When I came to work Monday morning after my weekend in the Netherlands (link), it was to be my last official Monday. It was the last week of May, how quickly a year goes. I had only arrived on the twentieth of May last, and now here it was coming up to the end of the month for a second time! It wasn�t even going to be a long week at the office, Thursday is a holiday in this part of Germany, and I was taking Friday off to accompany Michelle to Munich to meet up with Mark and Andrea one last time.
When we tried to buy tickets to Munich at the station, we found out, as we might have guessed, that quite a few people like to head south during holidays, and that every single seat on any train leaving at a reasonable hour had already been booked. �Would you like to leave on the four-thirty AM train?� asked the cashier. �Yes.� I heard somebody reply. Surely I wouldn�t agree to wake up at four AM on a holiday, would I?
I watched the sun coming up from my seat on the express train to Munich and somewhat grumpily fell back asleep. I was actually on my way to Garmisch-Partenkirchen first with Michelle, who upon finding out that I had never really been to real mountains in my life insisted we go. Garmisch is a village at the base of the Bavarian Alps which contain the Zugspitze, the highest peak in Germany at just under 3000 meters. It seemed crazy when we got out in Munich, our actual destination for the weekend, and then switched to a second train speeding out of the city and towards the mountains, but only until we really pulled into view of the Alps. They are simply breathtaking. It was a beautiful sunny day. The sky was bright blue, but ended quite a bit earlier on the horizon than usual, for the huge peaks of the Alps rise up to meet it more than two kilometres above the ground.
We left the train station with our bags in search of hotel and a place to eat our packed lunches. We found a place for lunch first. In the shade of a wispy tree on the banks of a river that sparkled the most brilliant blue. Michelle explained that the glaciers in the mountains grind up the light grey stone of the region into an extremely fine powder that floats in the water and helps give it this beautifully bright colour. The mountain stream poured its way right through the village, and chattered away at us as we ate our sandwiches. We then made our way leisurely through the narrow streets with their painted houses in search of lodging. Although I had never seen this phenomenon before, it is apparently common in this part of Europe. People have very detailed illustrations, often biblical scenes, painted in bright pastel colours on their houses and shops. Almost like murals, but in a style that could be lifted straight from a church or local gallery. Finally, just as we were growing tired of walking in the increasingly hot sun, we came upon a pension, a kind of bed and breakfast or family run hotel if you like. We had a look at the room they had free, it was spacious, had it�s own balcony and looked directly onto the mountains, but we weren�t sure it�s price was in line with our usual hostel staying standards. A few more minutes of walking in the sun with our backpacks was all the convincing we needed though, and soon we were sitting on the balcony looking up at the mountains.
We had to get up there, the proprietor of the pension assured us that we wouldn�t have time to get anywhere near one of the peaks today because it was already too late, so we settled for taking a cable car up to one of the lower summits, and walk back down into the city. The cable car in this case wasn�t much more than a chair lift, but it did the job and quickly whizzed us up to the top of what I would scarcely have called a hill if it wasn�t resting in the shadow of the huge mountains behind it. After all, we had still climbed a half kilometre. Even though it hadn�t exactly been a strenuous trip to the top, this was a holiday, and we lay down in the grass for a while before making our way back down on our own feet. The weather was perfect, it was quite hot at the base of the mountains, but 500 meters up, it was very pleasant.
By the time we made it back to the village along the winding downward path, it was time to eat. We stopped at a small pub in the village so I could drink a traditional white (brewed from wheat) beer on my first trip to Bavaria where the brew originates from before selecting a suitable restaurant. We had tried to choose one that offered a very south-German menu, and that�s what we got, but surprisingly enough from what seemed to be a Croatian owned restaurant. I�ve never seem so many Dalmatian specialties on a menu before. We didn�t make any effort to finish eating quickly, just as we made no effort to get back to the hotel early. The town is just so nice to walk through. After buying an ice cream from a shop on one of the main streets, we could hear the faint sound of jazz in the air. After poking through a few smaller streets, we found the entrance to what proved to be a large courtyard, with a full-size stage and an entire big band playing. We sat down amongst the handful of other people that were there, but apparently had come right at the end of the show, and only caught the last number. Nevertheless, a nice end to a great day.
The next morning, we didn�t have much time in Garmisch since we were meant to be back in Munich to meet Andrea and Mark for dinner. Nevertheless, we wanted to get higher up into the mountains, and so boarded a bus after breakfast to take us to the boarding point for the heavy duty cable cars. Going to the actual Zugspitze, the highest point in Germany proved to be a little too expensive at about 40 Euro per person, so we settled for the Ostfelderkopf, still impressive at 2050 meters. The cable car ride on the way up was certainly breathtaking. The large car holds up to 80 people standing, and makes it�s way up a very long cable to climb the nearly two vertical kilometres necessary to reach the Alpspitze. The first few minutes are fine, the car�s path follows the incline of one of the smaller mountains / larger hills, but then as the hill reaches it�s pinnacle, the horizon opens up as the car soars over it, and then you realize that you�re hanging in a wobbly box from a single cable at a significant height. I don�t think I moved a muscle for the rest of the ride. There are only about three large metal towers which guide the cable up the side of the mountain, but passing by each one of them sets the cable car gently rocking back and forth which I found mildly off-putting. But it was all worth it once we got back on solid ground. The view is incredible, you can see the whole of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the surrounding villages laid out in the valleys below and just an incredible view stretching out to the horizon on all sides. Also, the view alternates from seemingly limitless to very compressed in a matter of minutes because at this height, you�re literally in the clouds. You can see huge clouds in the distance float in and then engulf you until you can only see a few meters ahead, then they pass and the world is spread out around you again. It�s amazing to behold. Just to reinforce that you�re on top of the world, there is a hang-gliding launch site at the summit. We saw a man check all of his gear, lay out and strap on his parachute, and then just take a step out into space. You don�t even need a running start, a couple of steps down the side of the peak to get the parachute flowing behind you, and then your feet leave the ground and you�re flying. Twenty minutes later as Michelle and I were walking down the mountainside, we could still see the same hang-glider drifting his way slowly back to earth.
As surreal as that was, it was also amazing to realize that even here, you can�t escape the world entirely. A short walk from the cable car drop-off point is a ski lodge where you can sit down and have lunch, listen to the radio and see people talking on their cell phones. We tried it out from a bench nearly two kilometres in the air, and called our families, without any trouble. The world can seem like a small place.
Apparently it�s a four hour walk down from the Alpsitze and back to Garmisch, but we had a train to catch and so got back on board to the cable car which, even at its great speed takes no less than 20 minutes to get back down to the ground. I�m not sure what the difference was, but I didn�t have any trouble going back down, and barely noticed the admittedly very small jitters as the cable car passed over the massive support towers. In any event, we were soon on the ground, and on the train to Munich.
