Europe is a great place for camping with kids - lots of campgrounds
with pools, playgrounds, and lots to do. Unfortunately, they also
tend to be crowded and full of RVs - however, nice spots are quite
possible to find, and it really makes a great get-away with the kids.
Our first trip was to Apeldoorn and to the X:Apenheul Zoo. Apenheul is a
unique zoo where the apes are allowed to roam free, wandering amongst
the visitors! Before entering you are warned that the apes are
master pickpockets, and they are! We had nice little squirrel
monkeys rummaging for food in our pockets, picking at our shiny rings,
and generally satisfying their curiosity about their strange looking
visitors... (John liked the squirrel monkeys until they crawled on
him, while Lydia just generally thought that they were cute.)
Squirrel monkeys at play in the trees!
X:X:Bokrirk is a park
near Genk which attempts to recreate life in Belgium in approximately
1850, a bit like X:Colonial Williamsburg.
We spent most of a day there just exploring and trying out old
fashioned bicycles (shown below):
Stilts (and lots of other old fashioned games, actually)
And, of course, the necessities of life in the 2000s:
