Last night was not the greatest. We slept in a tent which is alway a bit iffy for sleep. Then the kids were both restless. Numerous times L would just sit up and need to be coaxed into lying down again. Weirdo. Then there was the rain. Several times it was coming down really hard throughout the night. L and I woke up about 6:30 and Ty was already awake. I told Ty, I’d be happy if he could research some train options for the day. I wasn’t looking forward to a 5 hour ride in the wind and rain.
His quote, happy wife, happy life! Had he been with a buddy they would have suffered through the rain. However, with wife and kids in tow, suffering is not the goal. So he kindly researched train and hotel options for us, from the campsite shower area since the restaurant wasn’t open.
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When R finally woke up we joined them and hashed out a plan. He’d found which trains to take and a town near our campsite so we could stay on course for our rides. 
The restaurant owner finally saw us trying to FT my mom out in the rain and let us in. He then made us tea/hot cocoa, offered to let us pack up inside. So kind!
The rain was a total downpour when we left the campsite. I was so glad we only had to ride in it for maybe ten minutes. Both kids were crammed into the chariot to stay dry.
We got the train successfully. It’s a bit of an ordeal getting on and off before the doors close. Two heavy bikes with paneers, a trail-a-bike, and a wide chariot, between two adults, a helpful 7 year old, and a distractible 5 year old. It’s a lot!
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Our second train ride was over an hour so R took a nap.
We got off at our town Stein an Rhein. Neither Ty or I knew much about it. He’d had time to research hotels, that’s about it.
It was a total downpour when we left the station. But from what I could see through squinted eyes the town was beautiful.
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Ty navigated us to our hotel and wonderfully they had a place for our bikes out of the rain, AND our room was ready!!! We changed into dry layers, loaded the kids back into the chariot and walked through the center of old town on our way to the grocery store for lunch.
https://hamptonsonholiday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/img_3787.mov https://hamptonsonholiday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/img_3788.mov
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Gotta love a grocery store that has a giant bratwurst out front!
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Yes I got myself a hard cider for lunch!
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Yes we let our child water the plants wherever we go!
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Then we came across one of the coolest playgrounds we’ve seen. And we’ve explored plenty of them! The area was filled with all different types of beautiful mature trees. The play structures were so well made out of wood. There were so many different areas for kids to play in and there were small details all over the place.
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From here we wandered back through the center of town to relax at the hotel before dinner.
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Dinner was going to be the pizza place right next door but they were closed. So we wandered through the town looking for anything that was open. Thank goodness a few tourist hotels were open by the river. We had amazing pasta and pizza while the kids were melting down and so tired. L actually fell asleep with a chicken nugget in his mouth!
We got everyone back to the hotel and snuggled into bed. It was nice to be in a warm and dry room, airing out the tent and drying our clothes. Instead of being huddled under the tent in the downpour.
The weather isn’t supposed to be any better tomorrow. Ty’s really pushing to see this waterfall so we shall see what tomorrow brings.
