Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Zugspitze

July 26 and 27: Arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen via Munich around 11:00 a.m.  Found our hotel (Konigshof Hotel on St. Martin's Strasse), dropped our bags, and headed to the sommerrodelbahn or the summer luge at the Olympic park, site of the 1936 winter games.  Check out Turner's video on the sommerrodelbahn.  Exhilarating! Anna and I rode the luge with the boys, each individually, and then sat for a snack before exploring the park/village.  We happened across the summer ski jump competition (on astro-turf) for international jumpers who seemed to range between 10 and 14 years of age.  Wow!  Brave little Europeans here. Makes swim team looks like, well, play time in the pool.  Took the bus back into town and made sure to end up on the other side of Garmisch so we could walk through town.  Shopped, had dinner, and returned to the hotel exhausted.

 

The next morning, we headed for the Zugspitze or the "Top of Germany," after a great night's sleep and breakfast on the terrace.  The Z is Germany's highest peak, accessible by climbing with serious equipment or by taking the cable car.  We opted for the latter.  From the top, which is the Swiss/German border, we could see Switzerland and Germany, of course, as well as Italy and Austria.  Anna had the good idea to take the glacier gondola/bahn down to a restaurant and hikers' area, which we did.  It paid off!  We got out of the crowd of people, but better still we had a chance to ride sleds on the unmelted snow - in July!  We played in this area for an hour or so, then headed back up to the peak.  Played with the yellow-billed ravens, and descended on the 3:05 gondola.  Caught our train and arrived back at our apartment by 9:00 p.m. Great last weekend in Germany!
 

View of the mountains from Garmisch-Partenkirchen

The Eibsee (from the Gondola ride)