Garmisch

Happy 2009 from Germany!

This weekend Cameron and I went skiing in the German Alps in the resort town of Garmisch (about 3 hours from our apartment). Garmisch is a popular vacation destination with Americans- the military has one of their resorts located there, and there is an American ski lodge at the base of the mountain (we went authentic and stayed in a little German inn where the owners wore leiderhosen and gave very good advice).

We spent friday afternoon skiing on the base of the mountain, which was still harder than anything I had done before. The Alpine mountains are a little bigger than Wa-wa-wachussett. I managed to only fall a couple times- the most painful one happening when I was practically standing still...

Saturday morning we woke up early and took the Eibsee train up to the Zugspitze- the highest point in Germany at 2,962 meters. There we spent most of Saturday skiing the glacier and marveling at the altitude and views. Later, we took a cable car to the very top peak where there is a lodge with fantastic views (and a sun deck with a bar).

The view from the slopes on the lower part of the mountain

And from the top overlooking the Alps

Me napping on the glacier- between skiing and the bright sun it was comfortably warm. There is a church on the peak, as well as an igloo hotel.

Views from waaay above the tree line... On one side of the lodge were all these mountains, and on the other side was totally flat Germany.

Cameron at the top of the Zugspitze after enjoying a beer- I wonder how many countries we could see from there?

If you look closely, you can see a tiny gondola about to pass the third cliff from the top. The car climbs over 2,000 meters in 15 minutes (and holds about 25 people). This picture was taken from the parking lot after we disembarked.

We had the best weather we could ask for, a change from the gray clouds we are used to!

Don't you want to come visit us now?!