TRAVELLING - AMSTERDAM TO GUNZBURG

We left the apartment early to catch the first of three trains today. We got to the station to see our train just pulling out of the station. Damn we were 5 minutes to late. We waited around knowing that we would miss the connecting train to Frankfurt at 8:04.

When we got to Amsterdam we headed to the service desk and asked what train we could take to get to Gunzburg today. She gave us the itinerary, four trains now, and we paid to reserve seats as the first train was chockers. This turned out to be a blessing because we got to wait in the first class lounge where the drinks were free until the speed train left at 10:30.

We climbed aboard our train and settled down for the first leg. Before we had even left the Netherlands we were informed that there was a problem with the train and we had to disembark at Emmerich, the last station in the Netherlands and board another speed train there. This put the total of trains for the day at five.

We continued our journey on the new train and arrived at our destination where we had to change trains with 10 minutes to spare, or so we thought. We asked a conductor who informed us that the train was cancelled from this station and we would have to board the train about to depart and get off two stations later where the train would be waiting. This made the trains we travelled on up to six.

We got to the next station and then found out that this train was 35 minutes late due to problems on the track. It is interesting that we have done plenty of train travel since arriving in Europe, France, England, Belgium and the Netherlands, and we hit Germany to have three trains all late or experiencing difficulties. We hope this isn't a sign of things to come in Germany.

Our train finally arrived and we boarded to find that we had a compartment all to ourselves. We settled down for the four hours this leg of our journey would take. Pasqual wandered up to the front of the train and observed the driver. This train hit speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour. It was amazing to think that we were traveling that fast. Towards the end of our trip Ellexis started to ask about what the surprise was and where we were going. We gave her clues to the place we were going to. It took her ages to figure out we were going to Legoland and then, boy oh boy did the girls get excited then. They were practically bouncing off the ceiling they were so excited.

We finally arrived in Ulm and rushed through the station to the correct platform and boarded our last train for the day. Oh my god. The toilet in this train was bigger that some of the bathrooms in the hotels we have been staying in. Talk about huge.

We were only 1 step away from Legoland now, we just had to catch the bus. As soon as the girls saw it with Legoland written on the side that was it, bouncing up and down all the way until we saw the giant lego blocks on the motorway showing the turn off.

We finally made it. Talk about a huge day of travel. Up at 6:00 and traveling until after 6:00 this evening. Even after all that the girls wanted to go on everything. The climbing ropes, all the playgrounds etc. We told them tomorrow and they finally settled for the night around 9:00pm. The next two days are going to be huge so we all need as much sleep as possible.