Munich

 We spent a a few days of our trip in Munich, but unfortunately we didn't spend much actual time in the city.  We were constantly going on day trips to other areas near Munich.  We spent our last morning walking around the city.  We saw a couple of different churches and the Marktplatz.   Since we were limited on time we didnt get to see everything that we all wanted to see so we decided to split up.  Tom, his parents, Annie, and the kids decided to go to the Hauptbrahaus which is one of the main beer halls in Munich and very popular during Octoberfest.  After they saw the restaurant, they watched a horse parade.  It happened to be the National Beer Day and so all of the different breweries were walking in the parade playing traditional Bavarian music.  Ainsley loved watching all of the horses. 
 Susie and I didn't care about seeing the beer hall, so we decided to go see the Residenz which is the royal palace where the Kings of Bavaria lived and ruled.  As we walked to the Residenz, we kept passing people in full gold glitter body paint.  We were so confused at where they came from at 9:00 in the morning.  We saw at least 25 different people.  Finally as we reached the Residenz, we noticed that next door was the Opera Hall and they must be preparing for a show.  We walked into the Residenz and got our huge audio guides and led ourselves through the palace.  It was huge! Unfortunately part of it was destroyed during the war so a lot of has been lost or destroyed. We saw several different royal apartments, ballrooms, and offices.   One of my favorite things was a courtyard wall that was made entirely out of sea shells.  It had intricate design and sculptures. One of the craziest things we saw was a room of relics that the royal family had acquired.  They thought holy relics were more valuable than all the gold and jewels they owned.  I admit, some of the bones and mummified body parts was kinda gross.  But it was interesting to see.

 After we went through the Residenz, we walked back to the Glockenspiel to see the animated clock go off.  There was a huge crowd waiting.  Tom and the rest of the family were also at the clock tower, but it was so crowded we couldn't see each other.  We randomly met up in the basement of the subway prior to our meeting time.  Then we all took the subway back to the main station where we caught a train to Lucerne, Switzerland.