Garmisch is an incredibly beautiful town in Southern Germany. Helmut, who we bow down prasies of thanks to, picked us up in Munich at the airport, and gave us a tour of the city and the Oktoberfest that was still being set up. He then drove us to Garmisch, where we subsequently slept the entire way! Immediately we felt the hopsitality commence as soon as we waked in the door of the Kreutzers: they are wonderful!
The weather
was incredible! There is a lake about 15 minutes from town, called the Eibsee.
It is also the site of the 1936 Winter Olympics in which Hitler was in attendance. We also got to see kids practicing their jumps off of the large jump in the middle, and the smaller one next to it.
Garmisch is a small town of about 10,000 people, nestled in the German alps with the Zugspitze hovering above. The highest mountain in Germany, the Zugspitze towers at 4,000 Meters, or 9,000 feet. The photo below shows the only place in town Jen, my orientator, knew where she was.
Of course, it would not be Germany until we had out first beer
Or had our photo taken with men in Lederhosen
Then, there is of course the cow parade that goes on every day, and no one thinks it's strange.
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We also took a few
day trips. The first one was to Innsbruck, also home of some year's Olympics.
Helmut, the fantastic, drove us over there. We had a great day!
And then there was the day at Neuschweinstein, which although beautiful was a day we wished we would have stayed in bed (a few too many beer at the Irish Pub). Thankfully we had Her Kreutzer helping us get on the right bus! The castle, which is often refered to as "disneyland castle" (it was built long before Disneyland was ever thought of), is beautiful. It sits in the foothills and definitely looks like a postcard.
The
castle, named Neuschweinstein ("new Schweinsten", which was the name
of the original castle on the same grounds), was built somewhere around 1820
by King Ludwig. The castle of his parents is also here (photo on left), built
in the 1400's. It is called Hohenschwangau ("high Schwangau", the
name of the town nearby).
Oh yea, and it was raining....
Below you will see a photo of Neuschwanstein, also on the opening page:
We also went to the Hohentalerklamm, which is a gorge that you can hike to.
and then, as always, a beer outside in the beautiful Alps
