Our Trip....part 4

We had just spent the past 5 weeks in Greece relaxing and catching up with some good "family time" and it was time to begin our journey home.

First stop, Munich, Germany. Another place I'd longed to visit. I, like all girls, had grown up with all of the brothers Grimm fairytales, so to actually see the area to which it all begin was quite....well....enchanting.

The storybook churches were absolutely gorgeous, with their tall steeples. The kind of church every child dreams of being married in.

The main square of Munich, "Marien Platz" looked actually like a village. So very cute!

The highlight of our 4 day Munich stay was the 2 hour trip to the Bavarian Alps to visit Neuschwanstein castle. That place completely blew me away. I truly couldn't believe my eyes when we stepped off the bus and I looked up at Cinderella's castle perched high on the mountain top. And to complete the scene, it was snowing! Heavily! Again I had to stop myself from crying of happiness.

Another mementos occasion, the children had never seen snow before so as you can imagine their excitement was almost too much to control LOL. The snowball fights between them and their father started almost immediately. The downside to that was my daughter wasn't wearing really appropriate footwear (as we weren't prepared for such extreme winter weather) and her feet got soaked to the bone, therefore she winged the whole way up to the top and the whole way down. At one point Jim and I had to remove our socks and put both pairs on her just to try and keep her feet functioning. It was bloody freezing! Ahhh the joys of travelling with kids LOL.

We had the time of our lives, I wished we could have stayed in Germany longer. It was way too short a visit, however I'd like to look at it as a preview of a longer stay yet to come.

We then left the freezing cold city of Munich and headed for the steaming hot city of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong I have to say wasn't what I expected. But then again I don't really know what I was expecting. I guess I was in a state of culture shock and anxious to get home cause I really wasn't a happy camper. Our accommodation was a living nightmare and we refused to stay there so we spent hours trudging our luggage up and down Nathan road looking for somewhere else more suitable for a family.

The crowds were massive and the smog was thick. To me, everything looked filthy and I hated the men grabbing at us trying to lead us down a back alley to buy stolen hangbags and watches.
The shopping wasn't cheap and everywhere you walked, water from the thousands of boxed airconditioners would fall on your head.

Haha I sound like a grumpy pants. To be honest I think I was just tired and looking forward to getting back to my home and my family and friends. The kids really needed to get back into a routine as they had basically been running feral for the last 2 months with no real rules.

We were only in Hong Kong for 2 days and I think we just chose the wrong area to stay (Tsim Sha Tsui). Perhaps another visit someday, with my sister, who frequents Hong Kong will prove to be a much better experience.

We made it safely home and now I look back on this incredible adventure I had with the 3 most precious people in my life and absolutely believe it was a dream come true.