Mainau with the Royals and Eigeltingen with the Critters

This weekend we joined friends at the Bodensee. We took a boat to the Island of Minau, which is owned by Swedish royalty. The entire island is an amazing botanical garden with playgrounds, a butterfly house, and restaurants. The kids loved the wasserspielplatz (water playground) that had climbable wooden rafts floating in a shallow pond. We had a ball.

Then that evening we drove to our hotel in Stockach, only to learn that our prepaid reservation was not held for us. They showed us two tiny rooms that they did have available, each with two thin twin beds, and a toilet and tub down the hall for nearly 100 euro. We left, discouraged, intending to go home.

But instead, we stumbled upon a really cool place called Lochmuehle, which is an absolute kids’ paradise. In order to park, we had to wait until an alpaca and a herd of goats cleared the road. For 100 euro in this place we got a two-story apartment with a kitchen. They had a hot tub, swimming pool with slide, and a really cool playground with construction equipment and bumper cars. They offer all sorts of cool activities like carriage rides, a ropes course, paddle boats, zip lines, four-wheelers, and lots more. Animals were everywhere. There was a pig roasting on a spit by the entrance, which didn't seem to bother the living fat pig that made himself at home in the children’s sand box. Sheep rested under bridges. Pigeons fluttered about. Bunnies hopped. Shetland ponies inspected our pockets for treats. We had to watch our step to avoid stinky landmines. It felt like a regular day around my house.

We swam for a while and had dinner in the restaurant to a band that played songs like How Great Thou Art blended with Aloha-oi, all to a Polka beat. While we waited for our food, Luke kept asking me to dance with him. He led me around the dance floor, his crown only reaching as high as my belly button. It was adorable. The food was good too. Claire and I had venison goulash, which is a new favorite for her.

The next day we awoke to a rooster crowing and went down for a huge German breakfast. We ended up staying most of the day there before driving home. We had lunch in the biergarten, which was great except for the flies. It seems they really liked the animals too.