Copenhagen at one time was trying to evict those at Christiania...maybe they still are.>

I think it's safe for a while - reached some agreement - transferring ownership to city from national government who owned the very very desirable site in the heart of Copenhagen on the water when it was an abandoned military base that was subsequently squatted on and taken over as a Free City - Christiana I believe has popular support in Copenhagen and IMO should be a UNESCO Worold Heritage Site because of its uniqueness and historicl aspects.

>> After a long vowel it's always ß not double-s, for example in "Straße" or "Maß".

Not so simple for me, in English the AHH sound (father, etc.) is considered a short vowel sound, but you're telling me that this is a long German vowel sound? What German word has a short 'A' vowel?

May I ask a piece of advice from my favorite German marsupial? On the last Saturday of July, we plan to go from Munich to central Frankfurt with a 3-4 hour stop of sightseeing in Bamberg. I had planned to rent a car, but now wonder if using the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket makes more sense? There will be 5 of us so that is quite a bit less money and worry than renting a car, but wonder if the regional trains will be full and hot and somewhat miserable? Also, the Frankfurt Hbf rental car places close Saturdays at 17:00 so I am also uncomfortable leaving the car in an unmanned lot for the night without getting a visual look over and receipt.

Regional trains are less likely to be mobbed on weekends - school kids don't pile on and commuters are at home - there is probably also a first-class option on that weekend special ticket if so go for it and put any angst to rest - first class on regional trains always has had empty seats - often a lot - IME.

But yes Quokka can give a much more accurate take on this - this is from my experience which is of course much more limited than qoukka's.

You know those regional trains can take forever and may involve changes en route.

Schedules look like it would take several hours on that route by regional trains.

On this Saturday, the number of trains (4) is the same on the fast ticket or regional only, and the regional trains Nürnberg>>Bamberg and Bamberg>>Würzburg are the same, it's the other 2 trains that IC is offered where there is a time savings. So about 1:20 faster on the Munich>>Nürnberg line and 50 min faster on the Würzburg>>Frankfurt line.

Actually, I swear a few weeks ago the cheaper tickets for the 9:30 IC trains were sold, but now I see them. If I can lock in a specific layover now (say 4 hours for Bamberg, is that enough?) I may pin this down now. We save about 60 euros over driving and replace parking in Bamberg issue with storing luggage in Bamberg issue, which is probably pretty easy.

>Not so simple for me, in English the AHH sound (father, etc.) is considered a short vowel sound, but you're telling me that this is a long German vowel sound? What German word has a short 'A' vowel?
For example: Tasse (cup) has the short a, Masse (weight) as opposed to Maße (measures) - here the spelling really matters, or also Bamberg and Frankfurt.

About the train questions: It will be a long time on regional trains, even more so as Bamberg is not exactly en route from Munich to Frankfurt. It can be done with the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket but you should be prepared for long hours on the trains and for a couple of changes.
Regional trains can indeed be full on weekends with day trippers.
Will they be hot and miserable? In theory they have air condition, though it will not be set to the fridge temperatures that Americans are used to. If the air condition does not work properly then it can become uncomfortable. On the other hand, there is no guarantee for hot weather, it can just as well be chilly and rainy.

All German train stations in larger towns like Bamberg are sure to have luggage lockers and or a manual luggage depot.

Thanks quokka and Pal.

Another question: Originally I had planned 2 full days in Munich, something like this:

First day: 9:00-16:00 walking tour of central Munich, go up one of the towers for the view, tour the Residenz, outside look at the architecture of two 1930s buildings, the former Füherbau and the Haus der Deutschen Kunst. Break and dinner, then a short 1 hour evening walk of Hitler sites on the east side of the river: his condo on Prinzregentenplatz, Eva Braun's house, and the site of the former beer hall of beer hall putsch fame, now curiously the site of the Munich Hilton. (Surprised that Rick Steves' Germany book places this beer hall in the wrong spot, he says "a few blocks from the Feldherrnhalle" when it is more like 2 km).

Second day: Full day trip to Füssen and a castle or 2.

I gave in to children demands for a full day/night in Innsbruck so I don't know how to consolidate our 2 days in Munich to 1 day:

1. Skip Füssen?

2. Skip Bamberg and move the train to Frankfurt to later in the day so we can get our central Munich walk in that morning, keeping the full day to Füssen?

3. Or shorten the central Munich walk, then grab the 13:53 train to Füssen and just walk around the castle and up to the bridge after hours (no tour) returning to Munich about 9:00 pm.? Many people feel that the Neuschwanstein tour is not worth the bother anyway. This would be a big day, though.

Skip Füssen.

The pronunciation of long/short vowels in German is also important for properly ordering a Maß of beer at Hofbräuhaus -- with a "long A" like in "passport", and a "long O" as in "Omaha" (more or less).
Actually, the wrong pronunciation of short/long vowels can confuse your message for the native speaker more than any serious mutilation of grammar.

>>Skip Füssen

Agree, this is the least important. Maybe I will reserve a car in Innsbruck and if the weather there is too cloudy for the gondola Alp ascent, we can drive to Füssen from Innsbruck, about 90 minutes, about the same time as from Munich.

I don't remember much from German class. We did a lot of rote memorization which I still remember decades later, like
ich möchte
du möchtest
er möchte
and sentences like <<Mein hals tut weh>> which has never been much use in my life.

I don't remember short and long vowels, and looking at scharfes and schönes I don't remember an adjective ending -s, but there it is. Well, at least I can pronounce things fairly well.