In Leverkusen w/Baby

Old Mar 30th, 2004, 01:44 PM
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In Leverkusen w/Baby

My husband will be in Leverkusen and Dormagen for business at the end of April/beginning of March. I'm coming along for the ride, and will be toting my 4 month old baby. Does anyone have suggestions for how I can keep myself entertained during the week? (We'll have a rental car, but I won't have exclusive use of it...)

Also, we are looking for something to do on the weekends. We fly in and out of Frankfurt. We're thinking we'll take our time and drive up the river to Cologne the first weekend; maybe take the train to Amsterdam the middle weekend; not sure about the last weekend. Any suggestions?

Final question - do you recommend reservations for hotels on weekends at this time of year? Do hotels in Germany offer portable cribs for infants, or will we need to bring our own!

A lot of questions, I know, but any feedback would be great! Thanks!
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Old Mar 30th, 2004, 07:10 PM
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Traveling Mom, I would recommend that you bring a crib with you. When we traveled with our 4 month old, we brought a portable crib (we stayed at homes and various pensions) the crib was used every night. I would also recommend that you bring enough formula with you.(we used a powder and bought bottled water) You can buy diapers and other supplies once you get there. I would also be sure that the airline knows that you have a baby with you. They should set you up by a bulkhead w/ a basket that hangs on the wall. We brought our baby seat with us, you need to ensure that the rental company will have one for you if you do not bring yours. We brought a baby carrier (snugli) that you can wear and not a stroller, which worked out well.
Glenn
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Old Mar 31st, 2004, 04:17 AM
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Bayer, I guess?

Anyway, Leverkusen exists because of Bayer and that's about it. The good thing about the city is that Cologne and Düsseldorf are close. You might think about staying in Cologne which is within driving distance from Leverkusen.

If the weather permits (you're there at the beginning of May?) you could do a cruise on the Rhine. Cologne offers the cathedral and some real top museums. In Bonn (about 20 minutes from Cologne) you could think about visiting the Museum of German History (mainly post-war history) and Beethoven's birthplace. Aachen is also close and Düsseldorf is good for shopping. As for weekend trips, it depends how much you're willing to travel with the baby but for example from Cologne to Paris takes four hours by train and to Heidelberg 2:30 hours, so there are really a lot of options.

Dormagen has an old city centre which is quite pretty, as far as I know.
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Old Mar 31st, 2004, 05:55 AM
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Hans - You guessed it (Bayer). My husband and I have been to Paris several times, so we'd like to try something new. Heidelburg might be interesting.

Mr Compass - I guess it makes sense to take our own crib. Probably opens up a lot more options for places to stay, although it's definitely a pain to carry around...Did you find any particularly family friendly places in that area of Germany?

All - Any thoughts on Brussels vs. Bruges?
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Old Mar 31st, 2004, 06:21 AM
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Hi! If you're willing to fly somewhere on your weekend, the airport in Cologne has a myriad of low-cost carriers that will get you pretty much anywhere in Europe in little time for little money.
www.germanwings.de or www.hlx.com for example. Have fun!
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Old Mar 31st, 2004, 02:48 PM
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Traveling Mom, Where ever we went we had no problem with the baby. It was a great ice breaker. All of the resturants gladly gave us a glass of hot water for warming the bottel when needed. We took the crib and put it in a big duffel bag to give it a little extra protection during the trip. It was great to have, it wasn't too bad, since you will be in the same place for the week. Once you get used to putting it together, it is not much of a problem.
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Old May 13th, 2004, 02:32 PM
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Thanks for all the responses. We managed to spend some time in Koln. I also got to drive along the Rhine and Mosel, stopping at castles and wine festivals on the way. I made 2 long day trips to Brugges and Keukenhof (Holland for the tulips).

Traveling with the baby was no problem - he was amazingly well behaved on both flights and in the restaurants. The hotels, and even the small pensions, had cribs that we could use. Overall - a great success!
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