We Came, We Saw, We 'Zugspitzt'?!

Or, since we were also in Austria, we 'Zugspitzlt'!

We got up this morning to a perfectly clear blue sky. The first one since Vienna, we think! But we didn't waste any time looking at it - down for breakfast by 8:00 and out to the Zugspitzbahn to get the 9:15 train up. We had checked out the distance to the train station yesterday, and knew it would only take about 10 minutes to get there.

The Zugspitzbahn is a cogwheel/electric train that was originally built between 1928 and 1930, that travels between Garmisch-Partenkirchen at its own little train station to Zugspitzplatt at 2,580 metres above sea level. From there if you want to take the cable car back down you have to go up to the summit of the mountain in another cable car that takes you to 2,950 metres up.

We decided to take the train up and the cable car back down to the train station at Eibsee, then pick up the train back into Garmisch. We figured the view would be much more interesting that way.  The train takes about 70 minutes from the train station to Zugspitzplatt, and that includes almost 5 km of tunnel near the top.

The train

In one of the nearby villages. These little huts are on
privately owned lots where people may farm or
keep animals, either for themselves or as a side business.

After making a couple of stops at little hamlets along the way (people who live there can get passes to use the train to get into town), we started into the tunnel. The train does run fairly quickly, so the 25 minutes doesn't seem a long time - unless, of course it has to stop in the tunnel to wait for a train leaving to come down...not that anyone had a problem with that.

We arrived at Zugspitzplatt and followed the crowd out to the lower summit. It is something of a disappointment, it actually looks a bit like a rck quarry, unless you know you're not at the top. Because it is summer, there is very little ice, just a little glacier ice that you can ride down on a little seat, so most people were going up to hike in the area. During the winter, however, it is a different story as there are a few ski runs located in this bowl. A funny side note on that; the train on the way down had a sign posted near the doors that read "Caution - Do not get ski boots close to heater vent as they may get melted."

Sledding down the glacier

We took the cable car to the summit. Even though it is only about 500 metres difference, it seems a lot steeper and closer to the rock. But we got there and out onto the observation terrace. We thought we had left early, but there were already a lot of people up there, especially at a small 'bridge' that connects two terraces. Everybody had to stop there to take photos, as if there was no other place with as good a view! Add to that the people waiting to get into a small restaurant to buy pretzels and beer, or maybe visit the 'highest bratwurst stand in Germany', and you had a constant backup of people. We headed straight across and past the restaurant, not realizing that we were crossing into Austria! The border runs straight across the summit of the mountain! We wonder what they did for a "border crossing" in the days before the advent of the EU???

It was actually kind of funny - there weren't nearly as many people on the Austrian side of the summit as there were on the German side! None of the Germans wanted to cross the border??? They don't like Austrian Beer maybe??? No matter - at least we could get a space near the railing and a few good photos!

The view to the Eibsee, where the cable car will
end on the way down.

The towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen in the valley

Further along the valley. We haven't been there yet.

The clouds coming in

More clouds alongside the restaurant level.

 

After spending some time walking around the observation terrace, we needed to repeat one other thing we did with Monica's parents in 1992 - stop in at the restaurant for a beer, or whatever!

We still have photos of us sitting by the window in the restaurant, unable to see anything because the summit was entirely clouded over. That was only at the end of September or beginning of October, but it was much colder, unlike today where it was supposed to be about 10 degrees C up top. Monica remembers having hot chocolate that time - this time she had German sparkling wine!

While we were sitting there, we could see the clouds building nearby and starting to drift around. Not having any effect on the view yet, but it would be coming. The weather service had actually forecast possible thunderstorms for the summit later in the afternoon.

Time to go down, and this time with the cable car that would take a much shorter time to get back to Eibsee station, the lower base. There was a three-year reconstruction for the whole system that saw a new summit building as well as new, larger cars with 360 degree views, and a samll glass floor area! The new cable car system opened in December of last year. This cable car system holds 3 world records (sorry, Whistler-Blackcomb!): the longest stretch between towers at 3,213 metres (there's only one tower, and that's more than half way down), the highest steelwork pylon tower at 127 metres, and the highest height differential over one section at 1,925 metres. The ride was great and the views superb!

A closer view of Eibsee

Watching one of the cable cars on its way up....

...and ready to pass the other one coming dow!

 We had expected to take the train all the way back to Garmisch, but at the Grainau station, we all had to get off and play 'Chinese fire drill'. We basically switched trains with another one that had just come up from Garmisch, and couldn't figure out why...until we realized that the new train wasn't a cogwheel train, and was in service to take the overflow of people who would be coming back down. So they had just moved the cogwheel train station further along the line. No matter; the train we were on got us back to the station a lot faster. What a 'cool' morning's adventure that was!

We were planning to go to a particular restaurant for dinner, and wanted to make sure it wasn't closed for 'Ruhetag', the day off that is mostly taken during the week so they could be open on Sunday. No problem; it was open, and since we were feeling a little peckish with no lunch, we stopped for coffee and cake. And they had one of Monica's favourites - Bienenstich, which translates as 'Bee Sting'. That's because the top of the cake is covered with a honey/sliced almond mixture. The yeast cake is also filled with a cream or custard-cream mixture. It was quite delicious!

After all that, we thought we'd check out the hotel pool and then sit up on the terrace for a while (and work on the blog!). It is quite interesting - the pool is entirely made of stainless steel, and even has a whirlpool pad at one end. It's like a raised lounge made of rounded stainless steel slats, kind of like a BBQ grill (!!) that the water bubbles through. There's even a headrest! The whole pool terrace is very comfortable, but it couldn't beat our own space, so we headed up there next.

We had been watching the top of Zugspitze and had seen it gradually clouding over...

A bit of cloud...

Now it looks like a volcano just
blew its top!

...and this is how it looks now!

Mountain?  What mountain??

Good thing we were up there early!

Since then we went to the Alpenhaus Restaurant on the main pedestrian street in town, not even a 10 minute walk away, and had another good dinner:

Larry's veal goulasch with spaetzle

Monica had half a roast duck with bread
dumplings and red cabbage

And we only had enough room for 1 dessert - vanilla ice cream,
whipped cream and raspberry sauce.

 We're back upstairs getting the blog posted. We haven't planned anything for sure for tomorrow. We may drive around in the area - we're not far from Oberammergau or Mittenwald - or maybe drive a little further along the Alpenstrasse where there now more mountains to see....Who knows; you'll find out tomorrow!!