There are SO many things to see and do down in southern Bavaria near the Austrian border that one can't possibly do it in a week. We had a few days and wanted to go camping, so we decided to head down that way to the mountain resort town(s) of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The towns were forced to merge together by Hitler in preparation for the 1936 Winter Olympic games, which were held there. Interestingly, Michael Ende, the author of The Neverending Story was born here, and Richard Strauss, the famous composer also owned a home here.
Our drive down was relatively uneventful, despite a bit of traffic in Munich, until we got south of Munich near the town of Wolfratshausen. This town isn't too far south of the Munich suburbs and we could see the storm clouds on the horizon. As we were driving along, I could see something in the sky that I thought could possibly be a funnel cloud, but I tend to get super excited about this kind of stuff, so I kept an eye on it but kept driving. It was hard to see between the blinding rain, keeping my eye on the road, and the trees lining the A-95. Then suddenly, it started to hail and I KNEW that what I saw was probably what I thought it was! As we came to a clearing, Todd and I were yelling and he was snapping pictures and Natalie declared, "This was the scariest and coolest road trip of my life!"
I didn't hear anything about any tornadoes touching down, thankfully!
We checked into a hotel for one night because the weather looked like this, above, and as you know, we had already been through some insane weather. Of course, it pays to have a meteorologist mommy since I knew this crummy weather was going to happen and we were able to book a cute little hotel room at the Rheinischer Hof in Garmisch. I wouldn't mind staying here again! You even get a big old breakfast in the morning!
Of course, nothing in Europe is supersized for poor Todd. (If you're wondering, he was posing for this picture but he DID hit his head on it the evening before!)
Look! A real key! And it was wicked heavy.
The first thing we had to do Friday morning was go to the Army's Edelweiss Lodge. It's not located on post, but directly across the street from it and it was BEAUTIFUL. Of course, we were going camping, and the campgrounds WERE on post, but that just made us closer to the commissary for s'mores and hot dogs!
After we checked in and set up our tent over at the campsite, we headed for the Linderhof Palace, about 30 minutes away in the middle of the Ettaler Forest. This palace was home to Ludwig II, a very eccentric king of Bavaria. He was important to the story of Bavaria, and ruled for 22 years until he mysteriously died when a doctor who had never examined him before declared him insane, and then, the following day, it was suggested that this very doctor (Dr. Gudden) strangled Ludwig in Lake Starnberg, south of Munich.
The Western Parterre has plenty of beautiful red flowers and two gilt fountain gods/goddesses, Fama, the goddess of fame, and Amor, the god of love, accompanied by dolphins.
Facing north of the palace, Grant and Todd are standing in front of the famous statue of Neptune (right behind Todd's right shoulder). There are 30 steps (above Todd's head) that cascade water down like a waterfall. Both of the pergola's on either side of the water steps are actually lime pergola's! Meanwhile, Todd and Grant are standing in front of the purple Bourbon lily (the House of Bourbon, not the delicious drink!)
You couldn't take pictures inside of the palace, so the inside pictures below are taken from the Linderhof Palace website:
The palace itself isn't very big, but it was the only palace that Ludwig II saw to completion (he didn't even get to see the completion of the beautiful Neuschwanstein Palace!)
This was Ludwig's bedchamber. The bedroom was extended out in 1885 so that the room would be larger and Ludwig would be able to have a nice morning view out of the new windows. The painting you see above the door was of Louis XIV of France getting dressed in the morning with his entire court watching. To be clear, Ludwig never did this! He dressed alone (or with the help of just a few Palace workers) in the nearby Pink Cabinet.
The Dining Room was really cool. When we were there, the rug was rolled back and the table and centerpiece were encased in glass. That's for two reasons: The centerpiece was made of porcelain and was UNBELIEVABLY beautiful and delicate (no, those aren't real flowers!) The second reason was because the table could be lowered by a crank mechanism into the basement kitchens, where the table could be set, the food could be placed, and it could be cranked back up to the dining room for Ludwig to eat his dinner. He often ate alone (he never married) and often pretended to have dinner with the important kings of France, such as Louis XIV and Louis XV. Louis XIV was known as the Sun King, who is still to this day the longest living monarch in Europe at 72 years and 110 days and Louis XV who succeeded him and was his grandson. (Author's note: Ludwig definitely had a serious man crush on the French kings!)
I just want to put this out there: Natalie was really impressing me with her knowledge of Ludwig II while we were on this tour. She learned a lot this year from her Host Nation teacher, Frau Baer!
Meanwhile, the Eastern Parterre has beautiful purple and red flowers, along with a stone sculpture of Adonis and Venus.
Me taking a picture of Natalie taking a picture of Todd in the Eastern Parterre of Linderhof Palace. Todd's kind of got that Rocky thing going on here.
