Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Fussen

Monday July 26

We left Innsbruck, Austria this morning. When we went to the train station, we discovered that there was work being done on the tracks so instead of a train they provided a bus for us to get from Innsbruck to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. That was fine. It was an interesting trip since the road climbed steeply out of Innsbruck and we got a good view of the mountains and the rail line. We stopped in several small villages along the way all looking like the picture of alpine villages - just like the Sound of Music cliché. We crossed the border into Germany at Mittenwald but you’d hardly know it - we didn’t even see a sign.

We knew nothing of Garmisch-Partenkirchen before we arrived but it’s obviously a world class ski town. There’s even an Olympic looking ski jump setup at the edge of town, just like in Innsbruck. The mountains are all around and you can see some of the ski runs up above the town. It’s really beautiful scenery. Being in the Alps is great.

Our room (with ensuite bath, private balcony and sitting area) is quite big and is in the “Hostel 2962”. This is a good deal for 70 euros per night. There’s no free WIFI or free breakfast though. This place seems to be a long-established hostel for skiers and hikers. Very quaint. We enjoyed our lunch on our balcony with a view of the river across the street and snow-peaked mountains in the other direction.

It’s so funny to see the change in fashion here compared to the cities of Italy. Instead of spike heels, the predominant footwear is hiking boots. They really do sell lederhosen (those long leather shorts with suspenders) here. We saw one older guy wearing them this afternoon but the department store mannequins show outfits for younger people too (no joke).

Lots of people are wandering around in hiking clothes with backpacks and walking sticks. It’s very outdoorsy. We’re appreciating all the greenery after Rome, Florence and Venice (Verona had a few trees). It’s also very clean in both Innsbruck and here. None of the cities in Italy were very well kept up. Although Verona was a bit better, the others had a lot of litter, the few parks were not maintained and there were lots of beggars. There was also a lot of graffiti. We used to think of it as mostly harmless attempts at juvenile self expression but after seeing so much of it on so many buildings in the major cities it gets annoying. We haven’t seen much that has any artistic merit either. It’s mostly really ugly writing, the bulk of which is profanity. Being in these ski towns for awhile is refreshing.

The weather is cloudy with light rain and about 15 with jumps above 20 whenever the sun shines through for awhile. We were due to get out of the mid 30s heat but this is a little cooler than we anticipated. However, it’s still a nice change.

Since the internet fees are exorbitant here (6.49 euros for one hour), we’ll probably post this from somewhere else over the next few days.

Tomorrow we’ll get a regional train to Munich and then another to Buchloe and another to Fuessen. There will be a lot of stops but that’s okay - we’ll get to see the little towns along the way.

Wednesday July 28 Fussen Germany

Well, we had a long day of travel yesterday with little distance covered. Our train was delayed leaving Munich so that meant we missed our connection in Buchloe and had to wait another hour for the next train to Fussen. In hindsight, we went in a big inverted V from Garmisch to Munich and then back down to Fussen so we should really have taken a bus. However, we did see more of Bavaria which is really pastoral and pretty so it wasn't too bad. We also got oriented in the Munich train station since we have to make a 20 minute connection there tomorrow. The train stations individually aren't that hard to figure out after all the massive airports I've been through. The trick is to make sure that your trains connect at the same station since some cities have more than one (Paris has five).

Since yesterday was birthday number 59, we splurged on the Hotel Sonne Fussen which seems to be a 4 star, at least. We have a great room, very big, big ensuite bath, king bed, robes and slippers, chocolate on the pillow, fresh rose and huge buffet breakfast (with champagne and everything else) included for 135 euros per night. This is almost double what we're usually paying but it's worth the money for the birthday boy (Anita agrees). Staying in 4 star hotels all the time would be pretty nice but it would just about double the cost of our trip. Since this isn't the only travel we want to do in our lives we're trying to stay within our means (old habits are hard to break).

We enjoyed the splendour of our room for awhile when we got in with a few drinks and snacks (bought at the supermarket across the street). It's so much cheaper and nicer not to use bars and restaurants all the time. Anita's bottle of Chianti was 2.49, my 6 pack of Becks beer was 3.54, 200 grams of good Brie was .99 and some bread for .35 made a great happy hour (with some left over for tonight).

After that we went to a local hotel restaurant and had a great birthday feast of one plate of some kind of beef rollup with potato salad and coleslaw and one plate of pork knuckle the size of a caveman's club with sauerkraut and dumpling (Anita's plate). With wine and beer the bill was only 32 euros. It's really not that expensive to eat here and you get lots of food. The food here is very tasty but also very heavy. Eating like this all the time is probably a bad idea but we'll suffer through it just for research purposes.

This morning we took the bus a few kilometres up to the 2 famous castles: King Ludwig II's boyhood home of Schloss Hohenschwangau and the castle he built up the mountain a little ways called Schloss Neuschwastein, which is the one that Disney used as a model. You have to take a guided tour at a set time so we paid for that (17 euros each for a package ticket of both castles) and walked up one hill to his boyhood castle and then up the mountain a bit more to the other one. Both were fantastic. The first one was smaller but the rooms were all finished and very ornate. The second was built between 1869 and 1886. It was never completely finished because Ludwig drowned under mysterious circumstances and only lived in it for 172 days on and off before his death (prior to which he was certified by the government as insane - hence the name "Mad King Ludwig").

We learned some interesting facts about the 17 years of construction. Fourteen craftsmen worked for 4 years on his bedchamber alone doing intricate woodcarving. His bed, washstand (with running water) and other furnishings are still there. In another of his private rooms, 10 painters worked for 7 years painting murals on the walls. The "Singers' Hall" is the biggest room in the castle with great acoustics. Ludwig was a big fan of the work of composer Richard Wagner and dedicated the castle to him. It even has a fake cave that looks quite real on an upper floor because one of Wagner's operas has a cave scene in it. The Singers' Hall is still used for chamber music for 10 days every September. Some of the craftsmanship we've seen so far in our travels has to be seen to be believed. The skill and patience of the craftspeople is very foreign to our North American culture. For example, in Florence, two doors on one part of the Il Duomo cathedral took one craftsman 52 years to complete. To think that he dedicated his life to that and was paid by the local business association for that time shows a long term commitment by more than just the talented artist that just isn't part of our "temporary" lifestyle. Ludwig may have been mad but he certainly caused some fantastic architecture and art to happen. Of course he died heavily in debt because he kept building castles (3 in total, with another one planned).

Tonight we'll go out for some more Bavarian food and likely come home groaning. Oh well, it's research. Tomorrow we catch a train for Salzburg Austria by way of Munich.

It's really beautiful here with pastoral Bavaria down below and the mountains overlooking the town and castles. Some people here really do wear lederhosen and now we've seen them for sale in pretty well all the clothing stores. This ain't Combermere or Barry's Bay.