germany: garmisch-partenkirchen

Instead of taking the train, I took a bus from Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The bus was only 6 euros, whch is hard to beat. Since it was leaving early in the morning I hoped that meant it would depart on time. It left about 10 minutes late, but that wasn't a big deal.

A little over an hour and a half later I arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I lived there from 2001-2004, and while it has changed in many ways there is something about the place that I'll always love. I will always want to return, as long as I know people still living there.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is one of the few places in the world where I would be willing to buy property if I could afford it. It really is that beautiful, and means that much to me. 

I was picked up at the train station, and taken to where I was staying for the next 6 days. My host had to go to work, so I laid down to relax for a bit. (An overnight bus, plus an early morning bus basically meant I hadn't had much sleep in the past two nights.) I ended up falling asleep and staying that way until almost noon, and I have to admit it felt amazing. Plus the weather outside wasn't great, so I didn't care.

My host works for the military resort in town, so I had access to some American goodies I hadn't seen in a while.
Corn Chex and other cereals in particular. I also got to watch a couple news channels, including CNN and BBC. I'm used to hearing news through podcasts, and reading it online, so this was nice. At the same time, it was odd to see commercials, as those aren't put into episodes you stream later on. 

I didn't do anything useful for the rest of the day. My host came home from work and found me just where I had been hours earlier, dozing on the couch. Eventually I got cleaned up and we went out for dinner with a stop for ice cream on the way home.

The next morning I'd arranged to meet up with a friend for a hike, so I had to get moving. We met up at 0815 (I was supposed to be there at 0800, whoops,) because I much prefer to hike earlier in the day. The hike we'd chosen was through the Hollentalklamm (Hollental Gorge in English) and into the valley behind the gorge.

If we'd been so inclined there was a 15 kilometer long trail, but I was hesitant to commit to an eight hour (or more) hike.

The entire hike was gorgeous. The trailhead starts next to a little chapel, and goes through woods. The trail is next to a river coming off a glacier, so the water is a beautiful gray blue sort of colour. I was taking heaps of photos right from the start.

Of course I wanted to take a few photos of the two of us, which Tom was okay with doing. The first one was good; the second one would've been good too, except that I didn't set up the tripod in a stable place. As I was getting to my spot, the camera tipped over and went into the water.

Big oooops. I raced over and plucked it out of the water, knowing it was probably the end of the camera. I tried turning it off and on again, but it didn't work. I was pretty sure the camera was dead, but I still had hope for the photos already on the memory card, so I pulled that out, along with the battery.

I was disappointed to lose the camera, but in the back of my mind I knew I had a newer, better camera waiting for me when I got to the States. Plus the lens on this one had a couple scratches that sometimes showed up as light spots in my photos, which already drove me nuts. I had my iphone too, so it wasn't as if I would've been without a camera for the rest of the month.

The rest of the hike was awesome. Even though I've gone through the gorge previously, I still loved every minute, and more than once asked myself why I'd left Garmisch-Partenkirchen. There is so much natural beauty in the area.
Going through the gorge was rather chilly, as we got dripped on a fair amount. The trail through the gorge itself was carved through the mountain, and of course there is drippage.

Coming out of the gorge was amazing. The rock walls slowly widen up into the bowl at the end of a valley. I got to see rushing glacier water too. As we followed the trail we saw the last bit of snow left in the valley, which had somehow survived all the way until the middle of June!

I figured out a way to prop up my phone to have a picture of us with the snow too.

Toward the end of the valley we saw a small altar/chapel, which seems totally normal to me in a German speaking country. Plenty of people would argue that God created all the beauty we can see. 

I'm sure we could've found a trail leading up the 'walls' at the end of the valley, but I wasn't that keen. Or maybe I was 'satisfied' with everything I'd seen already. I did see a few people up higher, I wonder how far they were going.

We circled around and came to a stop for a break at the Hollentalangerhutte. Tom told me it was pretty new, having only been there a couple years or so, but they were doing plenty of business.
We hadn't seen all those people on the trail (thank goodness,) so maybe they came through the gorge, ate, and went back.

Lunch was good, the portions were bigger than I expected, and we were both happy.

Going back was just as awesome. The sun was coming from the other direction now, so we could see the gorge itself a bit better. Since we were both hot from hiking the cold water dripping on us in the gorge felt pretty good.

Everything was fantastic until about 100 meters from the end of the trail when I slipped and fell for no good reason. There was nothing for me to trip over, I just lost my footing and fell. I landed on my hands, and I knew immediately it would hurt and that it would be one of those bruises that didn't show. Go figure.

After we got back to the trailhead Tom called my host who came to pick me up. When I got back to the house I got cleaned up and relaxed for a while, before we went out to an Indian place for dinner. I'm pretty sure this restaurant didn't exist when I lived in GaP, but I wish it had. The food was properly spicy, and had the right flavour.

The next morning I eventually got up and went out into town. It was good weather again so I had no excuses to stay inside. My first 'sight' was the Marientplatz area of town. Garmish-Partenkirchen is absolutely beautiful, no matter where you are in town. Well, that's not quite true, some of the new developments aren't so good looking, but that's not where I was walking around.

