Return to Bavaria

It was about six years ago that I moved to the small mountain valley called Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the dramatic and ominous German Alps,  and just minutes from the Austrian border. A move to that charming town at a young age shaped my future from then on forward and carved out a special place in my memory. 

This past week I was happy to return to this town, to see the sights, recall the memories, experience the mountains, drink the beer, and explore the surrounding areas. I was flooded with recollections that I had previously tucked away in the corners of my mind, and other things that once seemed second nature took extra time to conjure up, creating new (and welcomed) challenges. Perhaps I couldn't recall the exact location of something, or another thing was gone entirely. Yet while nearly everything has changed a little, and some things a lot, it's still the same as it was, and I love that place. 

There is the all familiar Kurpark, which sits in the center of it all, with that yellow mansion in the middle. A perfect place to take a walk on the reflexology path, or try your skill at the 250 meter long maze in one of the fields, or walk amongst your pieces as you play a game of oversized chess. Or just sit and enjoy breakfast on the lawn in the perfect morning sun on an adirondack chair. 

I made a point to visit the old spots, of course, and also to find a few new ones. For all these years I have had a love for the Kramer mountain. The mountain was just steps from my backdoor for the time I lived there. I climbed solo to the top of the mountain and hiked all the paths scores of times. Most often I would make my way up to what we called the "halfway house" where the treat of a cold beer awaited after the long hike. 

The building I used to live in was an old hospital, with more stories than I could know, and I know quite a few. I've contemplated writing a book about that place, it is so interesting, but this is not the time for these stories. I will say this, it is just next to an elaborate and beautiful cemetery which has a tunnel that is connected to my old building. Stories, I tell you, I have stories.....

Every day I would make my way to the Loisach river. Perhaps I was passing by on my peaceful and ipod fueled walk to work, or it was my destination to write or read or think and rest. The Loisach has a special color, it is pale and cold and always flowing rapidly through the mountians and trees, through my old neighborhood! And if you listen closely that river says "om".

This train bride over the Loisach is an old favorite destination just a few kilometers out of town. I would frequently ride my bicycle out here and read with a picnic before work or on a day off. It's quiet and secluded and there's always a rainbow!

Just outside of Garmish is the great hill that leads up to Eibsee (and it's mini-me, Untersee). Eibsee is another favorite (I'm full of favorites!). This lake is high in the mountains and is a mirror to the magnificent Zugspitze, the tallest of the German Alps. After training myself I was able to ride my bicycle uphill the dozen-or-so kilometers to the lake, where I would have a simple picnic, take a dip, and head back down. 

This time around I was without my cute Peugeot bicycle and instead in a rental car, which made the climb easy, yet still rewarding. I could never tire of that view. 

While we weren't traipsing around Garmisch, visiting my old stomping grounds and reliving old memories we would hop in the car and explore that beautiful region in Bavaria. We took to the road and found another old spot, just across the Austrian border, outside the town of Erwald. The view is still of the Zugspitze, but this time from the opposite side (and with a storm brewing), with extra bonus mountains on the opposite horizon. 

 Our mini road-trip continued on as we headed out to Fussen, to visit the castle of King Ludwig, who some though to be crazy. I'm not as convinced he was. So he liked sleigh rides after midnight in the snowy mountains by the moonlight, and cared more for the arts than he did for war.... maybe the world needed more of his type. 

photo credit

A visit to Plansee in Austria concluded for us the tour of the spots I would bicycle to. Back then I was hardcore, for Plansee was about a 40 kilometer round trip ride! The trip led us along a wide and shallow riverbed and bast Linderhof castle, through the brewing town of Etall and back to the lovely valley of Garmisch... only to continue the road trip the next morning.

photo credit