Germany was uber-cool!
The weather gods were smiling upon us and boy did those tourists and Germans alike enjoy to hike. Richard loved the hikes, I loved the lifts - he loved the beergardens, I loved the feeling of sitting in the middle of a picture postcard.
We stayed in an hotel right across the train station in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the heart of the Bavarian Alps with a breathtaking view of the mountains. In fact, we were surrounded by mountains. Quite a thrill for Richard since he is from Florida and every hill we passed he considered a mountain:)
Our first day was spent taking a lift and hiking up the "Wank", it's about 2000 meters high - gorgeous views and pristine countryside all around us. The Bavarians call it God's country.
So - here is a pic of the lift we took up to the mountain called "Die Wank" with a view of Garmisch Partenkirchen in the valley below.
As you can see there are lots of hikers everywhere.
We noticed the Nordic Walking Sticks were extremely popular.
There were hikers from all over Europe, Italy in particular as well as tourists from the US and Australia.
There were plenty of benches to rest upon along the way - good thing, I bet I sat on half of them:)
There was a cross at one of the peaks and Richard just had to hike up there.
Isn't this picture postcard perfect?
He loved it - I was out of breath by the time we reached the top.
It's deceiving - the path became steep and it was further away than I had thought.
So here we go!
I had just enough wherewithal to make it back down the hill, ahem mountain:)
On the way back we passed this little mountain cabin and a cow on it's way home.
Breathe deeply - can you smell the freshness of the mountain air?
Can you feel the sunshine on your skin? I got a sunburn!:) Yes, I used lotion, but in these altitudes the sun is stronger.
Of course we had to end our hiking tour with a brew on the terrace of the mountain cabin. I mean, we are in Bavaria after all - beer capitol of the world.
Prost from Bavaria!
I hope you have enjoyed the first of my vacation essays:) We really lucked out with the weather, but
every day in the late afternoon there were some showers and lightning.
Due to gather, I have become quite the photo enthusiast, so I couldn't resist taking pics even after the weather started turning - in fact, we got off the mountain just in time.
No lifts operate during bad weather and there was quite a scramble up top to get off the mountain - before they stop operating the lift.
So here is a pic of the bad weather moving in - unedited.
Don't you just love the surreal quality of this pic?
All pictures - copyright 2008 Rose H. - taken by Rose H. in August 2008 - with an Olympus D-540 digital camera.
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Comments: 33
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Really beautiful views and scenery. I'd love to visit at some point! Must have been a lot of good exercise, too!
Fantastic picture of the mountain peeks and incoming storm clouds.
Did you get to the Wieskirche too?
Looks like you had a great vacation.
You pics are nice. The mountains are gorgeous. I loved that last photo!
Marianne - Geocaching - do they do that in Germany too?
Nana - I loved every minute of it.
JR - The kid is doing fine now - thank goodness.
Christina - sadly - we did not make it to the Wieskirche - drove by on the way to Neuschwanstein. Long story - I may post on that later. Really wish we'd scrapped Neuschwanstein it was the only fly in the ointment.
Bobbi - thanks for stopping by, I took a lot of pics and just hoped that I'd get plenty of good ones. The last pic is fast becoming my favorite.
Christine - Garmisch? I've been there several times and although things have changed - everything is still clean and the countryside pristine. There is no way you can really capture of the beauty of those mountains in a pic.
Carol - glad to see ya.
Loved these photos Rose! Thanks for taking me back! ;)
Glad you enjoyed Germany, it has always been fun to me.
Zwei litre bier! Prost!
Thanks, Jennifer.
JoAnn - you should - the toughest part was to decide what to see next.
Esther, I really, really, wanted to go see the Chiemsee - there just was not enough time and we opted for enjoying each day - we wanted to relax and enjoy. We even had to scrap Salzburg which was on our original itenerary, we even had tickets already.
Sightseeing overload:)
Don't feel crushed - I read it and I appreciated it, I just didn't quite know waht to say at the time - so now I'm in hot water - I shoulda just said - "Dankeschoen fur das nette Kommentar:)