Monday, March 2, 2009

Garmisch-Partenkirchen & the Zugspitze!

So this is a mammoth post and I'm sorry about that - but we just had so many awesome pictures from our weekend in Garmisch! We decided to celebrate our 2 year anniversary with a weekend in the Alps - and boy, was it wonderful! This is why we are living in Europe!!

We left a little before lunch on Friday, Bas took the day off. And of course, we were in our brand new BMW! It only took us about 2 hours before we were approaching the Alps - see the terrain pictured in the image of the navigation system below... they really just pop up out of nowhere!

And here is what it looked like from the car - all of a sudden - huge mountains!

You can really see here how cloudy it was - this is typical for Germany - so we pretty much expected it for the whole weekend, especially after my aunt and uncle told me that it took them 5 trips to Garmisch before they were able to go up the Zugspitze on a clear day - more on that later!

This is the autobahn!


And here is hubby, enjoying the car, and the view!


This is the hotel that we stayed at. It's a 5 star, and one of the best in Garmisch. We loved it. We kind of splurged, but it was only 2 nights, so it wasn't too bad. The service was AMAZING.

Here are pictures of our room - we had a "Junior Suite" which was wonderful, and gorgeous, and was perfect for having a crib and all.

Reception area, and sunroom-sitting space!





View from our balcony off the bedroom.

That's the Zugspitze. (Tallest mountain in Germany!) Again - yuch, so cloudy!


En suite... complete with bidet, and flat screen TV ofcourse.


And THIS is the GUEST BATHROOM - although I guess they were both guest bathrooms, considering it IS a hotel...

Some snapshots from our first walk through Garmisch. We were searching for a secon-hand shop I read about where you can buy used Bavarian "Trachten Mode" (traditional dress - think Lederhosen and Dirndl's.) I would love to find a boiled wool jacket for a good price - new ones cost like 200 Euros! We found the shop, but no goodies. Although it was one of the best shops I've found yet - "Loisachtaler."




This is downtown Garmisch in the walking area...

The hotel we stayed at has one of the top rated places to eat in Garmisch. And since Bas and I are starved for really high class food over here, we indulged again. Even Luna got all dressed up for the event, and since it was in the hotel, we didn't even have to worry about going out in the snow with a stroller! Here she is... I love this outfit. I found the dress for 5 Euros! The shirt and tights are H&M, so also super cheap, and the shirt is red & white gingham, so looks very Bavarian, too!





The decorations in the hotel were amazing. This is the post at the bottom of the staircase. The lobby was full of paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries! One as early as 1750's.

Here's what teh Zugspitze looked like on Saturday morning! Can you believe it, no clouds!!! Zugspitze, here we come!!!



So we headed off to the mountain after breakfast to take the Gondola up to the top. We had to basically pay for a lift pass to get up there... 72 Euros for both of us, but as you will see, it was well worth it!

This is where the cable car docks...


That goes... HIGH.


Here come sthe cable car!

Hold on TIGHT! Bas admitted, that he was "a little bit scared." :) It did go VERY fast!

Upper docking station. I can't describe how freaky it was to pull in! You go from being totally suspended at almost 3000 meters, to having large ice covered rocks surrounding the car! But you can't see the station because there are so many people in the car - you just feel like you're going to crash somehow!

We even went up onto the viewing terrace, although, Bas wouldn't go anywhere near the edge -after all, he had Luna!!



They had a banquet hall - can you believe it? It's amazing how big this structure perched atop this harrowing summit actually was! The windows in the hall proclaimed their height!









This is where we came from! Look at the shadow from the mountain...







The original building from the turn of the century is still there.




This is the ski area down below.


Luna, you touched the summit of the Zugspitze!



Seriously snow covered equipment!



This is where we had lunch. Very cool!



There was a terrace where everyone was drinking beer and sunning themselves.




Getting ready to go back down.






Here is the train that you can also take up or down from the mountain. Look how far down it is!

After we got back in the car, Luna promptly fell asleep, so we drove to Oberammergau. But didn't get out! LOTS of people were cross country skiing. What a beautiful day!




On our way to dinner, we ran into some ski teams!

For dinner on Saturday night we tried a different place to eat - and it was AMAZING. 10 times better than the place we went Friday. We had venison, and it was served with this incredible celery, apple mash. Amazing.

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