Familotel Leiner Garmisch-Partenkirchen

... right along the water. I must have been running slow - I was running along the path humming to the Eurythmics, and staring at the mountains in the distance when a little boy whizzed by me on a Unicycle. I'm not sure - but I can't imagine you can go fast on one of those things. I must have been humming loudly, because the little boy passed me, and turned his head fully around and ...

... The scenery was definently worth it, with the Gerlos pass having a lovely Waterfall..the waterfall started a few km's up and was pretty impressive. By the time we had done the second pass it was getting quite late...but not dark yet.
The drive to Innsbruck was via motorways, but scenic enough as we got to our hotel around 7pm..just after dark. We went past the Swarovski Factory on the way into Innsbruck ...

... cows, steep mountains, mountain huts, and glaciers. Also, the group I was with was
really cool. Three other Americans two from the west coast and one from Boston,
a brother and sister from Australia, 3 Canadians, and 3 from Japan who kept
holding us up cause they had to take tons of pictures J Our guide Oleg was really nice and has a life I would love to live.
In the summer time he works as a mountain guide taking tourists on hikes ...

... the place in the decorations. After our tour, we decided to walk/hike up to the bridge where we could see a lot of people taking photos. It was well worth it as the view is most likely the same one that we saw in all the photos-the leaves were just starting to change color and in a couple more weeks would have been spectacular. They were still great colors now, though. After our 7 Euro parking fee!, we saw a night of canned food ...

... purchases.

The museum was pretty cool and certainly a unique experience. The weather was really nice today too so once we completed the museum and the shopping, we went to the park behind the giant's head. Here they have a hedge maze shaped like the giant's hand which looked pretty cool but we didn't venture in. Instead we soaked up a little sun before moving on to the next destination.

... or so to climb up and walk around the balcony at the top, so it wasn't a big problem.

From the top of the tower you can see the town and the nearby surrounding mountains. The ski jump from the Olympics is easily visible, even on a wet, foggy morning like today.

We could see a cathedral from the tower so once we were back down on the ground we decided to go see it up close. Unfortunately along the way were numerous tourist shops all selling basically the same ...

... to the Vatican. We learned that the kirschen was severely destroyed during WWII as well as that it was originally built in the 1400s through funding by the sale of indulgences. Martin Luther would not be happy about that.

Before returning to the hotel, we stumbled across some kind of street protest about Iran, but the handouts and speeches were in German. Moving on, there was a four piece ensemble in the middle of the street. One woman ...

... House that our friend Jake was putting on for the second year running. We met up with more old friends and had a great time, along with taking a tour, which was very funny. The rest of the evening was spent at a bar called Jameson where friends of ours were playing. It was a really good time. Halloween! Unfortunately, Matt woke up with stomach cramps and general nastiness, so we took it pretty easy to let him rest ...

... certainly be surprised and I'm sure they'd get a kick out of it. I tried on a pair of Lederhosen, but the leather shorts and suspenders combos are surprisingly expensive; even when on sale. Instead, I found a pair of the traditional knee length shorts made of corduroy, some long Strumpf (socks) and a Hemd (shirt) in a traditional, festival style (see pic.). The shirt even had a couple of little embroidered beer mugs on the breast pockets. I tried on the outfit and took a look in ...

We went by car to Mittenwald and got at room at the Hotel Post. It was a nice room, but very narrow. It reminded me of a train compartment. There was a hail storm and it was rainy and cloudy. I bought ...