The next morning we were out on the first bus and into a
misty Garmisch to search out coffee and a hot breakfast. It was strangely quiet
in the centre and our chosen café mysteriously closed.
We found a welcome
coffee from the one business open and wondered if we had confused the days, it
was Friday surely? A long wait at the bus stop allowed us to work out that it
was German Unity Day, and therefore a bank holiday.
We changed plans and found
a local train service in the direction of Alpspitze, and its cable car.
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| The Zugspitzbahn train |
It was
a longer walk than anticipated from Unter Granau village across the valley but
we spotted cows and barns and waved to the many daytrippers on the blue and
white cogwheel train of the Zugspitzbahn whistling its way through the fields
and up to the mountain tunnel.
We tucked gratefully into our picnic lunch for a
late breakfast on a bench at 11am.
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| Walking across the valley |
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| Brunch on a bench! |
Finally at the cable car station we joined a large crowd waiting for the next flight. The bank holiday sunshine had brought people from across the whole area, locals as well as international tourists to the mountain playgrounds.
Jammed into the car we had
stomach-churning views as we sailed and swung our way up the steep side of the
Alspitze.
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| Valley view from the cable car |
I didn’t enjoy it at all; the car lurched over sudden peaks and seemed
to hang precariously at times right up against the rock face. It was standing
room-only and uncomfortable against beery and bad breaths and jabbing Nordic
pole-ends.
It seemed to take an age to reach the Osterfelderkopf which was
teeming with people of all ages, and several ridiculously small dogs.
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| A view of Garmisch from Osterfelderkopf at 1369m |
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| Eagle's view of the Zugspitze |
Simon ventured out onto the viewing platforms which jut
out over a 1,000 metre vertical drop. You have to admire the architecture of
the steel framed platforms that end in glass walls over thin air.
I was
surprised by the number of very small children, toddlers some of them, being
allowed to run and down the platform by parents, presumably local and therefore
fearless about the heights!
On the grassy slopes para-gliders laid out their
silks and then ran and hurled themselves, whooping, into the warm currents of
mountain air. Sun worshippers were set up for the day on loungers, many with
rugs and towels, small picnic tables of food and drink and a few in swim wear.
A bizarre sight!
It was a short ride down on the Hochalmbahn over mountain
moorland and hiking trails to a gentle amble around the summit on an easy
walking path busy with families and friends enjoying the sun. Every seat at
every mountain restaurant was taken and vast quantities of beer and wursts were
being tucked into.
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| The gentle Kreuzeckbahn gondola |
We carried on walking to the cable car station at
Kreuzeckbahn and took a gondola for two back down the mountainside. Much more
enjoyable than the ride up, the ten minute descent swept us over forests and
high pastures, and we spotted colourful hikers inching their way down along
goat trails or picnicking on rocks.
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| German Roulette on an alpine night |
Treating ourselves to a bus all the way back to camp we
got a second wind and headed back into Garmisch for an early evening spin at
the local casino. We both won and then lost at roulette before walking back the
couple of miles or so to the Wank and climbing up the moonlit walking path to
the campsite.
All was quiet at the camp despite more than 100 vans now being
parked up.
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| A quiet night on Camp Wank |