View from the Eastern Parterre of the Terrace Gardens (the fountains are NOT going at the moment as they only run every 30 minutes).
Todd and I thought the random animals at the feet of the statues in the Eastern Parterre were pretty funny.
Grant "I just want to run through the pergola" Bailey.
Our next stop was the opening to the Venus Grotto. I have to admit... I can see why some people thought Ludwig II was a strange bird. But I totally LOVE the guy. He had ideas and he went with them. They were strange but they made him happy. He was a recluse and awesomely eccentric. I can't describe the Venus Grotto any better than the Linderhof Palace website can: "The artificial dripstone cave with its lake and waterfall was modeled on the Hörselberg from the first act of the Wagner opera "Tannhäuser". This natural stage, built in 1876/77 by the landscape sculptor A. Dirigl, was lit by arc lights. The electricity for this was generated by 24 dynamos in the machine house 100 m away, one of the first electricity works in Bavaria. The Venus Grotto features a "royal seat", a Lorelei rock and a gilt boat in the shape of a shell."
MY picture of the Venus Grotto.
Palace Linderhof's picture of the Venus Grotto. Ahhhh, there's no comparison! The water ACTUALLY looks like this in the Grotto.
There's a lot of beautiful stalactite and stalagmites meeting with interesting background lighting (did Ludwig think of this himself!? This must be more 21st century!) I have to admit... I was a little mad when I found out this was an artificial dripstone cave!
The beautiful fresco. OK, my camera does take pretty good pictures!
The ceiling bathed in flowers, stalactites and pink lighting.
I'm sorry Natalie. I don't think Ludwig II was very into women. But I still give you an A for effort!
Once we came out of the Venus Grotto (and spent about 15 minutes looking for Grant's missing hat!), we went into the Music Pavilion, which provides unbelievable views above the Palace.
Daddy-kiddo selfie at Linderhof Palace. In case you were wondering, yes. He is growing a beard that started in the States!
The cascading water down over 30 steps is really a sight to see.
Close up of the cascading water down the steps to Linderhof Palace.
As we came out of our pit stop to the bathroom, the fountains were JUST starting to erupt. They only come on every half hour and the water shoots up to around 22 meters in the air (or 72 feet, for you Americans not on the metric system!) Natalie brought her camera and took some pictures too!
Come at me, bro.
"Natalie, put your arm around your brother and pretend that you like him as you watch the end of the fountain show."
I think I say this at least once per post. This is just Todd being Todd.
Up on the middle of the three terraces, we joked with Grant that we finally found him another hedge maze! (See Disneyland Paris entry). Maybe for his Matchbox cars, as this hedge sculpture was only a few inches in height.
See that large tree in the foreground on the left? The one that seems to want to eat the castle? That's a 300 year old lime tree!
A slightly off center view of the Linderhof Palace (because that darn lime tree on the left is just so huge!) Notice the fountains are quiet and because of the rain, it's not super packed.
Daddy thinks it's funny to pretend like Grant is grabbing the statue of Venus's head.
The Swan Pond near the entrance actually has swans! This one wanted to nip at little children's feet.
After a fun visit to Linderhof Palace, it was time for some hot chocolate (the kids), beer (the adults) and naturally... some BIG SANDWICHES!
Back in Garmish, we spotted a place to buy Trachten (lederhosen and/or dirndls). Todd didn't find any lederhosen but he did find this super awesome hat that makes him look like Indiana Jones with that beard!
For dinner, we went to Mohrenplatz in Garmisch, and Natalie wanted an Apfelsoft drink, so we let her have one. It's basically a bubbly apple juice, but they brought it to her like THIS! I absolutely promise you that we did not give our 9-year-old beer!
Outside of the Mohrenplatz restaurant, the kids became little firemen. (Firepersons?) Can you believe they're in winter coats in July!?
We probably aren't the first people to think this was super funny.
What happens when the temperatures are dropping into the 40s and it's damp and rainy when you are camping? You get your drink on with your husband in the car! Thankfully, as a result of our body heat, the tent was warm!
Saturday started out MUCH better (weather wise) than Friday. It was warmer too! So we drove into Austria to the town of Reutte to see the ruins of Burgenwelt Ehrenberg and Highline 179, which is the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the WORLD!
Wait. What? You want me to walk across THAT!?!
Ummmm. Really?
There's a great view from the parking lot of the ruins (upper left) and almost the entire span of the bridge. You actually need a magnifying glass to see the people on it!
Right under Highline 179. The people look like ants! It's 114.6 meters high (or 376 feet) and 406 meters long (or 1,332 feet!) and the bridge load is 500 people!
I really meant to take an "after" picture because the hike up to the ruins and the start of Highline 179 is STEEP and very strenuous for little legs.
At this point, we weren't too far up the hike and she was still smiling. OK that might have been a forced smile.
