Day two in Germany! Overwhelmed by the hubbub of the city, we planned a day out of town.

First thing in the morning, we headed out in search of breakfast. We were loading up for a day in the mountains, so I got a yogurt parfait, a pistachio croissant (yum!), and a hot chocolate. Sean got a coffee, a chocolate croissant, and an omelette flatbread thing.

Once satisfied, we went back to the hotel to check on our still drying laundry, and to our utter dismay (yet not to my surprise), it was still damp in the machine. We frantically hang-dried everything all over our room in the end before rushing out to catch our bus.

When we were planning this trip, the one thing Sean really, really wanted to do was hike in the Alps. I’m not sure how he managed it, but he found a giant gondola that runs up to a mountain called Alpspitze. I spent a ton of time researching to try and determine whether we should go Sunday or Monday for the weather. Both days suggested thunderstorms in the afternoon, but Monday seemed like it would be sunnier in the morning. I worried if there were too many clouds, we would miss out on the views!

After searching several weather sites, we settled on Sunday. We had to first take a bus to the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

When I was doing research on the bus, I learned that Alpspitze was right next to Germany’s tallest peak, Zugspitze. I hoped we could stick to the Alpspitze plan, though, as the images online seemed a lot prettier to me.

The bus ride was gorgeous as we approached the mountains.

Once we arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the view was even more spectacular! We spent a bit of time trying to figure out exactly how to get to the gondola, and Sean ran a brief campaign to visit Zugspitze instead, but in the end, he agreed we could stick to the original plan.

We took a city bus up to the gondola and were shocked to find one of those directional arrow things that included both Seattle and Whistler! Perhaps a PNW native works at this restaurant??

And then it was time for the gondola ride.

Quite possibly the most gorgeous gondola ride in history. We shared the cabin with a couple families and several paragliders.

I couldn’t decide what was prettier – the mountains above us or the valley below!

Once at the top, it kind of felt like a race against the clock to avoid being rained or clouded-out! (Spoiler – neither really happened in the end.)

At the top was a restaurant and lots of people heading out or returning from various adventures. It was up to us to decide how to proceed!

Wildflowers were poppin’ off – in all colors and all shapes and sizes. I was in heaven!

We saw several paragliders taking off!

We were at the top of Osterfelderkopf, and Sean’s big dream was to summit Alpspitze. Unfortunately, we learned during our research that this summit climb was to be completed “via ferrata,” or “with harness.” It wasn’t in the cards for us, dressed to the nines in our poorly-tractioned sneakers and light sweaters. Maybe next time.

In consolation, we first rounded the top of Osterfelder and made our way towards the valley behind. Sean braved a risky climb (his shoes had much better traction) while I stayed and waited for a full report.

I was pretty nervous, but there was a cute little employee man who was likely doing some sort trail or weather condition reconnaissance in the area. He was wearing no better shoes than Sean, and he hiked up and around these rocky trails, using the chains when necessary, to secure various pictures on his phone. I figured if he could do it, I shouldn’t worry about Sean.

From the top of the little crag, Sean proclaimed that the view was spectacular and shouldn’t be missed, but we decided to see if I could view it from down in the valley to avoid the sketchy climb.

Alas! The view was viewed!

These pictures really don’t do it justice. It’s hard to portray just how expansive, green, and beautiful this valley was. *sigh…*

There’s actually a little hotel down in the valley that you can hike to! Would be a fun adventure.

We had perfect timing, too, because not ten minutes after we entered the valley, a mass of clouds swept in and completely obscured the view!

It was crazy! It happened so fast. I wanted to race back to the other side and see if it had suffered the same fate.

Luckily, though, the clouds stayed in the smaller valley and didn’t creep over.

We’d been kind of leapfrogging with this sweet older German lady on the path, and I took the opportunity to ask for a photo. That’s the cover photo for this post! So pretty.

I also convinced Sean to take some fun pictures, haha.

Too gorgeous, right?!

Next, it was time to try our hand at the Alpspitze trail. We agreed to venture as far as we could safely without gear (or whenever we made it up into the clouds and no longer had a view) before returning.

There was one little steel-cable zone, but Sean encouraged me and we made it through no problemo.

There was some crazy rock over here, and suddenly every person we saw was equipped with a harness and helmet. We had officially left the busy hub and entered the true adventurer zone. Sean was very jealous.

He went up to investigate one ferrata section, only to return and report that it looked super fun and he wanted to live here so that he could climb this thing every day. I sat on a pretty rock while he did so and tried not to feel like a doofus with my purse and little sweater every time somebody passed me in their helmet. Talk about feeling underdressed!

The next part of the path was a cave-tunnel carved into the side of the mountain. Very dark and drippy! We had to go slow so I wouldn’t soak through my shoes.

It felt very cool and silly. Not what I’d expected to be doing that day!

Somehow, the clouds rolled in, again within minutes, and soon the view was nearly entirely obscured.

A deal’s a deal, and we were basically at the end of the harness-less section anyway, so it was time to turn around and call it a day.

I don’t care if it’s not Austria. I found a field to frolic in, and I could not resist the pull. Sean waited nearby while I meandered to the center, sung, “The hills are aliiiiiiiiive” in my head, and spun around with my arms outstretched. It felt good. Sean watched and tried not to be embarrassed.

With a new spring in my step, we walked the path back to the gondola hub and restaurant.

Lunch was delicious! Goulash soup, spatzle with cheese sauce, a pretzel, and a cappuccino. Yum, yum, yum. It was heeeeaavy, and we couldn’t quite finish all the goulash.

We had a mountain-side table, and it was just a dream.

At one point near the end of the meal, Sean said something like, “Don’t look behind you.”

