So on Day 4 we woke up nice and early at The Zur Schönen Aussicht Hotel and headed down to the kitchen for breakfast. If you read Day 3, you know that we have yet to actually meet anyone here face to face and wondered jokingly if food would just magically, harry potter style, appear on the table ready for us to consume. This wasn’t the case, and we finally did meet the owner who is a wonderful woman. At least in person – I called a few weeks later to try and book a night there again and she was not very easy to talk to. I chalked it up to the language barrier. But back to the original visit. The room where breakfast is served is all windows and has to be one of the better views in Garmisch!
We chatted with the other hotel patrons while we ate a huge breakfast – it was yummy – and planned our attack for the day. Keeping in mind we had quite the drive back to my house in the afternoon we decided to hit Partnachklamm and then get on the road.
So after breakfast we packed everything up, played some car tetrus, and got on the road… for all of 5 minutes. We parked at the Olympiastadion and after doing a lot of talking to people in very broken German figured out where to go.
For those interested in going without confusion, Park here! And when you do, check your parking ticket DATE, because if I am not mistaken it will be for over 24 hours. I didn’t realize this and was so worried we would have a parking ticket when we returned. I didn’t realize it until my later trip with my in-laws when I looked at it a bit closer. Anyway, once you get parked you walk through the Olympic stadium – which is really interesting to see also. There is even a sign in English with some info!
(Mom here: I was shocked to learn this stadium hosted the 1936 – IV Olympic Winter Games and where Hitler attended. On a lighter note, why, why do people feel the need to walk up, up to the very tip top of that ski jump when there are so many beautiful places to see.)
Once you get through to the opposite side, walk out and start up the road to your left… for a while. Just keep following the road I swear! At some point you will reach a small gift shop on your left and the road kind of splits just after it. You can either go up to the left, or kind of straight, go straight… and keep walking! After a little while you will reach the entrance to the klamm where you purchase your tickets.
(Mom the German translator: klamm is German for gorge)
Hold on to these as you may need to show them again on your way out. Now just wander slowly through, and enjoy.
The water is magical. While it has that underlying turquoise blue that so reminds me of central america, it also has an almost milky quality that makes it seem like something completely different. We started taking pictures as soon as we came to the river on our walk up thinking we were already seeing something amazing. We took our time walking through and enjoying the natural beauty and strength. The water becomes so confined within the walls of the klamm that it becomes wild and almost alive with energy.
When we got the the end of the klamm the shore line widened and the water turned back into a winding river that wasn’t on the verge of being out of control. Instead of the turning around and walking back like most do we decided to continue walking up the river and we discovered there were more than one option for walking back. So we decided to take the long way back, up and over the mountain. You know, to get a different view.
So hike we did! We also got drenched in the rain. Which was actually kind of nice as it kept us nice in cool during our trek over the mountain. There is a lot of up hill. And when I say uphill I mean switchbacks for the first half of the hike. But it is totally worth it, trust me.
(Mom: During this hike we heard cows with bells way up here in the mountains but we never saw them. I don’t think the cows had come home as of yet hence the reason they were way up in the mountains. hehe, read online about ‘WHEN THE COWS COME HOME IN GERMANY’. What can I say, the Germans like to party. Oh and….More very high up bridges made of WOOD! I have to add, I loved the Alps so much I wanted more and was willing to drop Vince (which we did) to spend more time in the nature and klamms in the Alps.)
We got back to the car somehow dry and STARVING. So we set out and stopped at the first place we found with decent parking that ended up being an awesome little pizza place that I ended up going back to again at a later date.
We finished… and boxed up… our pizza and then set out. It already felt like we had a full and complete trip and we hadn’t even made it to day 5 ?! So we decided to take it easy the next day.
See all the photos here.
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