To Idar-Oberstein to buy stones

It is nice weather this morning and we stay first at the house to play outside in the snow. We have a small sledge with us and there are enough slopes to slide off. The location is probably the best quality of the park because the facilities are a bit disappointing, such as the cold and boring pool (we are spoiled!). We have been there three times and the cottages we had were not special but also not very bad even though we found quite some negative reviews on the internet. Now the park seems to have been taken over by a new owner, so it may well be that it has all become a lot better.

We walk through the snow down the hill to the small shop to do some shopping. The roads are still covered with snow, there is fresh snow almost every night and it is always fun to see how Esmee enjoys it and can not get enough of it. But we knew that from last month when there was a lot of snow in the Netherlands. It is one of the reasons we went here because we knew there would be snow here.

And then we set off for the trip that Esmee most looked forward to, to Idar-Oberstein, the mineral and semiprecious stones capital of the world. I used to collect stones and often came with my parents in Idar-Oberstein, also to look for stones myself. At home we have a lot of them and Esmee has always found these colorful stones fascinating. So now we are going to the place where you can see all those minerals in large quantities and she is looking forward to buying a few for herself.
But first we go to the museum.

There are two museums, the gemstone museum and the minerals museum. We go to the latter because many more rough stones are shown here. Especially the large pieces and the bright colors are very nice for children and it is great that you are allowed to touch them. The museum is not very large (and not expensive) and in the center of Idar, near the gem exchange where precious stones and minerals from all over the world are traded. Idar and Oberstein are two different villages and I personally like Idar better.

In the museum shop Esmee really likes everything but in the end two choices remain: a mother pig with piglets of rose quartz and a cute bear family of different quartz varieties. Ultimately, the choice falls on the piglets, which are, according to her, the nicest because of the pink color. If we tell her that we are also going to a wholesaler to buy more stones, she is completely enthusiastic.

It is clearly not the tourist season but the town that has a lot of minerals and gems shops, is attractive to walk through and there are also some playgrounds in the shopping street. Always nice for a child. After seeing a lot of shops we drive to the wholesaler near the campsite in Tiefenstein where Elisabeth and I have regularly camped in the past. Outside are large barrels full of minerals that you can buy per kilo and inside you can choose from many more small specimens of hundreds of minerals.
It is difficult for a child to choose and it takes an hour before Esmee has collected a bag full of colorful stones.

We drive back to Idar and find a restaurant to eat something, schnitzel this time, but again with fries! While we wait for food, Esmee puts all her newly purchased treasures on the table to admire them.
Then we have to drive back the one and a half hour to the park over the winding roads and it is already dark when we arrive. At home the stones are displayed on her bedside table and she is very happy when she goes off to bed. And if she is satisfied, we are too!