Thursday, June 10, 2010

Munich #2











Well, the room finally cooled down to a reasonable temperature around 11pm last night and we managed to get some sleep. We got up early this morning for a day trip to the highest mountain in Germany, near the Austrian border (Zugspitzgipfel). Before we left, I stopped by the front desk and asked them to check out the A/C while we were gone today. I also asked them to make sure they closed all the blinds and turned off all the lights after cleaning to help keep it cool inside. I hoped that it would work.

It was a 90 minute drive to the mountains. Once we got away from the city, the landscape was remarkably untouched with rolling green hills and forests. The road was much better than we expected and we didn’t have any carsickness issues.

After arriving in Garmisch, we were to board the cogwheel train to go up to the top of the mountain and then a cable car to go to the summit restaurant. We had about 45 minutes until the next train was to leave, so we went down to a nearby lake and walked around. It was beautiful, but Michele’s allergies were really flaring up with all the woods & flowers around.

We got on the train at 11:45am and began the ascent. We climbed for about 10 minutes winding gently up through the forest. Then, we entered a long tunnel which lasted about 25 minutes. When we finally came to a stop, we could see snow outside! We walked out of the train station and let the kids play around for a while in the snow. I felt a little foolish for wearing only shorts and a short-sleeve Hawaiin shirt! After taking a few photos, we boarded the cable car for the final ride to the summit.

We had lunch at the restaurant at the summit and it was delicious! We ordered a little too much because we weren’t sure what we were getting, but it was all good and I was STUFFED! After eating, we went upstairs on the roof to enjoy panoramic views all around. It was cold & windy up there, so I didn’t stay out for too long in my shorts! The rooftop walkway actually spanned the border between Germany & Austria, so I crossed the border for a few minutes, just to say I’ve been there –no passport required. We took a cable car all the way back down to the bus, so we didn’t have to go on the cogwheel train again.

The bus brought us back to our hotel in Munich around 4:30pm. We were all kind of tired, so we laid down for a little while. Then, I took the boys swimming for a little while. The pool is on the roof of the hotel and is really nice. Maybe we’ll go back tomorrow for a while.

Tomorrow, we have some free time in the morning. Kent will be flying in from Poland, arriving around 11am. After lunch, we are going for a bicycle tour. The weather is supposed to be warm & sunny again like today, so it should be nice. Brandon is really counting down the days now –he is anxious to get home. I am dreading the long flight back, but it will be nice to sleep in my own bed again on Sunday night.

No comments:

Post a Comment