Mercure Garmisch Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen

... Maybe he was showing off - I was very impressed, especially with the head turn and keeping his balance!

I'm alone in my travels now... and have to admit that I would likely have been extremely lonely if I had spent the 2 months alone as I originally planned. It is nice to have some solitude, but I really do not think I opened my mouth yesterday more than to say "Danke."

... I wondered if they do tours, with a free sample?! The hotel Tyrolis was nice enough, too much wood pannelling stuff going on that made the room feel quite small, but the beds were comfy ough and we flopped and watched some tv. Did some washing...and skipping dinner (due to the very late lunch and having half a chocolate pretzel left!) we went to bed. It's either a night in Switzerland or France tomorrow..!

... br>then takes the winter off to ski and watch his kids while his wife teaches. HOW
DO I GET A JOB LIKE THIS?

After the hike, the bus dropped us off in
town and since it was still relatively early I decided to take the gondola that
goes from the middle of the city up to the top of one of the ski resorts. The
summit (around 10,000 feet) had a nice bar where I had a beer while looking
down at the city. I noticed tons of ...

... free camping ahead :) We drove towards Munich and parked once again on the street in a small town, which has by far been our most common theme for free camping but is usually the safest choice for us. The best part about Fred is that he is small enough to park on the street and does not look like a campervan, so anyone who sees him most likely would think it was a mail truck or something…at least that is what we tell ourselves :)

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 ...

... packed in tightly on either side of the narrow pedestrian street. My mom was sucked right in. I don't know how long it took for us to walk the length of this short street, but it was several minutes too long.

We never did visit the cathedral. Our stomachs took over and we went for food instead. We found a nice pizza place with good prices so we went in. Everything seemed OK until my boyfriend asked for a new set of cutlery because when we first sat on our table it had ...

... playing a grand piano. Yes, in the middle of the street. The piano, flute, cello, and bass rendered a beautiful performance of Ave Maria that we stopped and enjoyed.

Now, we are gathered in our hotel garden, sadly wishing it included typical German garden beverages, but alas, it is time to retire. Up early tomorrow for a trip out to Castle Neuchwanstein that, if weather permits, may include a nice hike and/or bicycle ride.

Auf Wiedersehen!

... he rallied in the evening, and we went to the pub for a very packed, but very fun evening. This was the night where we were able to catch up with every single one of our friends here, as the Irish Pub is where everyone goes for the big party. So there was lots of drinks and fun to be had. Saturday turned out sunny and warm, so we wandered through town and spent the latter part of the afternoon in the beer ...

... mirror. "They're gonna howl." I'd pretty much exhausted my options in Partenkirchen by this point, so I headed back toward the hotel and found an internet point to finish off a travelogue. Technical setbacks kept me there way longer than I'd planned, but finally I got everything uploaded. When I went back to the hotel to check-in, I got a nice surprise. The very reasonable rate that I had secured online for this, one of the best hotels in town I later learned, got even better ...

... napkins.


We toured Linderhof, one of crazy King Ludwig's castles. It's the only one that was finished before he died. Even though it wasn't sunny, Rick made some gorgeous pictures.