It’s still hot! This was the morning we leave Augsburg for the German Alps. We sure hope it is a lot cooler there. The weather says it’ll be 85. Maybe there will be a breeze and less humidity. But first, we had to get breakfast and pack up our stuff.
We took showers and headed down to the breakfast room. There were quite a few people there ahead of us. We did get a table out in the enclosed room. So this suited us both. I was as close to sitting in the garden as I could get and Rich was still sitting inside and not out there.
When we sat down, the couple next to us said, “Morgen.” I barely heard them. No one speaks very loudly here. I don’t think Rich heard them at all. Everyone says something to you in passing. And I thought the south was friendly.
We got our breakfast of brotchen, luncheon meats, and cheese. We had a hard-boiled egg and fruits as well. I had better luck with the coffee machine and actually got what I wanted this time. The speciality was Italian fruit bread. I love that stuff. I blame Rich’s brother, Paul, for that. If he hadn’t introduced me to it at Christmas one year, I would never know what I was missing.
After breakfast, I stopped by the front desk to check out and get instructions for leaving the garage key without having to return to the front desk. We took our bags down to the garage and Rich got our car down from the rack. It was a simple matter of loading and plugging the address in the navi.
Our first stop of the day was out to Rich’s apartment in the village of Schlepsheim. I wanted to see where he had lived while he was stationed in Augsburg. I had a picture in my mind, but seeing it for real would help with stories I had heard. The navi got us out there without too much trouble. Rich remembered the way as we got onto familiar roads. Before you know it, we were standing in front of the building. Don’t make me repeat the address. It was something about Neuesdeckerstrasse or something like that.
We took a few pictures and Rich waxed nostalogic from the days when he would ride his bike to base. The hausfrau who lived below his apartment would do little things for him. However, she was ready with the glasses if he came home with a bottle of Jack Daniels. She had a taste for American whiskey.
Then it was on to find the autobahn again and head to Garmisch for our next few days. The ways was pretty easy. It was just hard to know what speed to go since it kept changing every few klicks! I thought speed traps were everywhere in the U.S.
The car was under half full by the time we got to Oberammergau. I pulled off to find a station and fill it up. I had no idea what this was going to cost. The price was in Euros. Turned out to be a little more than I paid at home, but this was diesel. We bought a much needed German map at the same time. This should help understand where we are going. We don’t want the navi to do all of the work.
Back on the road, we took the streets through town. It was a very tourist driven economy here. For those not aware of the history, Oberammergau is the town where they hold the passion play every 10 years or so. This is in thanks to God for sparing their town during one wave of the plague back in the day. That tradition continues on still today. I think the next one is due next year.
We went through Ettal, which is one of the other towns on my list to visit. The monastery there is also a distillery that makes their own liquors. I thought it would be interesting to see tour their facility and see how it compares to those in Kentucky. The town is sleepy and small. It should be a nice visit.
Finally, we arrive in Garmisch. Only the road we need to turn onto for our hotel is closed! Why didn’t the navi know that? I continue around town as the navi tells me to turn around I thought her voice was getting higher as I ignored her. I finally made a left that she seemed to like and came up with an alternative route. Good news is that we found the hotel pretty easily.
We parked and went inside to check in. The young lady at the front desk greeted us with the Bavarian saying, “Gruss Gott.” We signed the papers and got instructions for parking in the underground garage. Then she took us up three flights of stairs to the 2nd floor. That’s right. Here they count the ground floor, the first floor, and then the second floor. For us, this is the third floor.
The maid was waiting inside our room to welcome us. She left as we entered. We are under the roof up here. A small balcony is off the room through a glass door. We were greatly surprised when we stepped out. We could see the village pasture behind the line of house across the street. The pasture has a small barn for each family that they use for their supplies. It is very quaint here.
We went out to park the car in the garage. Rich got the door open and I drove inside. It was small, but there was no rack to stack cars onto. We made a good comic team as I was trying to park and read Rich’s hand signals. One of them might have been impolite, but only one. With the car parked, we were ready to set out and explore.
Since it was 1:00 and we had not eaten for a while, we felt lunch was in order first. We got directions for the downtown area and some suggested places to stop. Our trek took us down the street, over the bridge, and through the park. We came up on the main street. The first restaurant looked like full menus. We were wanting just sandwiches. The recommended place was Kronner. They had tables on the sidewalk and we found a couple of seats with a breezy view of the street.
There were no English menus for this place, so we were going by what we know. I didn’t want anything hot, but the sandwiches I wanted were not being served after 1:00. Rich got the lunch special, which was a white wurst with pretzel. It turned out to be pretty good. After watching the foot traffic for a while, we paid our bill and went out to wander.
We walked in and out shops looking for interesting things. We want German outfits with Bavarian colors. The first place was very expensive We’ll have to look in other shops. I saw some gifts I wanted to get. I’ll go back and see if I can have them sent home for me.
We checked out other restaurants to see where we wanted to eat later in our stay. On our return back up the street, we found a restaurant that served venison and other game meats. That’s where we would have dinner tonight. We ambled back up the way. Then Rich decided it was coffee time. We saw a couple of possible places, but I took him up the street to one I thought would be quick. We went inside and got in line. Apparently, coffee beans had been spilled behind the counter and they were trying to clean it up while waiting on customers.
As one lady waited for something to be brought out to her, another lady jumped the line to pay for items. For some strange reason, she was paying for panties and house slippers. What the heck? I turned to look behind me to see a lingerie shop. Lingerie and coffee, together? Rich thought it was strange, but the Muslim couple standing next to him were somehow offended. I don’t think they noticed the lingerie store either.
Back on the street, we wandered around some more. We made it back to the park and stopped in the information office to pick up brochures and ask questions. The lady at the desk was able to tell us how to catch the bus to go out to the Parchnklamm for our hike tomorrow. It seemed very easy to get there.
We walked back through the park, over the bridge, and down the street to our hotel. We sat on the balcony for a while to cool down. I wrote up another blog. I was watching the trams go up and down the mountain in front of us. The ski lift was running to ferry people up to the top of the mountain as well. Pretty soon, a guy with a parachute flew overhead and landed in the pasture. You don’t see that everyday.
We decided to head back to town for dinner. We decided to go to the place with the game meats. When we arrived, the patio seating was just filling the last table. It was just too hot to sit inside. We went back out to the main street and down to our second choice for the evening. We could sit outside at the Alpenhof. They were associated with the Hofbrau Haus so Rich knew what kind of beer he was getting there.
We started with a couple of Weissbiers. I went with the schnitzel again for dinner. Rich tried the roasted duck. The food was excellent again. Rich had another round while we watched the street and listened to an accordion player just on the other side of the platz.
After dinner, we went to drop money in the accordion player case and ended up buying a CD. He didn’t really speak English, but he seemed to appreciate the sale. I just don’t think I’ve seen German accordion music sold on many American street corners. It would be a first for us.
We wandered down through the main street and to the Alt Kirche. From there, we walked another main road back to the hotel. It was getting dark by now. We have plans to hike in one of the natural areas tomorrow. But tonight, I’m trying to get caught up on my blogs. I finished writing Day 4 and plugging Day 3 into the website. One day, I’ll be caught up. Probably on my first day home.
