, we took the park’s  express train and ended up in Spain where we watched a theater play about the search for the Holy Grail inside the arena. The play was so-so but the children enjoyed watching the stunts made by the Knights in full regalia while riding on their trained-for- circus horses. After that, we still catched the last Flamenco perfomance on the open-air stage.

 

The following day, we enjoyed the sights of Europe by taking the elevated monorail, drank coffee at Petit France, and spent the rest of the morning lulling on the sands of –where else- but in Portugal, under the golden October sun with a pleasant 26°C that day.

 

After taking a quick lunch we hurried to London to be at the Globe Theater for another performance called “Shakespeare’s Dream: As you like it”, a hodge-podge presentation of song, dance, and acrobatics.

 

In between, my wife and I still found a quiet corner near a ‘river’ separating Switzerland and France to catch up on our readings as the children explored ice-cold Russia. 

 

And of course, the children wouldn’t leave the place without taking a boat ride in Adventureland, a kind of Safari along the river of the Congo where children see elephants, crocodiles, and rhinos. It was a pity that Anna destroyed my old digital camera some days before and I couldn't take now pictures (so the photos you see on this blog are courtesy of the internet :-)

 

There were other ‘countries’ we were not able to explore, but we couldn’t stay for another day as I had to help organize a seminar last weekend. But my family and I would certainly go back to Europa Park again soon.