Category: Travel memories

Since I started writing this blog after already having travelled a lot, here I will be remembering our previous trips.

Pit stop in Luxembourg

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Spending just one day in Luxembourg does not give justice to this Grand (!) Duchy, especially if you happen to visit during those few sunny days of the year. On the other hand, even if you do not have a lot of time and are just driving by, it is still worth a stop.

Our morning started with the quest for Belgium waffles. Yes, we know that Luxembourg is not Belgium, but hey, they are close-by so we expected to find some. It appeared to be more difficult than expected so we finally stopped for a choco spoon at Chocolate House Bonn. Besides the tasty chocolate spoons to be melted in the hot milk they also happened to have waffles and big fat cakes. And on top, it is located just in front of the Grand Duke’s palace, so while taking in your weekly sugar dose you can watch the change of the guards (always a great fun for kids!).

Now the kids need to run off all the sugar energy and the best place for it is Parc Merveilleux. It is some 12km away from the capital, in Bettembourg, but in big city terms it is just the next neighbourhood. It is a small zoo and a fairy tale park with numerous playgrounds that can keep little explorers entertained for a day. Unfortunately we had just few hours to enjoy, but it was still worth a visit especially considering that the entrance price of 6 euros for kids is outrageously cheap for such a luxurious country.

Luxembourg’s old city fortifications allow to combine adults’ interest for the history and kids’ interest to have some fun: they may explore old caverns, poke into the dark tunnels or throw the stones into the river. Then there are some public pianos to ‘play’ and another part of the day is over before you notice.

You may finish the day driving through the green countryside to Remich, a small village on the bank of Moselle surrounded by vine groves, where you may taste local white vine or crémant in the bar overlooking the river while the little ones feed the swans.

This is our short pit stop in Luxembourg. But there are many more other attractions to visit and discover. All you need is to be lucky and visit it during those few sunny days of the year:)

Picture perfect George Town

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Visiting such places as George Town makes me think that I should take some photography classes as no matter how hard I try the pictures do not capture the views I see the way I see. On the other hand, trying to get the kids to pose for a photo does not allow also bothering of a light conditions or shutter speed. They may cooperate for one picture or two but then they have better things to do than stay still and smile to a camera. This was not the case, however, during our George Town treasure hunt where the treasure was wall paintings and hidden street art. It keps us busy the whole day and surprisingly not a time we heard the infamous ‘we are bored’!

By the way, the most famous paintings were done by my compatriote – Lithuanian artist Ernestas Zacharevicius.

Remembering Hong Kong. Kids’ top 5

Our little world explorers really loved the trip to Hong Kong. Even though it may not seem at first sight as a good destination for family holidays, it does offer quite some fun and our week long trip last November was a hit. So I asked our explorers to tell their top five and here it is.

  1. HK Disneyland. It is said to be the smallest of all Disneylands but it was of a perfect size for us. Admittedly, it could seem not thrilling enough for   older kids, but it was just custom fitted to our then 4 and 7 year olds. They were allowed to go on all the rides (Elin was too small just for one of them) and had loads of fun. In fact it is very frustrating when because of the height restrictions the kids cannot go on some rides and get upset, or, even worse, one is allowed and the other has to wait. So HK Disneyland was great as we could go everywhere together.

The place was not at all crowded  (nothing to do with Orlando resort over Christmas) and the park itself is not very big which for us was a big plus as we managed to see everything in a day including some shows which were wonderful. In some bigger parks we get torn choosing what to see and what to miss and usually the shows get sacrificed for the benefit of the rides (or rather standing in the lines for the rides). So this time it was really great to see the Lion King show, the street parade and also some special Halloween shows without missing on the rides or photos with characters (how could we miss all the princesses).

Overall we had such a great time that decided to repeat the experience and went for the second time. Oh, one funny story about this: Our first visit was on October 31 so the park was in full Halloween swing – everything decorated with pumpkins, ghosts, spider webs and similar (and the park had special opening hours until 11 pm). It was a really big territory adorned with loads of decorations. Very nice and impressive. But how much more impressed we got when we returned in two days on November 2 – everything was prepared for Christmas! Not a sight of a pumpkin or ghost but a huge Christmas tree in the central square and Christmas decorations all over. I still fail to see how they managed to transform everything in one night!

  1. Glass bottom Ngong Ping cable car. Well, we actually loved the whole day spent going by cable car, climbing Giant Budha, visiting Po Lin monastery and checking out some attractions that were included in our tour. It was very different from what HK ordinary is. The kids best remember cable car and … burning incense in the monastery.

We booked the tickets for the cable car ride on Klook app (which was a revelation both for saving money and time) and it also included some shows (5D movie and a show about action movies) that I probably wouldn’t have chosen myself. But as overall price was really good, we also got the shows and they were OK (still wouldn’t buy them specifically).

My advice for those who want to go on the cable car (or any attraction in HK for that matter) is to come early. Our mistake was to rely on the fact that we already had cable car tickets booked so we thought we will avoid queuing. While we indeed cut the (enormous) queue by two thirds, there was still quite some standing and waiting involved. On the one hand, we were not the only smart ones who had online tickets (which had to be changed to paper ones anyway) and on the other hand there was a long queue to get into the cable car, as only every third or so has glass bottom (but it is absolutely worth to pay a bit more and wait for the glass bottom one. The whole fun is in that. Otherwise it is a just an ordinary cable car). So once we reached the top it was already afternoon and we had no time for a visit to Tai O fishing village.

  1. Dim Sum. Yes, for us Dim Sum has a status of an attraction and merits a special mention as HK must-do. It just tastes better and comes in more varieties in HK than in other places where we have tried it. Plus it was reasonably priced and kids just loved it. So there was never a discussion on what to eat and the plates normally got empty. They still dream of a nice dim sum dinner.

4. Halloween. HK takes Halloween seriously. As for us it is not such a big festivity, it was even more impressive the effort people and places put into decorations, dresses and celebration. Especially impressive where the shows in Ocean Park. Unlike in Disneyland, the height restrictions in Ocean Park were high and the place was crowded with teens, so we concentrated on watching animals and shows. It was fun to see that even penguins or seals had pumpkins in their aquariums while the shows were great and the abundance of ‘trick or treat’ candies made our explorers to list Halloween as their favourite holiday.

5. Ocean Park. It is half amusement park and half zoo. Because of the height restrictions we could not profit much from the amusement park part but we still loved the zoo part and those few rides we could get on. However, overall I find the mix a bit odd – attractions are more suited for teens while they are hardly interested in animals, on the other hand pandas and koalas are the highlight for small kids who cannot get on the rides. Well, maybe I am not very fair, some rides are still suited for smaller kids and there is a cable car which is a great fun. And the zoo part is wonderful. Worth the visit even if you don’t like the rollercoasters.

Here I stop even though there were more fun things to remember – tropical fruits, double deck trams, light show on the skyscrapers and street markets. Kids really loved the markets and especially torturing us with ‘can I have this’. We got away with just few shiny stickers but lots of great memories.

Photos (from top to bottom): Disney Halloween transformed overnight into Christmas; flying over Lantau island in glass bottom cable car; burning incense in Po Lin monastery; Dim sum party; Halloween night at Ocean Park where everyone celebrates, even animals.