Europe2012fourth-Garmisch
by furtech
The train ride from Nuremburg to Garmisch was a bit rushed: for once a German ICE train was late to arrive, so we had to catch the next one, an hour later. Still, that gave us a chance to get lunch and for me to retrieve our train schedule.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a remarkable representation of a Bavarian Alpine town. The buildings look like something out of a tour pamphlet or Disneyland. Garmisch is situated right at the base of the Alps and surrounded on three sides by the towering peaks. It was still unusually hot (in the 90's, with humidity) and the rooms lacked air conditioning (they almost never have any need for it), but we got a room on the east side of the hotel and that made a big difference (Tracy was not doing well in the heat).
Wandering the town was a pleasure, with a lot of eye-candy to see in the painted buildings and carvings. A number of locals dressed very traditionally: I am left wondering if this is just the way they choose to dress-- or if they do so for the tourists. Oddly, they don't seem to be doing it just for us, so maybe they do prefer traditional garb.
The local computer store amused me: their whole window display consisted of -very- old Macs. I'm guessing that this is just a display and that they aren't -that- far behind the times.
We took the cable car up the mountain called the, "Wank" (hur-hur) and was rewarded with spectacular views of the Alps and surrounding countryside. The mountain is criss-crossed with beautiful trails: someday I'll walk them.
On the last day the heat finally broke (thanks to some thunderstorms) and it cooled off a little. Good thing: I got a bad case of heat-exhaustion and was a bit queasy the next few days.
After this, we got on the train to our last touring destination: Freiburg!
