Gaestehaus Andreas Hofer Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Again it was snowing when we woke up but again it wasn't sticking although it was still on the trees at the Alpine Zoo which we went to in the morning. This was Tara’s choice as usual. Greg's favourite was the brown bear which was lying with its head on its paws on a log, probably contemplating whether it was time to hibernate. My favourite was the lynx which was high up in a tree. By the ...

... where the snow had stuck. We then went to the Hofkirche which was the church which has the tomb of Maximilian I (although he’s actually buried in Vienna where he died) and 28 bronze figures that were commissioned by him. They are of people who he saw as being important during his lifetime, including King Arthur of England. The bronze was painted black as some stage although certain parts of the statues have been polished by people&#8217 ...

... a large room and then walked into the old town to have dinner at a restaurant that had Austrian food. The prices seem quite reasonable after Switzerland, but that might be because they are in Euros. I had a goulash which was quite nice but salty. Again German is the language used but most people speak English so we haven't had any problems. It was very cold as we walked home and Tara kept saying, I hope it snows tomorrow (it certainly felt cold enough).

... been cleared and there was a wrapped set of cutlery that they left behind when clearing the table, and he got stuck with this one. The waitress refused to give him a new set. It was a bit strange as it would cost her nothing but 5 seconds to get him a new one and make him so much more comfortable eating his meal. He took the risk and hoped that the cutlery hadn't been played with by the previous occupants of our table.<br><br>It was time to move on so we piled into the car and ...

A museum mom and I had been anxious to visit while in Austria, Swarovski Crystal Worlds was our next stop on route. Visitors enter the "museum" under a curtain of water spewing forth from a giant's head. Once inside, there are a series of rooms with low lighting and unique displays, all involving crystals of course. The first room has a beautiful (fake) horse dressed in crystal studded tack ...

... to go into town and the camp ground was just to the left. Darn it all.<br><br>We get our spot, we are surrounded by mountains and just under the Zugspitz (the highest alpine mountain in Germany). Across the street are 2 grocery stores. Perfect location with an incredible view.<br><br>The sky has just a few clouds, I can see a star already, it is 9:22 and just about black out. The moon is coming up too!<br><br>Tough, but a great day!

... and the<br>faster you go down the more friction there is and the hotter your ass<br>gets!!!!! And brain and I were both wearing our new nylon travel<br>pants so we were very fast (thanks mom!). After slip and sliding and<br>burning our butts we went on to the Partnachklamm and it took about<br>30 minutes to hike there and of course you had to pay in get in but<br>it wasn't much (and it was well worth it!) Once you were inside the<br>cavern the path was actually carved into the side of ...

... too.<br>The rest of the tour took us to Linderhof castle and Neuschwanstein castle. What magical looking places they were. Neuschwanstein is the castle Walt Disney uses the sillohette of at the start of his movies. Anyway, after the trip it was back to Munich for a day or so and then on the plane home.

... The final speaker was my professor from the States, which gave a brief talk about the work of one of his other grad students. After the morning sessions, a n excursion was planned to see some local sites in the surrounding area. I was directed to ride in Prof Scardi's car with Mateo, and Alessandro. Also an American family from the DC area were going to ride with us because the father was giving a presentation and the bus was full. When we got to the ...

Another work conference for my parents brought us to Oberammergau for a week. We stayed in the cutest little wooden cottage - like the whole thing ceiling to floor and including flowering window boxes was made out of wood! Totally picturesque like you've read about in Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Aromatic town bakery. Absolutely enchanting.