Dianne stands above the peaks and the clouds on the Zugspitze's summit. One of my all time favorite pictures of her.
September 26
The sunlight pouring into our windows told us that morning had arrived in Garmisch. We got out of bed at 7 a.m. and proceeded to get ready. While I was waiting for Dianne to finish getting ready, I went onto the balcony to see what Garmisch looked like in the morning. The crisp air, the cloudless sky, and the deep green forested peaks made it very clear that I was in a mountain community.
We went downstairs at 8:30 a.m. for breakfast. Reindl’s has a special breakfast atrium on the side of the hotel for its patrons. The atrium had one wall dedicated to a sumptuous breakfast buffet. Everything from juice to cereal, bread to cheese, raw fish to cold cuts were available at the buffet. It was exactly what I was looking for. While Dianne and I put food on our plates, Kelly, Denise, and Julia arrived in the atrium. We joined them at a table and began to enjoy our food.
While all of us were eating, we plotted out the day’s activities. I wanted to visit Schloss Nymphenburg in Munich. Kelly wanted to go to the top of the Zugspitze. The Zugspitze, which is the tallest mountain in Germany (9,700 feet), sits just outside of Garmisch. Since the weather was clear that morning, we decided to visit the Zugspitze first, and then visit Schloss Nymphenburg.
After finishing breakfast, Kelly got the car and drove to the front of the hotel. We all piled into the car and drove to Lake Eibsee. Once we arrived, we had two choices: we could take the 1.5 hour cog train trip up to the summit, or take the 10 minute cable car trip to the peak. Kelly said that the cable car was a much better option if we wanted to spend just a bit of time on the mountain. So, we paid the €44/person (€2.50/person less than we would’ve paid had we not stayed at Reindl’s) and boarded the car.
Now, it’s one thing to intellectually understand that you are boarding a cable car that is suspended from two thick cables for a trip that will climb 6,000 feet (2,000 meters) in 10 minutes. It’s another thing to get in the car and stare up the cables to the mountain’s top, and realize there’s a long way to go and a long way to fall on this trip. Given my fear of flying, it’s probably not surprising that I had a moment’s pause after getting into the car. But, the trip turned out to be rather enjoyable. It didn’t seem like we were climbing as much as we were because the car stayed relatively (about 300 feet) close to the ground. That illusion gave me comfort that we were safe in this car (which we were). Still, it was a little disconcerting when the car passed through the two support towers and swayed back and forth. But, despite this momentary scare, the ride was as good as Kelly promised.
Thanks to various travel shows, I had seen the complex that was on top of the Zugspitze. Still, it was a bit of a surprise to me to see just how large and complete this complex is. The building covers almost the entire mountain top. It contains two restaurants, a museum, two gift shops, a weather station, and (of course) additional cable cars leading to the ski slopes. I could easily imagine how someone could get stranded in this building in bad weather, and not have a worry in the world about their chance for survival.
We walked around the observation decks that surround the building. The air was colder than it was at Lake Eibsee (no surprise). But, the views were stupendous. We could see deep into Austrian and German Alps, depending on which way we looked. Actually, it wasn’t that hard to see into Austria, because it shares part of the mountain top (and the complex) with Germany. We took advantage of this shared border to stroll over to the Austrian side of the building. There wasn’t much difference between the buildings, except for different views of the countryside.
On one of my trips around the observation decks, I noticed a small staircase leading down to the mountain itself. After watching a while, I saw people descending the staircase to a trail, which led to the Zugspitze’s true summit. The thought of scaling the last hundred feet on the tallest mountain in Germany was irresistible to me. So, I scampered down the stairs and made the short hike along the rocky trail. The trail ended at a small cliff, which was outfitted with a ladder. I climbed the ladder (the metal was cold…bring gloves if you try this). At the top of the ladder was another trail marked by a string of cable. I followed the cable for about 50 feet, and found myself at the cross marking the Zugspitze’s summit. I noticed Kelly and Dianne on the observation deck just across from the summit. I yelled at them to indicate where I was. They seemed surprised that I had made it to the summit. Kelly was content to watch me from the observation deck. But, Dianne felt compelled to climb the mountain and join me. About five minutes later, she joined me on the summit. We spent about 20 minutes on the summit taking pictures of each other and the countryside.
We probably could’ve stayed up there for another twenty minutes. But, we noticed that thunderheads were forming around our location. When the clouds got thick enough that they blanketed the Garmisch valley, we knew it was time to leave the summit and begin heading back down to Lake Eibsee. We climbed back to the Zugspitze complex, found Kelly and Denise, and boarded another cable car for the trip down the mountain. I thought that the trip down was a bit scarier because one can see all the way down to their destination. Still, the trip was an uneventful 10 minute ride that left us safely at the cable car’s ticket office. Kelly was right…the cable car was the way to go up the mountain. I was also very glad that we made the time to visit the summit.
We got back in the car and started driving toward Munich. About an hour later, we were in metropolitan Munich. I was a bit concerned about finding Schloss Nymphenburg, because the map I had made it appear that the route was somewhat circuitous. It did turn out to be circuitous; but, the path was well sign-posted. As a result, we had no problems finding the castle. We spent about three hours at Schloss Nymphenburg.
After finishing our tour, we started driving back to Garmisch. Julia was quite hungry (as were the rest of us). Kelly thought we should have a big meal, since we had basically skipped lunch. And he knew just the place to have such a meal. He pulled into the Edelweiss Lodge in Garmisch. The Edelweiss is an American military resort that’s built in Garmisch’s outskirts. However, this isn’t some upscale military barracks. This is a full fledged resort in the Alps, complete with two restaurants, a gift shop, gym, and a hotel that rivals anything in the “non-military” world (the two story stone fireplace was particularly impressive). We ate at one of the resort’s buffets. As was the case with breakfast the day before, just about anything one would crave was available. While I enjoyed the food, I continued to be uncomfortable with the extravagant displays of American opulence and arrogance. I felt like a guest that had completely taken advantage of my host’s hospitality and decided to build a house on his property. I’m sure the Edelweiss plays an important role in providing rest and relaxation to members of the military who are risking their lives daily. But, to me, it just seemed like another example of why the rest of the world doesn’t really like us.
After dinner, we drove back to Reindl’s. Dianne and I decided to walk to the train station to see just how far it was. Our plan was to take the train into Munich the next morning in order to get on a guided tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. Kelly came along with us, because he wanted to see the prices of tickets into Munich. It turned out that the walk was only five minutes. We bought our tickets and walked back to the hotel.
Our walk back was marked by rain. The thunderheads that we had seen earlier in the day on the Zugspitze had decided to open up. As Dianne, Kelly, and I strolled back, I suddenly got the familiar feeling that I was in another country. I know that I had been in a foreign country for three days, but all the time I’d spent on American military bases had left me thinking I was still in the United States. Seeing the signs in a different language and smelling the rain in the mountain air were the triggers that finally allowed me to realize I was in a foreign country. It was a great feeling…one on which I looked forward to capitalize in the coming days.
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