Visiting with Uwe's mother

We took a leisurely stroll with Uwe's mother, and stopped at an open plaza a couple blocks from the church (where the Pope is to give his speech) at a beer garden to get a snack and drinks. Uwe got a Weiss Wurst (a white sausage) which is a specialty here in Munich and as you can see in the photo, a large beer. There were a few people who were singing very loudly while swinging their beer steins. Nothing unusual if it weren't still morning. 3 generations in one photo.

On a side note - we needed to get a new sippy cup for Astrid as she had chewed the rubber tip and I was worried she was ingesting pieces of it. So we went to a store near our hotel room, and found the exact same cup. Turns out the sippy cup is made in Germany. What a coincidence! I like this one (see blue sippy cup in photo above) because it has an attached cap that flips over the spout which keeps it clean, and from dripping.Astrid passing the time by reading her book. Trying to tell me something.While in Munich, we couldn't resist buying Astrid authentic Bavarian Lederhosen. We purchased brown suede ones that are washable, and paired it with these red suspenders (which Uwe's mom said looked more feminine). It's still a tad too big for Astrid (it was the smallest size they had), but she'll grow into it.The plaza was also surrounded by little shops selling fruits, vegetables, foods, and homemade arts and crafts. Here's Astrid standing in front of the hedgehog shop. There were hedgehogs of all shapes and sizes made from wooden sticks.

I remember when Uwe and I first met and he was telling me about these cute little animals that you hold in your hand. After describing them to me the only thing I could think of was a porcupine. So we had to look it up and realized he was describing hedgehogs from Germany. They aren't native to southern California where I grew up and I've never even seen one in real life. According to Uwe however, they are abundant in Germany and very cute and friendly.Playing with a local girl.Grandma reading to Astrid.A group photo.

I need to get these photos developed and send them to Uwe's mom. Walking back to our hotel, we passed by a number of lions. This silver one caught our eye.

We're going back to the hotel for a power nap. We've slowed our pace a bit here in Munich, and realize that we won't be doing as much sightseeing, since we're really here to see Uwe's mom and she has a bad hip so it's not possible to walk for long distances like we've been doing in London and Paris.

After our nap Uwe will do some work and then we'll meet a friend later in the afternoon, and then spend some more time with Uwe's mom in the evening.