R13

Well, let's just say that day two has more than compensated for a dubious day one in this "Germany: Round 2" adventure.

This morning we woke up and, after a 10 minute hike to a rather-scenic bus-stop, sampled Germany's vast and super-efficient public transport network. A bus and two trains later we stepped onto the platform in Garmisch-Partenkirchen...everyone's favorite alpine ski town-name. Those of who took German from the inimitable Frau Carico will remember this well.

It's a pretty touristy area, but the 17th being a bank holiday, and not during ski season, we really haven't had to fight for space. We are set up in the Hotel Garni Brunnthaler. Honestly, the shops and food & junk you can get most places in Germany....or Europe in-general for that matter. The views, however.....not so much.

We have sort-of mountain-ish things in East Tennessee. We also live in a sort-of valley. G-P, however, has Alps....and sits directly between a few of them. I think it's more the abruptness of them than the actual size that makes it so impressive. In TN, you don't really have much of a flat area. It's hilly-ish, then a lot of foothills, and then it sort of transitions into taller mountains. Here, it basically goes straight from plains, to big-ass snow-covered peaks in about no-time. The town itself is really rather flat. The alps really are not.

We arrived at 2pm, walked around the town for a couple of hours, and then walked down to visit the old Olympic Stadium and ski-jumping facility before taking the scenic route back to the Hotel. I'm expecting my quads to feel like death tomorrow. Because Germany allows people to exercise common sense, we were allowed to just walk straight up the ski-jump....that involved quite a few stairs but was worth it for the view of the town back the other direction.

I've linked to the picture gallery at the right. Here are some teasers for those too lazy to click.