Every summer millions of kids all over the planet are out of school for a couple of months. Every summer millions of parents are ready to pack their kids off to camp, grandmom’s house, or some other destination.
I would like to suggest Hesse’s town of Frielendorf, where you’ll find the Children’s Paradise Hotel.
It’s not a “hotel” in the traditional sense, but a complex that has everything under the sun to keep your young ones entertained (a totally tire them out) with everything from bungee jumping, a jungle gym, miniature golf, ping pong, and some sort of bouncy apparatus.
There’s even an adult area, so the grown-ups can have a bit of peace & quiet.
Ahh, the sounds of silence!
For outdoor fun for the whole family the Ferienwohnpark Silbersee is it. There is an annual marathon here; and you don’t have to run to have a good time.
Other sporting activities in Frielendorf are inline skating, bowling, miniature golf, and moutainbiking. My favorite is the Alpine Run, where you’re careening down a track on a sled of some sort.
If you want a bit of history with your recreational vacation, Frielendorf has the medieval Spike Tower (Spießturm), which unofficially showed the boundary between Lower and Upper Hesse.
Over at the church of St. Johannes, Sunday services are still held after almost 900 years. That’s a whole lot of sermons. ;-)
Frielendorf even has a few museums (that’s right, keep the kids walking — they’ll get tired, I promise). There’s a museum that’s all about coal mining and a village history museum.
The town even has an old Jewish cemetery (if the gate’s locked — just go to the municipal office, they’ll let you in); and another Jewish cemetery is in nearby Großropperhausen.
Ask the Children’s Paradise Hotel if they will let you drop the kids off for a while — in case you want to have a good time at the annual Summer Festival and take in an outdoor summer concert.
