It was the year in which we decided to be more sustainable travelers and take a train trip to our destination. In order to be as painless as possible we decided to stay in Germany. One way was overnight bus trip, and the way back was the fast Munich – Berlin train.

We started our trip in Munich, visiting a friend, wandering around town with pretzel in one hand and kräpfen in the other. Admiring how a city can be so clean. Then strolling around the student quarter Max Vorstadt sipping cappuccino and trying out the eclairs in Dompierre Bakery. We continued towards the English Garden and making our best shots of the surfers. Then, stopped by on the Market next to Marienplatz, and unavoidable spot was one of the many breweries. We decided for Schneider Weisse. Our afternoon was spent in for me the most beautiful area of the city Glockenbach Quarter, at Man versus Machine Coffee Roasters. The night was for drinks and meeting friends of friends, and hearing different points of view about the life in Munich vs. Switzerland.

The next day before taking the bus to Garmisch-Partenkirchen we had a breakfast at a vintage boutique place (I know, I know can it get more hip than this?) very close to the main station, called – Marais. The ride from Munich to GaPa was about two hours long. Luckily the drop off point in Gapa was exactly in front of our hotel Vier Jahreszeiten (Four Seasons, but not that Four Seasons :))
We were greeted by very very sunny weather, and not having any snow in sight. To say the disappointment was huge is not enough. We used the day for a stroll in the town center in Garmisch, got introduced to “stuffed animals creations”, and we were stuffed ourselves with lots of meat.

Even though the lady at the ski rent shop was convincing me not to rent ski immediately, because snow or no snow she would need to charge me, we decided to spend some time up in the air. It was a mistake but, lesson learned trust the locals.

The next day such a heavy snow storm started, and while drinking coffee at Wildkaffee Specialty Coffee we decided to spend the day in Innsbruck. There are trains departing every hour, and in around one hour we were there. Even though the snow storm was the same, it was accompanied by strudel, more coffee, colorful houses and laughing. I so much fell in love with this city.

The next days we were ready for the fresh snow, and we were combining between the Zugspitze and the Garmisch Partenkirchen ski center. The Zugspitze was further and you would need to use train Zugspitz Bahn to get there, scenic route, overlooking the Eibsee, even though frozen. On a sunny day we could see all the summits from Zugspitze and Zugspitze itself. Going to Austria on foot, and indulging Kaiserschmarn. Unfortunately, this ski center was closed most of the time. It is functioning only on perfect weather conditions. It is like a hole surrounded by summits and once the sun sets its freezing cold. By the lowest wind I started losing sights of the piste, everything looked as thick white carpet.

The Garmisch-Partenkirchen ski center has more ski lifts, and many long routes. Here I took group ski class, in order to assure myself that I am not afraid of red piste. A senior +65 years old instructor was very competent, and very funny. I definitively learned so much even if only few days were in question. I also improved my Bavarian “R”.

The last day there was something between rain and snow, but we didn’t want to lose any day more since, we gave up on two in the beginning, but that was a very bad decision. By the end of the day our equipment was soaking wet, and weighting the amount of our body weight.

Also the days that I named as “lost” days were neither close to lost, as we used them to visit the Ski Jump stadium of the Winter Olympic Games of 1936. We were on our way to visit the “canyon” Partnachklam, but due the weather conditions it was closed. We were lucky that at least the Graseckbahn was opened, and we had time maschine taking a ride in the oldest small cable car in the world. On our way back, we passed by the sceinic PArtenkirchen, which in my opinion is much more nicer than Garmisch, but the people always tend take walk where the boutiques are.

On our very last day just before taking the bus to Münich, I insisted on one more short walk through the streets of PArtenkirchen, because i didn’T want to miss seeing the town on a blue sky.

The transfer from the bus to the train station was super smooth, how it wouldnt be with 4 more kräpfen companions?

The trip was perfect, but I think it would be of a better value to do this trip in spring-summer months and admire all those mountains in their green habitat. But never theless one should try everything.

Servus!

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