Travel Blog: Salzburg to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and WOW!

On Monday we set out at about 10:30 to drive the Alpenstrasse, or Alpine Route, from Salzburg to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. We thought we'd have to find our way across the 'border' (just a road sign saying 'Welcome to Germany') to reach the beginning of the road, but in actual fact, we were already on it at our hotel in Salzburg!! Once we got to the outskirts of town, the signs suddenly said 'Alpenstrasse' and led us through the border and towards the towns of Berchtesgaden, Schönau and Bad Reichenhall, where the German Alpine Route starts.

The eastern end of the route has a little more forest and a little less high mountain; for that we would have to go beyond Garmisch, which is not in the itinerary for the next few days. We'll get our mountain fix when we go up the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany that towers up right behind Garmisch.

Lots of forest, lots of narrow winding roads, and lots of tiny towns, villages and hamlets along the way. It seemed that every time Larry could get the car up to the speed limit, which was usually 70 to 100 km/h, he had to slow down again to go through a community of some size or other, where the limit was always 50km/h. Here are some photos of the drive:

Many towns had these 'Maypoles' with figures
on them depicting some of the town's shops
and services.

At the Tegernsee

All in all, we spent about 6 hours in the car, given that there was a detour when we were more than three-quarters of the way that took us further north instead of south where we wanted to go. We switched from the Alpenstrasse to the Autobahn and drove in the last half-hour on the fast route. At one point, Larry was driving at 130 km/h and a car passed us like we were standing still! He must easily have been doing 200!!

We had booked a very new hotel in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Werdenfelserei, which is an eco-friendly boutique spa hotel. And as we were spending four nights here, we booked 'the last available' nice suite in the hotel according to Expedia. What Expedia didn't say is that it is 'the only' suite of this type. The hotel isn't that big! In fact, our suite is the only room on the top, 4th, floor.

The hotel was only opened in May, and is one of the few in Germany where the guest rooms are built entirely of wood - floor, ceiling, walls, tables. And everything else is natural fibre, recycled or recyclable material, including the lampshades! And the whole place has that 'new wood' aroma.

As a picture is always worth a thousand words, here are some photos:

The sitting area with a 'coffee bar' and a full banquette table
on the other side (where we have the computer).

Bedroom area, right beside the open bathroom.

Outdoor covered seating; you can see the barbecue, hot tub and sauna
in the background.

Hot tub, sauna entry, outdoor shower in front of that stone
slab, and lounge chairs.

Yes, that old style telescope does actually work! It gives a good
view of the mountain, when you can get it properly focused!

This lamp over the outdoor seating area is made of
corrugated cardboard!

Would you believe pressed hay??

This lampshade, one of many in the restaurant, is
really knit from heavy wool!

The bathroom, open to the bedroom area, with the
tub in between. Doesn't do to be too modest
around here!

The WC - huh??? What's with that?

Now, we would never normally take a photo of the WC, but this one is particularly special. There is a growing trend of germophobia, and we have come across these fully automated toilets before. Not only will the lid raise and lower itself, with a remote control no less (!!!) - you do, however, still have to push the buttons to flush - the bowl has a built-in fan, and at night, it is heated! Not the seat, but the air that blows into the bowl from inside. That takes some getting used to!! This toilet does tell time - there's a nightlight in the WC, and the toilet lid opens and stays up for about 5 minutes after you leave; but this doesn't happen during the day. This just may fall under the heading of 'What will they think of next?'.

The toilet is not the only "technological marvel" at our disposal. While the controls for the sauna are inside the sauna, the hot tub is another story. Beside the fireplace is a control panel. Push the hot tub button and it automatically fills up and heats up so that in 20 minutes it is ready for use. When you are done and dried off, back inside, push the button, the tub shuts off and drains itself. The only thing we have to do is raise and lower the lid, and the only surprise there is that the lid does not raise and lower itself! Have not tried it out yet, been a bit too cool for that, but we may just try it tomorrow afternoon when we come down from the mountain!

We took a trip down memory lane this morning as we walked around the downtown part of Garmisch. We were here almost exactly 26 years ago, in September 1992, with Monica's Mom and Dad on the 3,200KM driving trip we took together from Bremen in northern Germany to Zermatt in southern Switzerland and back through Bavaria to Frankfurt. Monica had been looking at that old album a month or so before we left, and between that and some pretty good memory, we managed to find both the hotel we stayed in, and the restaurant where we had a great dinner, both about a seven minute walk from our hotel.

The Atlas Posthotel. Looks almost the same, but we're sure
it was painted light pink those many years ago!

The Restaurant Goldener Engel

We're going to walk over to the restaurant for dinner tonight; the menu looks really good!

We've been walking around the hotel a bit to check out the other amenities. The hotel lobby is beautiful; modern and minimal in styling, but warm and comfortable, and the staff are super friendly.

This morning we visited the breakfast buffet, one of the nicest we've seen in a long time. A selection of rolls and breads, with breadbaskets you can take back to your table if you want; a fresh egg and omelet station where the chef cuts the herbs right off the plants in front of him; a wonderful selection of loose teas, cold cuts, cheeses, cereals....you name it, it seems to be there. Most things are organic and they also cater to special dietary needs with a good selection of gluten-free products. Looking forward to the next couple of days' breakfasts!

Only a small portion of the full breakfast bar.

The spa is a large part of the hotel, taking up most of the 3rd floor, right below us. Looks great, and the pool is heated!

We'll be trying this out tomorrow after our visit to the Zugspitze. We've already bought our train and cable car tickets; it is supposed to be nice in the morning and at 22C at ground level, a little warmer than today. As I sit outside here writing, it is a little after 2 p.m. and there are just now some wispy clouds around the summit, but it was clear this morning. Here's hoping for a repeat tomorrow.

We went back to the restaurant from 26 years ago for dinner. It has almost the same name, but in between it had been empty, and then a burger joint, before the current owners reopened in the same style as the original restaurant about three years ago. We both had versions of stuffed schnitzels: Larry had a Munich-style schnitzel that was stuffed with fresh horseradish, so his sinuses will be clear for quite a while, probably until sometime in January(!!); and Monica had cordon bleu, with cheese and Schinken, which is ham that is cured instead of cooked.

There was a couple from New Jersey just finishing up their meal behind us, and we got talking to them for a few minutes. They had asked for a dessert menu and the waiter said they didn't have one because so few people ever asked for it. A bit odd, we thought, but when we saw our plates we could understand why - both of us had 2 pieces of schnitzel along with fried potatoes! We were busy talking, so we forgot to take a photo of the plates. Suffice it to say that the food was excellent - we wouldn't have asked for the dessert menu, either!!

The inside of the restaurant

As we walked back to the hotel, we noticed a good sized mountain on the Austrian side of the border that was shining white with snow. We took as good a photo as we could, and hurried back to the hotel, as we knew we would have a great view from our terrace. Here's the first shot:

It was just a few minutes before sunset when we got back, and Monica had the camera ready to see what kind of pictures we could get. We had been looking toward Zugspitze until sunset,