On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
BigJimSlade
Hello everybody, let’s go back to the Alps! Mainly Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, then a couple nights in Mayrhofen, Austria. And when the clouds clear, we’ll see some mountains, too!
We flew into Munich (from Los Angeles and through Dublin), arriving at 9pm. With a couple of words of German, then listening and trying to understand… and some hand signals/body language, we got directions from a bus driver to where the Lufthansa Express bus would take us into the city (not here, go under the road, over there into that building, look for counter Zed, and go out there).
Eventually, the bus let us off near the train station, and right in front of a falafel/schwarma shop. It was now nearly 11pm and fortunately we had 20 euros on us to buy one of each aforementioned sandwich. With some more bad German, hand signals/body language, we got directions to the hotel that was basically halfway around the block.
We were up early to get a look at the old part of town while trucks were doing their deliveries and people were walking and cycling to work (ons of cyclists!), instead of the main sites being covered in tourists. Then we would head off to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
At the Rathaus (town hall) the clock chimes have these little characters that dance around once a day, but we weren’t there at the right time for that. But they are pretty famous and make the travel shows and youtube videos. The big picture
Yours truly in front of my namesake church (that’s right, my real name is neither Big, nor Jim, nor Slade) .A bigger view
When we returned 10ish days later, I peeked inside. There was a service going on, so I didn’t venture further in. Embiggen.
Continuing our walk, we came across the Theatine Church. It’s rather thickly built, but the gold in the morning sun, against the blue sky was nice. Think big.
OK, let’s get to the Alps! Just 2 blocks down from where we were staying for 5 nights was this fine traditional restaurant, and nicely backdropped by the mountains. Hiding behind the cloud and the big pole would be Zugspitze, the highest peak in Germany. Also, if any of you know any Americans who were based in southern Germany, they could’ve eaten here, too. There was a base just a couple blocks further down. Enlarge.
So our first day, we were going to take it easy and walk around Eibsee (a famous and very pretty lake), but we got on the wrong bus. The Eibsee bus is private and not included in our town guestpass that works on the other buses. But the bus we were on would take us to to gondolas that serve Kreuzeck and Alpspitze – some main nearby peaks. There were trails we were planning on doing there, so, fine – we’re going there. And it was up in the clouds. The big picture.
So while we’re up here – let’s have some flower pictures. A bigger view.
and now we’ll continue on the trail… At this point we’ve climbed a hill or two. Between the jet lag and a little elevation (a little over 6,000 feet), we were pretty wonky feeling, but we were game enough. Enlarge.
eclare
Great photos! Looking forward to more, I’ve never been to that part of the world.
Marmot
Wunderbar!
Lapassionara
Love these. I really enjoyed Munich, especially the unpronounceable vittals market.
Spanish Moss
Gorgeous photos, I am ready to go! Love the cathedral shot. I am not religious but I always feel something a little spiritual inside one.
Doug
@Lapassionara: Viktualienmarkt doesn’t even have an umlaut!
Yutsano
Sehr schön! I really just need to get my butt back to Europe soon. EU charge be damned!
Kristine
Waaaay back in 1973 I was part of a Foreign Study League group that toured Europe. Those photos take me back to the week in Switzerland. Lovely.
stinger
Great photos and captions!
BigJimSlade
Thanks everybody!
way2blue
‘Big Jim’. I knew Garmisch sounded familiar. I’ve staying nearby at Lautersee (near Mittenwald) in the Bavaria a few times. Fun hiking as you know. Thanks for sharing your travels.
Can I say, as an aside—years ago at a guest ranch in Alberta, Canada, my family was walking back to the lodge after a long horseback ride. The man walking behind me told his wife ‘Big Jim & the twins’ are sore. I turned around in surprise (huh?!) as my spouse’s name is Jim and we have twin boys. And so it goes…
Winter Wren
Nice shots – the last one looks like a very inviting trail to hike!
BigJimSlade
@way2blue: I like the Big Jim story, lol! I just got the name from a small bit of Kentucky Fried Movie. I was sick of coming up with user names and it popped into my head as something absurd.
Tehanu
Love the Baroque church. My favorite type of architecture is Gothic, which is lovely and sublime, but Baroque is just … “let’s have some fun and tart everything up!”, and somehow it works!