The "real" Sleeping Beauty Castle and more

There is a Swiss holiday in September that allows the kids and Pete to have a 3 day weekend. We decided to use this long weekend to visit Germany. On Friday afternoon as I packed the car up, I thought our string of bad luck may have been behind us when the original weather forecast of rain turned out to be clear skies. Unfortunately, other storm clouds loomed ahead.

We were about 1 1/2 hours into what should have been a 5 hour drive, when we ran into heavy traffic. After moving at a snail's pace for about an hour, we decided to pull over, have dinner and change the kids into their pajamas. It was a decent restaurant with burgers and fries, although the kids kept reminding us that it wasn't McDonald's and Henry refused to eat anything at all.

About an hour later, pajamas on, we piled back into the car and got back on the freeway. About 2 minutes later, Henry proceeded to empty the contents of his stomach. Unfortunately, his car seat was covered as was Henry and his precious bunny silky. I quickly pulled off the side (in Switzerland freeway exits only come around about every 3-5 miles) and Pete and I did our best to clean things up as quickly as possible because it's also against the law in Switzerland to pull over on the freeway and not remove EVERYONE from the car. We debated turning around and heading for home but decided to press onward.

Long story short, for the rest of our 3 1/2 hour drive, Henry took turns sleeping and throwing up into a cup that Pete had. We did finally make it to our hotel around 11 pm after getting pulled over at the border crossing between Austria and Germany for not having the proper sticker on our car! Henry spent the rest of the night sleeping and throwing up, but by morning things were looking up. Although he wasn't back to normal, his stomach was settled and he managed to keep some food down. We crossed our fingers that it wouldn't pass to the rest of the family and left our hotel to visit the "King's Castles" in Bavaria. Our first stop was Hoenschwangau Castle pictured below.

Ruby walking up the stairs to the castle

A couple days before we left for Germany, our niece Caroline came to stay with us. She is 14 and will be here for 3 months doing her school work online and trying to improve her French. The kids are so happy, especially Ruby, who is still asking for a sister. It is nice to have an extra helper around and to have someone to hang out with when Pete is out of town.

Pete and Henry, who spent most of the day in some one's arms

Caroline and Alex pausing for a drink out of the mouths of swans. The castle was filled with different swan ornamentation as Hoenschwangau means "high region of the swan".

Henry, Pete, Alex, Ruby and Caroline

Henry, Christina, Pete, Ruby and Alex

Alex

We didn't exactly have blue skies, but at least it wasn't raining

I carried Henry (asleep in my arms) during the whole 30 minute castle tour and back down the hill. This included up and down several flights of stairs. Towards the end of his 45 minutes nap I thought my arms were going to fall off.

Walking down from Hoenschwangau Castle, we saw Neuschwanstein sticking out of the fog. This is the castle that Walt Disney modeled Sleeping Beauty Castle off of.

Instead of having the kids hike 45 minutes up to Neuschwanstein, we decided to take the bus up. It dropped us off at Mary's Bridge which gives amazing views of the castle. We were a little surprised to find our friends James and Paige on the bridge.

Here is Paige demonstrating her strength and balance

For some reason their pictures turned out a little differently than ours. It was still quite the site and we did take plenty of pictures on the scary little bridge.

Alex

Henry and Ruby

A group shot taken by the man in the following picture

I'll call him Hans

Walking from Mary's Bridge down to Neuschwanstein, there was a great view of Hoenschwangau with Swan Lake off to the left

Ruby getting a free ride from Pete

Ruby-5 going on 15

Taking another turn carrying Henry

Alex next to a model of the castle

Caroline and Ruby

Either the castle is huge or Henry is a pipsqueak

Henry, Pete and Christina on a carriage ride down the hill

Ruby, Alex and Caroline sitting up front with the driver

Henry, Alex and Caroline with one last view of the castle in the background