I walked along a pedestrian street, taking more than a few moments to enjoy the beauty of the place. I window shopped a bit, some of those stores haven't changed in decades. I seriously considered how early was too early for ice cream, hee hee.

Eventually I made my way to a river that runs through one side of town, the Loisach river. Since it starts at a glacier on the mountain, it is the same gray blue color I'd seen the day before. Absolutely gorgeous. Since there had been enough rain recently, the river was high enough to be seen. When the spring and summer are dry, it ends up looking more like a creek with lots of rocks.

I took a few photos near a covered bridge everyone always finds rather picturesque.

From there I walked back into the center of town, and followed a street out to another edge of town. The town area of GaP (the letters used on the license plates registered locally,) really isn't very big, and the town population is only 30,000 or so. I think. It is sortof shaped like a flat triangle, and the only time you're in town for longer is when you go from one specfic corner of the triangle to the other, and that doesn't happen often.

This next edge of town is also a bunch of farmers' fields. We all loved the little hay shacks you see throughout the fields as well as the rolls of hay. At this time of year there aren't so many rolls of hay, but the background of the mountains behind the hay shacks is pretty much the definition of beautiful.
There are amazing sunsets in this area as well, but I have yet to do a sunset hike to capture the light properly.

I would my way along paths through the fields to my next sight, the Partnachklamm. (Partnach Gorge, in English.) Way back when I lived in GaP (2001-2004) this was the very first 'sight' I got to see. There is a cafe/biergarden near the entrance, but I don't think I've ever stopped there. The entry fee is now 5 euros, which strikes me as a lot, but oh well.

Just like the Hollentalklamm there is a pathway built into the gorge for tourists, and you occasionally feel water dripping on you. Sometimes the pathway gets rather wet, depending on all sorts of things. In other words, don't show up in high heels or clothes that need to stay dry.

This gorge is just as narrow, at times you almost feel as though you can reach out and touch the other side. (You can't, don't try.) The water running through the gorge is just as beautiful, and is rather cold.

After coming out of the other side of the klamm I kept following the river for a while. Not too far from the klamm there is a spot on the river bank where people have set up a bunch of stone cairns, or at least mini piles of stones. As this is an area full of hiking, it was easy to follow a trail for a while, and turn around when I needed to do so. I wanted to keep going, but I realized I didn't have enough water with me, considering the heat and sun and how much I was sweating.

I went back through the klamm, getting dripped on all over again.

My next sight was the ski stadium. It was originally built for the 1936 winter Olympics, and is still in use today. You can see all the way to the top of the ski jumps (one for women, one for men) and they look pretty good. Since I was there in June the ground in the stadium was being used for football (soccer) practice. The stadium isn't huge, it's basically a horseshoe shape at the bottom of the hill. As always, I liked the big, Germanic style statues. Sometimes I'm amazed they are still there, given the history of the time in which they were built.

I eventually went home, completely covered in sweat. Since I'd been in Europe for two or three weeks already I was used to the heat, but it was still rough. I had only brought a liter of water with me, I'd drunk all of it. June in GaP isn't usually this hot, so I wasn't the only one suffering. As hot as it was, I'll take this weather over rainy/cold/cloudy any day. (Plus it was just like the weather I'd already had for the first half of the month in other cities.)

We had dinner that night at a cafe near the Kurpark in town. It was fun to hear the stories of what the place used to be like, as it had changed drastically even before I got to town, and has continued to change since then.

The next day it took me a while to get moving again, oh well. I started my day with a bowl of Corn Chex, then stopped at a bakery in town to pick up snacks for the day. I headed toward the building where I used to live, as the trailhead I wanted is behind that building.

The Kramer is pretty much directly behind where I used to live. When I lived in that building the trailhead was a five minute walk from the gate! I've only climbed the full mountain once, but the bottom half of the hike is something I've done several times and always enjoyed. It is another of my first memories from living in town.

Getting to what we called the halfway house (which is really called St Martin's Hutte,) doesn't take long, only about 45 minutes. Back in the days when I could/did drink, it was the perfect place to have a bier and look out at the city.

Just past the hutte, (or is it just before?) is the war memorial. The memorial is in a small field on the mountain, almost on the edge. There are little plaques memorializing those who lost their lives in battle all around the building, and is hauntingly beautiful. There area always flowers around, and the view of the valley is breathtaking.

From there I went back down the trail a bit, until I caught the turnoff to another trail. I followed this one across the mountain, it's a flat trail until I got to the Pflegersee, a lake. It's a tiny little lake, with a cafe built on one side. Really picturesque, with another, steeper mountain behind it.

I didn't go up the mountain, but instead followed the road going behind the cafe. It led to more trails, which I followed for a little while. I found a couple man made waterfalls, which were still beautiful despite being man made.

I know I hadn't been out all that long at this point, but I turned around anywho, because clouds were rolling in fast. I walked back down the hill following various trails until I got to town, and walked home. During this bit of the walk it started to rain, but it wasn't all that bad. I found out later that the other side of town had been drenched.