Grant *might* be Batman here, waiting for Daddy and Natalie to make their way to the top. For me, if I don't actually push myself, I'll cry and never make it up the mountain.
This bridge is absolutely terrifying to me! But it just looks so lovely!
Approaching the 700 plus year old castle ruins.
Finally, the other half of my crew makes it up the mountain (ummmm "mountain") to the entrance to Highline 179 and the ruins of Ehrenberg Castle. I tried to figure out the elevation climb which was from about 960 meters above sea level to 1080 meters. That's from about 3,150 feet up to 3,543 feet. So, roughly a 400 foot climb from the parking lot to the castle ruins. That is a pure guesstimate, as I used the Google topography and elevation to guess this!
An unbelievable view from the Äußeres tower at Ehrenberg Castle.
Close up on the town below. Eerily, we heard what appeared to be either a tornado siren or... gulp... air raid sirens! It was around 12:00 on a Saturday, so we thought (or we were hoping!) it was just a test. Boy, did that create a lot of questions from the kids!!!!
Grant: Whaddaya mean I can't get the sword outta the stone!?!
Natalie: It was easy up until this point.
Mommy: WILL. NOT. GIVE. UP.
he most likely candidate for removing the sword from the stone, I introduce to you, King Arthur. (Ok, so he didn't really remove the sword since it was actually attached to the stone! But if anyone could do it, Indiana Jones could!)
Grant LOVED the gliders that were sailing around, buzzing silently past the castle ruins.
Natalie, before we decided to trek up into the actual castle ruins.
I went in with Grant and we explored the different "rooms" of the ruins.
Watching the gliders fly by with my kiddos in the castle "kitchen."
Next up, it was time to finally cross the Highline 179. Mommy looks VERY confident here. But she is very sober and completely afraid.
But the views, oh the views! (Please note: Any pictures taken from the bridge were done by my husband as I was hot footing it across this bridge in record time!)
If Guinness says it is, then it's official! OFFICIALLY AMAZING!
View from the opposite side, closer to Fort Claudia (which was in the trees behind us, and we didn't get to see it... next time when we have more time!) If you plan on visiting here, take an entire day to see all of the sites in Reutte. We were here about 4-5 hours and it definitely wasn't enough time. We didn't get to see Fort Claudia or Fortress Schlosskopf!
Panoramic view of the Highline 179 and Ehrenburg Castle from near Fort Claudia.
No, no. I'm actually afraid. I'm just hiding it really well.
Once we were safely back down on the ground (FYI, the trek down was MUCH easier!), there was conveniently, a GREAT kids play area and a restaurant across the street. YES PLEASE. No two things in this world go more hand-in-hand than a kids play area and a biergarten.
Todd said, "Take my picture with the gold Gandolf!" HA!
And next to Gandolf, we have.... This. Awesome!
Our next stop on the great Garmisch-Partenkirchen adventure was the Olympic Stadium area. The Olympic ski jump from the 1936 Winter Olympics is no longer around, but it has been replaced with this monstrosity!
Nearby to the Olympic Stadium was the UNBELIEVABLY beautiful Partnach Gorge. It's a good hike to the gorge, so we decided to spend a few Euro and take a horse and carriage ride along the Partnach River. As we are moving along, I'm thinking... Wow, that water is moving pretty swiftly! Ha! Rookie mistake thinking that!
Natalie checking out the horses that dropped us off near the Gorge.
Tickets have been purchased... lass uns gehen! Watch your head there, Todd! Achtung!
WHOA.
Partnach Gorge was formed in the Triassic period (that's about 240 millions years ago to you and me, Russ!). It is 702 meters long (2,303 feet) and at it's deepest, 80 meters (260 feet) deep! Look how fast that water is moving!
If one visits Partnach Gorge, it is definitely recommended to wear a cheap little rain jacket. You don't get soaked in there or anything, but there's lots of spray from the waterfalls and when you are in the dark caves walking along the river, there's a lot of dripping water from above!
Daddy and the kiddos checking out Partnach Gorge.
Waterfalls and rocks and rivers, oh my!
I couldn't capture much in this area since I wasn't able to get a good picture with or without a flash. But notice all of the water dripping down from above! (And a man in a blue shirt on the left, for scale).
One of my favorite pictures that we took. You can definitely get a sense of scale by looking at the tiny dots (people!) who are walking along the pathway on the left side of the picture!
Now THOSE are some rapids I have NO interest in taking on!
When you come out the other end of the Gorge, you come to a more peaceful part of the Partnach River that is very rocky and scenic with the Alps in the background. We would have liked to explore more, but we had to get back for dinner.
Natalie was pretty much begging us for a swim here.
Going back into the Gorge (because you have to go back through it in order to get back to the Olympic Stadium that our car was near), I really felt like we were the Goonies! Goonies never say die!
