Our two days in Munich would allow us to get out of Munich and experience the two things we were going to do by car by driving into Austria. The first of these was to visit Zuspitze at the top of the Bavarian Alps. After checking out the train timetable, I worked out a way to do it. We took a regional train from Munich to Garmisch – Partenkirchen. The trip was picturesque as we passed through heaps of little Bavarian villages and towards the snow fields. One of the things you notice as you travel around the country here is the amount of green power generation. Windmills dot the countryside and so do solar farms. Even in the regional areas, where there is snow beneath the solar panel arrays, they are harnessing the sun’s energy for power. And that begs the question – why aren’t we doing the same?

When we arrived in Garmisch – Partenkirchen, we wandered over to the Cog railway station to get us up the mountain and purchased our tickets, just missing the train. We had to wait an hour for the next one so we went for a wander. The tix to get to the top are quite expensive in comparison to most of the tickets in Germany – $41 Euros each to get up to the top and back. It sounds like a lot of money but I guarantee it is worth it and if you are a skier or boarder, the ticket actually includes a lift pass. The cog train takes almost an hour to get to the Zugspitze platform near a glacier, much of the journey quite steeply up hill. When you get there and look down, you can see plenty of people skiing and boarding in the fields below. From here it is a quick cable car ride to the summit. The cable car itself is one of those really huge ones that carries about 30 people.  When you arrive at the summit station, you still have a couple of floors to go up in a lift before you reach the summit. The first thing you notice out of the window is a wooden hut that seems built into the rock face. Now a hotel, that includes a building carved into the rock, the original wooden building was constructed as a refuge at the summit a century ago. (Sunny Afternoon – The Kinks – I first got introduced to the Kinks in the mid-80s and it was quite a revelation to me about the wealth of music that had come before the Brit new wave and ska world I was so entangled with. This is one of their more relaxed tunes but still a bit alternative for the 60s)

When you step out onto the huge viewing platform, the view and the feeling you get looking out over the rails is breath taking. We thought we may not be able to see very far but up here, at the top of Germany, the sun was peeking through the clouds and shining on the snowy peaks. You could see for miles into Austria, Switzerland, and I’d wager probably even France. The colours were spectacular all white and icy blue with the dark green of the pine trees breaking up the vista. It was cold, especially when the wind blew and at a few points I felt li8ke I was at risk of blowing over. Looking down was a challenge but it was also a spectacular experience. Standing here all the horizons you could see were below you and I really did feel like I was on the top of the world.

Once we had endured all the cold winds we could handle we went downstairs and had a hot chocolate in the café in the part of the building that was in Austria (according to the alert I received from Telstra). Apparently in the days before the EU, they used to have a border crossing up here. The vista from the café was still pretty amazing – you felt a bit like you were in a space age pod sitting far up in the sky – Jetsons style.

For the descent, we chose a longer cable car ride on the other side of the station that allowed us to meet up with the cog wheel train almost at the base of the mountain. It was a smaller gondola, holding about 12-15 people and it rocked a bit more on the descent. Sadly I was reminded of the movie Chalet girl but then quickly distracted by the amazing views on the way down. The ride was only a few minutes but it was spectacular. I have used the word breath taking a number of times in describing this journey – that is partly because being tired tends to limit my vocabulary but mostly because there is no better adjective to describe this experience. If you come here, do it – it is amazing.

The journey back through the villages was also quite interesting and we spied quite a few oddities – the houses that look exactly like you’d expect in a Bavarian fairytale and in at least a couple of places we saw crucifixes with boxes around them. Dan joked that you had to keep Jesus warm and it has had me in stitches ever since. Yes I have a very strange sense of humour.

After the two hour journey back to Munich we chilled out for a while before heading out to find dinner. Suddenly I remembered that I could us Trip Advisor to look for decent restaurants close to the hotel. I found a German restaurant wi8th pretty good reviews – Alt Muenchener Gesellenhaus – so we headed there. It was really cheap with authentic Bavarian offerings – Dan had a pork Cordon Bleu with chips and I had a proper veal Weiner Schnitzel with fried potatoes and bacon, just like one of my friend’s German mum’s makes. It was magnificent. We both thought that in the interests of getting rid of our colds, we should give the beer a miss – which took a bit of willpower in a German pub style restaurant in Bavaria. We did however try dessert. Dan opted for a breaded dumpling and custard. What arrived was a huge bread dumpling with a moat of custard – a German version of bread and butter pudding. We couldn’t finish it but it was really good. After dinner once again it was time for bed. I am sure we will get out and enjoy some night time activities soon. (One More day – The Descendents – I finally got to see the Descendents a few years ago and grew an even greater respect for them, despit5e the poor sound in the venue.)

Christmas themed activities – 13  War museums and model shops – 1.5  Design experiences – 1