Schell Garmisch-Partenkirchen

... we had finished at the zoo, the sun was trying to come out and the snow had completely melted off the trees.<br><br>We caught the bus into the old city where I was determined that I was going to have some genuine Sacher torte so went to Cafe Sacher which is home of the original Sacher torte (it originated in Vienna). Sacher Torte is actually chocolate cake with a layer of jam in the middle ...

... hands.<br><br>We went to have lunch at what turned out to be a very smoky cafe with salty soups and a so called &#8220;Sacher Torte&#8221; which wasn&#8217;t very nice. <br><br>We spent the afternoon wandering through the shops, finding a nice chocolate shop and an amazing Christmas shop which had thousands of real egg shells that had been delicately handpainted as Christmas decorations as well as Easter and Halloween. They were so beautiful ...

Walked to the train station and did an expedition to the supermarket to spend our last Swiss Francs as we are back to Euros in Austria. Had a stopover in Zurich for a while and then caught the train to Innsbruck. Again this was a scenic trip over the mountains and it started snowing and was very deep as we got higher- just beautiful scenery. Innsbruck is surrounded by mountains, all of which had snow on them.<br><br>We checked into our hotel where we ...

... up the mountain to get a better look at the ski jump. The GPS took us to a viewpoint instead of to the actual jump, which is why I got a good picture of it. We then followed the signs to the ski jump, but the parking lot was swarming with people going to and from their tour buses and we decided we weren't in the mood for that kind of sightseeing.<br><br>We got on the highway and headed to a suburb of Innsbruck called Wattens where the Swarovski Crystal Worlds museum is located.

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 ...

We have our breakfast of bread, buns, meat, cheese, and there is honey, jams and juice. She had asked if we wanted tea or coffee, I told her just juice.<br><br>We got to watch TV while having breakfast and while we packed up. We said good-bye and then left for Garmish-Partenkirken.<br><br>It is a bright sunny day, the sky is blue, blue and it looks like it will be a nice warm, maybe even hot day. We go through Garmish looking for the ...

... It was another great meal and chilled in our room the rest of the evening. <br><br>Today, we went for a hike close by but had to cut it short because of my ankle. I have sustained my first injury (other than internal organ injury from drinks and pasteries). When we were in Heidelberg hiking on the philosopher's walk, on the way down the hill, I was doing some Karate Kid kicks on rough pavement. (you know, the kicks where he lifts one knee in the air. Then he ...

This was a lovely little place we stopped at on the bus tour to the castles. Unfortunately, being Sunday, most everything was shut (except for the souvenir shops that is). They have a woodcarving school there that I plan to stop at for a weeklong course on the next trip. But of course it was shut that ...

... in their size and ornateness--Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau and Crazy Ludwig's Bavarian palace (the one that inspired Disney to create "the castle"). We stopped at a Bavarian restaurant for lunch of fried potatoes and braised steak in onion sauce...tasty...meat and potatoes. On Oct 20, we left the area to return to Munich and catch our train to Vienna. On the way, we took a solemn tour of Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp. It was an ...

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.