However, what was missing from the blog was the pictorial proof of all their crazy adventures! The words, as well written as they were, can only paint so much of a picture in your mind! So today I will upload a few photos from each day of Alex and Tom's adventures here in Munich with us. However, I will also be releasing my hold on the keyboard, as for half of these adventures, I was unable to be there with them due to work. But Michael was lucky enough to play tour guide and share 3 glorious days with his brother and friend. I think he has been more than looking forward to Tom's visit and he did his utmost to cram in as much time with him as possible!
Therefore, I will leave a fair portion of the photo captioning this time to Michael... take it away!
FRIDAY
BMW World and Museum
Heading into BMW World
A BMW V8 twin-turbo engine on display. This one had a digital viewing window which gave a cut-away X-Ray view of the key features inside.
A classic and unusual BMW (made in Italy). Seats two with a front-opening door.
The chassis underneath the brand new i3 electric hybrid vehicle.
The (yet to be released) i8 hybrid on display.
Alex dried his hair on a variable twin-turbo model.
There was a motorbikes section.
Which we all had to try.
BMW World is also a place where you can collect your newly purchased BMW (for an additional fee for the privilege, apparently).
Across the road from BMW World is the BMW Museum (the bowl shaped building in the foreground) and their corporate headquarters in the skyscraper.
Apparently during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, BMW was required to cover up their prominent logo as it was visible from the main games venue.
The museum is currently home to a display of classic and modern Rolls Royce cars (RR are owned by BMW group).
The current special display goes through the history of Rolls Royce, starting with the original cars at the top level...
And showing the development of the brand as you spiral down through the bowl.
The classic Spirit of Ecstasy in glass crystal, on the front of an 'Art Deco' edition Rolls.
The museum foyer was decorated for christmas.
The first thing you come to is a dynamic display of silver weights suspended on cables from the ceiling. The weights are all moved up and down individually to show different sculptures.
BMW make more than just cars and motorbikes. They actually started out making aircraft engines until the end of WWI forced them to shift to non-military production and they decided to produce a motorbike.
A large radial-piston aircraft engine.
This was one of the cars used in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Which is now being turned into the BMW i8
The architecture of the museum and BMW world is all very impressive, including the "Double-Cone" at the entry to the BMW World building. Olympia Tower can be seen in the background.
Of course, no trip to BMW World would be complete without sitting in some very expensive, and very fast cars.
They wouldn't give Tom the keys for a test drive, for some reason...
We now return you to your regular scheduled program... Kristie is back at the keyboard!
So when I finally finished work for the day, I hurried in to town to meet the boys. After the BMW world experience, they had made their way (with detours here and there) to the city through the Chriskindlemarkt (Christmas Markets).
By the time I arrived, they had retreated inside out of the cold and had taken comfort in a lovely glass of the local beers!
Eventually we ventured back out into the cold for more of the Christmas markets. Everything was lit up and decorated. There was even a mini church in the markets at a Glühwein stand to match its big brother behind.
We stopped to admire the window display at the Galeria Kaufhof shops.
And finally we emerged onto Marienplatz to see the Rathaus all lit up and the magical town Christmas Tree in front!
The tree was beautiful from all angles.
Tom and Alex were clearly enjoying themselves.
However, by now, it was really getting cold, so we took refuge at our closest Glühwein stand for a warming cup of yumminess!
Although, both Alex and Tom managed to spill it on themselves!
Bakery goods were at nearly every second market stall.... oh they looked good!
One last view of the tree before we made our way down to the u-bahn, and headed off in search of dinner.
As Alex mentioned in his blog, we went to a place called the Drugstore where all four of us ordered schnitzel and the boys were not disappointed.
SATURDAY
Englischer Garten, St Peters, Deutsches Museum and a home cooked meal!
So we started our morning with a walk through the Englischer Garten, with the aim of heading into the centre, towards the Chinese Tower. We were excited to see the transformation around the base of the tower, as it was now a Christmas Market! Quite an odd juxtaposition chinese/german, but it was lovely all the same. We also saw squirrels!
Once through the markets, we headed up to a monument in the centre of the gardens. Michael and I have visited this one before in the Summer, but its a beautiful location from which to view the city.
We also then observed the crazy surfers.
Alex and Tom had heard rumours of this, but even Michael and I were surprised to see them at it in the freezing cold water. It was a minus 3 degree day!
These guys were on their way to find their surfing spot.
We also took Tom and Alex past the monument to the lost soldiers. We found this spot 2 years ago, and we thought it was very humbling. Alex and Tom agreed.
And here we have 3 Mulcahy's in a row!
