Mamaw and Papaw hung with us too. They weren't fazed by all the walking and lugging of bags. They like travelling by train because they can relax with a glass of wine or a beer and let someone else worry about driving and directions! This was their first time in Germany and I can safely say we all had a good time.
Munich is a much bigger town than I expected. It's more like London or Chicago, quite big and new by European standards since 80% of the city was bombed during WWII. In fact, we learned that Hitler and his radical ideas started in Munich. The first meeting of the nazis was actually at the Hofbrauhaus (home of Oktoberfest). Pretty creepy. Jason and his dad even went to Dachau, one of the old concentration camps that is now a memorial site. It wasn't appropriate for the kids, so we stayed at the hotel and played in the pool.
The other interesting thing about Munich is the "Bavarian King", King Ludwig II. He reigned in the mid-1800's and was a bit looney. He built huge palaces and was obsessed with King Louis XIV (the Palace of Versaille in Paris guy). He never married (and was thought to be gay) and never really acted like a king politically. He spent his time and money building palaces and decorating them in the most bizarre way. In Neuschwanstein (the biggest, most fantastical) he even designed one room to look like a cave (Venus's Grotto to be exact). We couldn't take pictures inside, sorry, you'll just have to believe me that one room was grander and more detailed and more gaudy than the next. This is the castle that Walt Disney used as his inspiration when designing Cinderella's castle at DisneyLand. So you get an idea of what I'm talking about! Aside from the palace itself, the view from it of the surrounding areas was fabulous. It is located along the "Romantic Road" which is a cute road that winds all through Bavaria and has lots of little cottages and small castles located on it.
Here are some pics from the weekend:
One of the arches in the city built by King Ludwig that survived WWII
Surfing in the English Garden! Really, there is a place where a river breaks and people from all around come to surf it. It was really cool to watch, cold too!
In the English Garden (kind of like Central Park)
Aidan would find USA sunglasses in a Munich souvenir shop!
THE place to be for Oktoberfest...but still pretty cool anytime of the year! There are men and women who come here in dirndls and lederhosen and hang out all day! They even have regulars' tables which are reserved for such people. You don't come here for a small drink or even a pint. You come here to drink SERIOUS beer and eat SERIOUS pretzels! (see below)
Aidan's pretzel is bigger than his head! He was in heaven!
These are the typical size beers served at the Hofbrauhaus, one liter mugs, called "Mass" (as in massive I think!). The tradition is to lift the beer, toast someone by saying "Prost!", then bang your beer down once, then finally drink. Legend has it that the banging down started because one of the kings of the time was not a strong guy and couldn't hold the big beer that long and needed to rest between toasting and drinking. Seriously, those are some heavy beers! The regulars sit there all day drinking beer and eating giant pretzels. Needless to say, Munichers are not as slim as the Swiss!
A side view of Neuschwanstein. I never did get a good picture of the castle itself because we went up on a tour bus and couldn't get the right angle. This is one reason I hate doing tour bus tours!
This is the less fancy castle at Neuschwanstein, the one where King Ludwig grew up. This looks like a dump compared to Neuschwanstein! However, the funny thing is that Neuschwanstein was never completed! Ludwig was dethroned and declared insane and killed himself before he saw his palace finished. Still today only 1/3 of it is complete! 
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