It legitimately does not get much more beautiful than this. As Todd said, "That is probably the neatest natural wonder thing I have ever done!"
Don't go chasing waterfalls Mommy. Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to (as a floodplain manager, of course!)
The rain falling in this picture almost looks like icicles. I think it would be super cool to come back and check it out in the winter!
Even the trek from the Gorge back to the parking lot was idyllic! Unfortunately we didn't know we had to book a horse BACK down to the parking area. Oh well! Live and learn! If you go, make sure you let them know you want to come back down, as well. Admittedly the walk down wasn't too awful.
Standing in the stadium, looking right up the ski jump! Those little tiny specs on the jump are actually children who have (likely illegally) climbed up!
After an EXHAUSTING day, we went back to the campsite. We stopped briefly at the Commissary to get hot dogs, Ruffles and s'more ingredients for dinner. Ruffles. Like, I can't even remember the last time I bought those, but for some reason the kids were INSISTENT that you eat Ruffles when you camp. Huh.
Anyway, there was a playground nearby on post that a lot of the kids from the campsite discovered. Natalie met a girl who actually is going to be a 5th grader at her elementary school (ha!) and what did they talk about on the climbing structure? Politics. Notably, their extreme dislike of Donald Trump.
Let's drop all of this nasty political talk and get back to the business of being kids! Time for hot dogs and s'mores! Now... it should be noted that in Germany, you can't have open fires. But we are camping experts (!!!!) and improvised with wooden kabob skewers and a charcoal grill!
Boom. Indiana Jones has his first s'more.
Meanwhile, Sassy McSassalot wanted me to take a picture with s'more all over her face.
Believe it or not, this was the view from our campsite, Saturday evening.
This little boy was all "comfy cozy" in his sleeping bag in the tent.
Our final day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen was SUPPOSED to be the most sunny and we were going to venture up to the Zugspitze (the tallest mountain in Germany). However, when we woke up, the top of the mountains were enshrouded in cloud cover, which never really broke on the high mountains all day. Instead, we decided to check out some other fun things we had seen the previous day near the Olympic Stadium.
Natalie is riding an Alpine slide (in the Alps!) alone for the first time ever! Hi Nat! And hi Mommy- waaaay in the background!
I post this one because my husband looks like a movie star here, ha ha.
She did it! No crashing or NUTTIN'! My little professional daredevil!
Next we walk through the Olympic Stadium from 1936. Hitler opened the Olympic games from this stadium, yuck. Unfortunately for Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Olympics for that year had been selected prior to Hitler's rise to power in 1933. They aren't big fans of this part of the history of their towns.
We had also spotted a gondola that would take us to the top of Eckbauer mountain. Translated, that means Corner Farmer (or probably more likely, the Farmer's Corner). Grant proceeded to have a total meltdown over the fact that he got a plain gondola, rather than one with a beer or Coca Cola advertisement on it.
Heading up the gondola to the top of the Eckbauer.
View back toward Partenkirchen from the gondola. You can see the Olympic stadium at the bottom of the picture.
Going up the gondola, he STILL wasn't happy!
The EckbauerBahn (the gondola) has an altitude climb of 500 meters (1,640 feet) from 730 meters (2,395 feet) to 1,230 meters (4,035 feet), and a length of 2,140 meters (7,020 feet... so well over a mile!) It also provides some breathtaking views!
It's like RIGHT out of the Sound of Music at the top of the mountain! I wanted to sing and twirl around! (Unfortunately this house is private property - lucky folks who live there!)
Mama and her babies at Eckbauer mountain.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear! But a biergarten! At 1,236 meters (4,055 feet!) With a beautiful view of the Alps!
If being at biergarten at over 4,000 feet above sea level is wrong, I don't EVER wanna be right.
Panorama of the view from Berggasthof Eckbauer,
Berggasthof Eckbauer had a little helpful sign that told the names of all of the nearby mountains.
What Berggasthof DIDN'T have was tasty milk. Grant said the milk was gross, and Daddy verified it. Nor did they have stilles Wasser (water without bubbles). Thumbs down from this dude!
Grant was happy, however, to get back on the EckbauerBahn!
Going back down is kind of scary.
The Olympic ski lift (which has been rebuilt since the Olympics were last here in 1936) is known as the Große Olympiaschanze (or: Great Olympic Hill). It was renovated (read: completely remodeled) in 2007 to bring it up to current International Skiing Federation standards.
Look. I know you're probably getting annoyed at us taking pictures of pictures of us riding mountain coasters and alpine slides. But this is just a thing for us. Expect MANY more to come over the next few years!
Mommy and Natalie, each riding solo!
Two handsome guys on an alpine slide is a nice way to round out a fun (but certainly not our last) weekend in Garmisch-Partenkirchen!
Until next time, Garmisch-Partenkirchen!
