Grandparents! (Bavaria and Munich) by Xander, Jacob and guest bloggers Grandpa Ray and Grandma Christy

The Grandparents arrived soon after we got back from Paris. The first thing we did was go out to lunch and try and fail to speak German with our waiter. After an amazing lunch, we went into a historical church, the Basel Minster, and looked around. When we got back home we ate the only good take out food in Basel and watched a movie. Mom and Dad worked.

Next day in Basel we went to play basketball and football (soccer) early in the morning and then went to the zoo to check out the animals. We had lunch (zoo crepes) then went home to watch a movie and play an exciting game of Settlers of Catan.

Grandpa dominates! Employing a unique wheat port strategy, Grandpa Ray dominated the Settlers competition. Other players were distracted by Grandpa’s frequent victory dances. Rather than retire from the field of competition, Grandpa awaits challenges from his timorous sons-in-law.

The next day, we rented a big bus to fit us all and drove into Bavaria. We stopped for a Bavarian lunch at the Constanzer Wirtshaus by Lake Constance. This is Germany’s biggest lake and the area is called the “German Riviera.”

We drove around the Lake and stopped at Bergenz, Austria, where they have a cool outdoor opera house. And finally made it to Bad Worishofen in Germany to stay at the Fonteney Hotel for the night.

Next day we drove to a little town of Hohenschwangau and took a horse-drawn carriage up to the Neuschwanstein Castle. The horses peed and pooped on the road a lot. But it was better than walking.

The castle was pretty cool and it had a cool backstory. The backstory is that a mad king called Mad King Ludwig built that castle and many others. He went bankrupt and was found dead in a river with his therapist after being declared insane.

On the way down we made a bet about how many women in leather pants we would see. Dad won. There were an amazing number of women in leather pants visiting the castle.

On Sunday, we drove to Munich and went to the Alte Pinachotek Museum. This old art museum was very nice. My favourite part of it was the modern art. There were lots of pictures of landscapes and portraits of people. The other section had thousands of mostly religious paintings. The art museum was cool and I enjoyed it very much.

That night we went to a Munich beer garden and got the full beer garden experience. Many sausages later we went back to our hotel.

On our second day in Munich we went on a bus tour. It was really exciting to see the rest of Munich because we were staying in a dirty part. We got a better impression of Munich seeing the English Gardens and especially the Marienplatz.

We got off the bus and saw Munich’s Rathaus (city hall) and this really spectacular church, St. Peter’s, that was bombed in World War II and then rebuilt. The church seemed pretty special. There was a ton of decoration.

After that, we went to an Italian restaurant and had a good lunch.

The highlight of the trip for the parents was that night. We went out to dinner with Dad’s college friends, Adam and Vicky, who live in Munich with their two kids. It was a great meal. Adam helped us with the menu. And it made our Dad really happy.

Now we’re driving home!!