So after a long walk, we finally headed into town (via a few more monuments including the Opera House) and stopped for a bite of lunch!
Alex and Tom were adamant that they had to try some wurst finally. So they shared a plate of 9 sausages with sauerkraut and a side of roast potato. They both really enjoyed the mustards that came with it!
Michael tried the sausage sampler! 5 different types of traditional German wurst with mashed potato and sauerkraut!
Of course, the odd one out in this was moi! I saw salmon on the menu and didn't want to contemplate anything else!
So the next stop was St Peters church. At first we ventured inside where we admired the intricate carvings and sculptures all around, and the stunning ceiling details. 
Btw, the stair case was incredibly narrow and winding. Claustrophobic need not apply!
Michael, Tom and Alex then made their way to the Deutsches Museum for a couple of hours while I headed home to start preparing dinner.
There were many enjoyable moments for the boys including the light show and the pharmaceuticals exhibit (for Tom).
Tom also stared at a goat.
(You can imagine my thoughts when I was scrolling through the photos today and found this shot!)
So no photos of dinner itself, but trust me, there was absolutely no lasagne left so it must have been good. We did managed to get a photo of Tom with dessert before it was devoured.
The boys also spent the night sampling several local beers, trying to decide which was their favourite!
** Also making note here of the fact that Michael damaged my knee cap not once but 3 times during the course of the dinner, each time in a different manner!
SUNDAY
Schloss Neuschwanstein
So we started out really early in the morning but unfortunately missed our first train out to Füssen. We did however make the next train, and spent two hours winding our way to the town at the base of the mountains that play home to this beautiful castle.
When we finally got there, it was for Michael and I even more beautiful the second time around. 2 years ago, the castle was covered in scaffolding, and the snow was not nearly as thick!
We took a different, more scenic route up to the castle this time, and had to trek through thick snow. It was lots of fun! We enjoyed playing with snowballs, and couldn't help but admire the bent trees under the weight of the snow.
Snow was so thick I was able to create this really creepy hand print!
It was quite magical to walk up through the snow. We found out later that this was leading to a closed area so it was not slushy or packed like the public thoroughfare which was great!
This was leading out to the famous bridge that looks back over the castle from within the mountains surrounding. It was closed due to the snow and ice, but no one paid any attention to that notice...
And the view down directly beneath us was breathtaking!
Tom and I were both loving it....
Alex preferred to stay a little closer to the end of the bridge.
We eventually made our way back from the bridge towards the castle. We did some more fence jumping, and also some butt sliding to get around certain obstructions.... of course I was the butt slider! My jeans were not properly dry for the rest of the day!
But the scenic (naughty) route was so worth the wet pants and the fence jumping.
We were also amazed with the stunning weather we were blessed with. The sun on the snow was glorious, it looked like fresh glitter everywhere! And the castle was beautiful.
Slipping and sliding on the ice meant we tried walking in the built up snow on the side.... which worked until it got too deep and we went slipping and sliding and got stuck... al a Thomas in this image! (I did it too but its so much nicer posting photos of others making mistakes, you see enough of mine I think!)
So we unfortunately had to wait a while for our tour, so we headed to a little spot just under the castle for Quarkbällchen. Yummy yummy doughnuts that were super warm!Tom and Alex appreciated their warmth and deliciousness as soon as we introduced the doughnuts to them.
Then I made a snowman!
So these are NOT photos from inside König Ludwig's Castle!
The bridge that we had earlier stood on, sitting between the two mountains!
So at last we made our way back to the train station. This was Michael casually waiting for the train!
Of course, I slept on the way home....
.... and missed the frivolities of the 2 hour journey.
But they did wake me in time to go to dinner at the Augustiner Keller. Our favourite location in Munich.
Of course the boys had to have their maß (1L) of bier. But I will admit, I had a beer as well, but not a maß!
We also devoured another schnitzel, this time with the famous mustard crust.
Both Tom and Alex really enjoyed this. But it was even better because it was followed up with a selection of 3 of the house speciality desserts that we shared.
It was a great end to the weekend with the boys. Michael and I enjoyed their company immensely and it was nice to do some touristy things again. Living in this huge city, we forget to still be tourists at times.
The last photo comes courtesy of Alex, who could not get over the chocolate marshmallow yumminess we served them on their first night. He was adamant that before he left he had to take a photo of these! After this photo, Alex and Tom got packing as they were leaving for a Swiss adventure the next morning!
So, now that the hugest post ever is over, I will sign off. This has taken several days to prepare and thus we are already on our next adventure - a ski holiday in Austria. So that blog will come soon!
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