Day 4
Last night we had dinner in the hotel. We went to a small room that seemed to have more of a local crowd (or at least German) than the larger room - which had at least one Canadian church group on the way to Oberammergau for the Passion Play - it is 8 hours long and in German with a religious theme.
I had smoked trout for dinner, which was excellent, and Jill had schweinbraten (fresh pork.) Jill was in heaven. I had strawberry pie for dessert that was great too. The waitress said the monks across the street made that too. I asked her if between making several types of beer, liqueurs, desserts, and teaching school the monks had time for praying. She just smiled. We went to bed early - around 9:30.
When we awoke this morning around 6:30 it had stopped raining but was cloudy. We had breakfast in the hotel of cereal, coffee, tea and rolls. The rolls were out of this world. One had poppy, sesame and salt, and the other had burnt cheese drizzled on top. Yum!
We headed back into GP and towards the tram to the top of the Zugsiptze peak (about 10,000 feet.) We had planned to take the tram yesterday but the weather didn't permit. As we approached, all but the summit was free of clouds. Since there were only a handful of cars and the 75 minute ride cost 50dm ( about $30-35) apiece, we decided to forget it.
We then drove east along the Deutche-Alpine Strasse, a scenic road along the foot of the Bavarian Alps. The scenery was nice but the best views were hidden by clouds. We had to stop and pay a 4dm toll at one point to 2 old guys in a wooden hut who apparently owned some of the road.
I had smoked trout for dinner, which was excellent, and Jill had schweinbraten (fresh pork.) Jill was in heaven. I had strawberry pie for dessert that was great too. The waitress said the monks across the street made that too. I asked her if between making several types of beer, liqueurs, desserts, and teaching school the monks had time for praying. She just smiled. We went to bed early - around 9:30.
When we awoke this morning around 6:30 it had stopped raining but was cloudy. We had breakfast in the hotel of cereal, coffee, tea and rolls. The rolls were out of this world. One had poppy, sesame and salt, and the other had burnt cheese drizzled on top. Yum!
We headed back into GP and towards the tram to the top of the Zugsiptze peak (about 10,000 feet.) We had planned to take the tram yesterday but the weather didn't permit. As we approached, all but the summit was free of clouds. Since there were only a handful of cars and the 75 minute ride cost 50dm ( about $30-35) apiece, we decided to forget it.
We then drove east along the Deutche-Alpine Strasse, a scenic road along the foot of the Bavarian Alps. The scenery was nice but the best views were hidden by clouds. We had to stop and pay a 4dm toll at one point to 2 old guys in a wooden hut who apparently owned some of the road.
We then headed north to Bad Tölz and up along the Starnberger See to the monastery in the town of Andechs. We were originally planning to take a hike from Starnberg to Andechs based upon a description in the Sierra Club Hiking Guide to the Alps but Jill was feeling a little under the weather with a sore throat so we drove instead. It was just as well - the drive seemed so long that we couldn't imagine hiking back and forth even in the best of health.
We climbed up the hill to the monastery - our legs aching from 3 castles worth of climbing yesterday. We stopped at the monastery's beer hall on the way up - reputed to have some of the best beer in Germany. Jill had a Cola-Mix (cola and lemonade) and I had a small (16 oz.) dark beer that was great, along with sausage, cheese, and a pretzel bigger than my head. I went up to the counters and ordered in German - they could tell I was not German but they understood me.
Went up to the monastery, the only part of which is open to the public being the Baroque church. We went in and looked around quickly as mass was currently being said. Lots of ceiling paintings.
Jill was feeling a little better so we sat in the sun and had another beer each. The sun felt nice and the view was great.
Then back to the Autobahn for the drive to Münich. No problem till the Autobahn ended and all we had was a crappy little map. So, we got lost for about an hour until we found our hotel on a street where the numbers don't run consecutively.
The hotel is very nice - the Germania - and part of the Best Western chain.
We took a nap upon arrival and it is now 6 p.m.
Not two minutes after I finished writing the above, I got to exercise my handyman skills. Jill dropped her earring down the sink and utilizing my Swiss Army knife I was able to disassemble and reassemble the drain mechanism, retrieving the earring. My handyman skills are now internationally renowned!
Day 5 >>>
We climbed up the hill to the monastery - our legs aching from 3 castles worth of climbing yesterday. We stopped at the monastery's beer hall on the way up - reputed to have some of the best beer in Germany. Jill had a Cola-Mix (cola and lemonade) and I had a small (16 oz.) dark beer that was great, along with sausage, cheese, and a pretzel bigger than my head. I went up to the counters and ordered in German - they could tell I was not German but they understood me.
Went up to the monastery, the only part of which is open to the public being the Baroque church. We went in and looked around quickly as mass was currently being said. Lots of ceiling paintings.
Jill was feeling a little better so we sat in the sun and had another beer each. The sun felt nice and the view was great.
Then back to the Autobahn for the drive to Münich. No problem till the Autobahn ended and all we had was a crappy little map. So, we got lost for about an hour until we found our hotel on a street where the numbers don't run consecutively.
The hotel is very nice - the Germania - and part of the Best Western chain.
We took a nap upon arrival and it is now 6 p.m.
Not two minutes after I finished writing the above, I got to exercise my handyman skills. Jill dropped her earring down the sink and utilizing my Swiss Army knife I was able to disassemble and reassemble the drain mechanism, retrieving the earring. My handyman skills are now internationally renowned!
Day 5 >>>