We made lots of daytrips to Muenchen (Gavin insisted we call it the city by its German name, not Munich). It was only 45 minutes away from Augsburg on the commuter train. We visited as a family a couple of times, and Austin took the kids without me while I worked. We spent a lot of time just wandering around, but always seemed to end up at the Hofbrauhaus, listening to the Oompah bands, eating Wurst and drinking gallons of Apfelschoele.
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Apple juice mixed with mineral water:
Gavin's beverage of choice. |
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| Glockenspiel on City Hall. |
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| Who would cast a giant bronze catfish? |
Muenchen has wonderful museums, and we visited as many as we could. The kids loved the Deutsches Museum, a science museum with a realistic underground mine exhibit as well as full-sized boats, planes, and rocketships. Their parents loved the Alte- and Neue-Pinakothek, Muenchen's world-class art museums. We also paid a visit to the Book of the Dead in the new Egyptian Museum. Austin was very patient while the kids explored the mines. They have been playing the Minecraft video game, and were amazed to see the real thing. And Lucy and Gavin were patient at the art museums. I love Renaissance and Baroque art, but the kids found it boring -- until I told them to look for doggies in all the paintings. That trick worked great when Lucy was a toddler, and hey! It still works on her!
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| A real mine cart! |
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| Austin goes to the salt mine. |
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Weird to see WWI - II German aircraft on display.
They tend to be subtle about the world wars. |
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| Too pretty a day to stay inside! |
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| No dogs in this painting. |
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| Every art museum should have a playground outside. |