When I got home I showered, then went back out to meet up with someone. A few months previously someone had posted online that they wanted to work on taking photos of people (I guess they're called 'lifestyle' photos, or something along those lines,) so I volunteered. I was thrilled when I figured out this woman lived in Garmisch, so we set up a date for the photos.

Since I had to walk about 30 minutes about an hour after the rain ended, it was like walking through a sauna, but the photos were totally worth it. The lighting was great, as was the background. Heck, with that background I would have been willing to take those photos out in the rain.

As we were leaving the area I saw a friend of mine in a car, which was perfect. I've known Jill since I worked in GaP, and though we'd wanted to meet up while I was in town we had yet to set a date. This was perfect. I went with her to another area of town where she picked up her dog. While we were there (it was at the softball fields on base,) I got to say hello to a couple more people I know. GaP is a small town, you'll probably run into people you know while you visit, as long as people you know still live there.

Jill drove me home, and we agreed to meet for dinner about 30 minutes later. It was perfect. My host joined us, and I spent the next couple hours laughing. They've both been in town for a long time, and have heaps of stories to tell. There have been a lot of characters in GaP, and I think these two have known and remembered them all.

The next morning another friend, Christoph picked me up mid morning. When I lived in Garmisch he was my next door neighbor. He has a new baby, only 6 weeks old! Christoph drove us to the Pflegersee, we had a nice drink at the cafe on the lake. The baby slept through the whole thing, but it was still neat to see Christoph as a dad.

Christoph drove me to a cafe in town, one all of us gappers know and love: Mukkefuck. (Both Us are pronounced with the long U sound.) It has always been known for big salads and sandwiches, and has a lovely biergarden out back. I met my friend Donna there, she was also one of the first people I met in Garmisch. We had a great lunch, and catch up. I only wish we'd had more time.

After lunch I found the bus stop in the middle of town, and got lucky with my timing. I only had to wait about 15 minutes for the bus to arrive. It only runs once an hour to where I was going, and if I'd just missed it I think I would've changed my mind.

I was on the bus for about an hour, getting off at the end of the route, the Eibsee. This is the lake at the bottom of the tallest mountain in Germany. It's deep in the middle, and the water is clear. There are beaches all around the lake, but they're very rocky. It's a great place to hang out with friends, rent rowboats and paddleboats, etc... There are a couple hotels on the lake, though of course I've never stayed in one.

I walked around to one of the beaches, stripped down to my bikini and laid out for the next 90 minutes. It was quiet, the scenery was great, and life was good.

I took the bus back to the center of Garmisch, and walked home, stopping to buy postcards and a magnet on the way.

That night I'd made arrangements for dinner with more friends, at another old haunt of any ex-gapper: Zirbel. Jamie and Helmut are both people I knew from almost the very beginning of moving to Garmisch, it was great to hang out with them again. Jamie arrived not too long after I did, so between her and Helmut and my host, they could've told stories all night long.

The next morning I was awake early again, but didn't get moving until lunchtime. I had my breakfast of Corn Chex, and stopped at another bakery to get snacks again. This time I wanted to do a hike I'd never done before: going up the Wank, another major mountain in town.

There are numerous trails to get up the mountain, and I was never entirely sure where I was on the mountain.

Some of the trails are really challenging, others are more like an uphill walk. But basically if you just aim up, you'll get there. The trails are mostly exposed, which I could feel almost from the start. (The entire time I was kicking myself for not having gotten started early in the morning, which I much prefer anywho.)

I got to see cows grazing, and heaps of views of the city and valley. I also witnessed something I've never seen before: a mountain rescue of sorts. As I was going up the trail I saw a lady sitting and holding her ankle, I assume she'd falled and/or twisted something.

I could hear a helicopter but didn't think much of it at first. Then I realized the helicopter was hovering, and that a couple people were descending a rope from the helicopter. This was the mountain health service, the people you call when you get hurt on the mountain! From the way they behaved, it wasn't a major injury, but I was glad to see her being taken care of.

I kept going, slowly but surely to the top.

As with many mountains in the area, there is a cafe/hut at the top, it would be a great place to have a drink or snack. I was happy with the snacks I'd bought at the bakery before hiking up.

Also, as with many mountains in the area, there is a cross marking the top of the mountain. This cross happened to have Jesus on there, so I only took a picture of it, not with it.

Normally I would've hiked right back down the mountain, but the sun and heat had gotten to me, and I wasn't feeling so good anymore. Thankfully, there was a cable car, which felt amazing at that point. A lot of visitors take the ride up and down, but that seemed like cheating to me.

When I got back home I wasn't feeling good at all. Even though I'd eaten while hiking, and drunk plenty of water, I had sweated out all the nutrients my body needed. I should've brought more food with me on the hike.

My host gave me some Pedialyte, which tasted awful. I also got some snacks with salt and protein. Between the two of them I was able to think normally again. (When I get that way my head hurts to think and it is hard to answer questions, even the easy ones.)

That was my last night in town, we had dinner at another random restaurant. Side note: there are something like 250 restaurants in Garmisch, a town of 30,000 people. There is always a new place to try, or an old haunt to go back to.

The next morning I was awake early because I had to be. My host drove me to the train station, where I boarded my train at 0630. I will definitely come back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.