Of course I looked. But I was expecting to see a person or a dog embarrassing themselves in the near distance.

What I did not expect to find was a giant yellow-beaked crow approximately twelve inches from my face making intense and expectant eye contact with me!

It was honestly quite terrifying but also very hilarious. The crow was mostly just confused as to what I was so worried about and why I wasn’t feeding him.

After the crow encounter, we cleared our plates and it was time to reluctantly join the queue for the downloading gondola. We really should have planned out the local transit a bit better, though, because our bus to lake Eibsee only ran every hour, and we were not lined up!

First we had to wait for the bus back to Garmisch, and then once we were at our transfer stop, there was a whole debacle. Basically, we waited over forty minutes while both Sean and I tried (and failed) to employ various Uber and and taxi apps, only to realize at the last second that we weren’t even waiting at the correct stop.

We ran for the correct stop, but we couldn’t find it, and then the bus (that only runs once per hour) zoomed past us.

Talk about disappointment. It was devastating.

Somehow, after another twenty minutes or so, we managed to run across the street and flag down a taxi minivan to take us to Eibsee.

The driver was a chatty British man who’d lived in the area for decades. He was talking about his dreams about getting a Range Rover for his next taxi vehicle, which I found to be pretty hilarious. He was also apparently a very successful tour guide pre-covid, but his business hasn’t recovered since. I was pretty tired and a little frustrated from the bus failure still, so I let Sean take the lead on the conversation. ‘Twas cute.

(Do you see the Zugspitze gondola going up into the clouds? I’d say we made the right choice to get the good views!)

By the time we made it to Eibsee, the bike and boat rentals were all closed for the day, so we took a leisurely walk around the southern section of the lake. Lots of baby ducks, and the water was pristine!

It was pretty fun seeing local kids zoom in on their bikes (often loaded with multiple kids per cycle), strip down to swimmers, and jump in the lake. Seems like a nice way to grow up.

Far too soon, it was time to (successfully) catch our bus back to Garmisch.

We wandered the main section of town for a while and almost crashed Mass in the pretty town church, and then Sean suddenly got a craving for a beer.

We popped down at a little tavern and ordered “one beer” and then were chastised a bit for wanting to pay with card. Germany still likes its cash!

I discovered on this German adventure that I am quite the radler fan. It’s half beer, half lemonade! We didn’t get a radler this time, though, so Sean got most of the beer to himself.

We had the same super grumpy driver on our return to Munich that we’d had in the morning. As we waited to board with other riders, we heard several mumbles from people around us. Turns out they knew the driver, too.

One of the first guys to disembark the bus said to us aside, “Best bus driver ever!” Bahahaha. That had us giggling.

We actually did see him joke with one girl as she loaded her bags, so maybe he wasn’t 100% grump? Unclear.

Our bus ride was nice and scenic.

When we got back to the Munich bus station, we walked up the stairs, and I was delighted to see that the bridge was filled with people hanging out and enjoying the sunset.

Like, the kids had literally climbed the bridge struts and were sitting up high on the rafters.

We walked for a while, but Sean finally realized I wanted to do it, too.

Was it as great and magical as I thought it would be? Yes. Absolutely.

Everybody else seemed to have brought a full picnic or bottles of wine, but it still felt cool to be part of the club.

As we climbed back down (Sean said I did this very gracefully – he just jumped!) we found a little bracelet attached to a strut on the bridge. I originally put it on and walked away happily with my find, but then Sean mirrored my thoughts by suggesting it may be some sort of bad luck to take something off a bridge, so I reluctantly reattached it a few struts down. Rats!

As if that wasn’t enough activity for one day, I then convinced myself to go swing dancing. I’d tried the night before for a special monthly “snowball” event, but I couldn’t muster the energy. Tonight was my last chance to try swinging out in Europe!

I passed lots of football (soccer) fans spilling out of bars on my way to the dance, a short twelve minute walk away. All I brought was my phone, some cash, and Sean’s sweater. Traveling light!

I knew I was in the right place once I entered the building and heard swing music flowing down from an upper floor. I climbed the stairs and got one confused look from a man leaving the dance, and then I arrived. A very cute little dance bar! But…. There were about a dozen older people and that’s about it.

It was not a good sign. Small crowd, 40 minutes from the dance’s end, and I find that the older crowd tends to stick together at dances. Hard to infiltrate the clique! I debated (both to myself and to the young bartender) whether it was worth staying at all.

He confirmed that the previous night had been much busier, and when I asked if this night had been busier earlier in the dance, he shook his head and said, “No, because… It’s the finals.” He then revealed his phone hiding behind the bar, playing the EuroCup Final match. That explains the lively bar crowds I’d passed!

I stayed and pondered for a while longer, and a German lady approached to check on the score. “Eins – eins?” She asked. (One – one.) The bartender responded, “Ja,” and then lifted his phone for her to see.

The lady then went into a little conversation, all in German, laughing and chatting with the bartender and me. (Yep, you heard that right!) She kept looking at me, leaning over conspiratorially, then facing the bartender again, going on and on and on.

When she paused to take a breath, I laughed and leaned in to apologize and say that I didn’t speak German, but I guess whatever she had to say was funny, because she just laughed too and continued on!

This happened at least four times, and every time, our laughter got more and more hysterical. Finally, after one last good laughter bout and a few more words, she wandered back to the dance floor. I think we really bonded.

Once she was out of earshot, I looked to the bartender, who asked, “Did you understand….?” And I said, “Not at all.” We shared another good laugh.

In the end, I decided to join the dance and sip on a sweet elderberry spritz. Unfortunately, as predicted, I was never asked to dance! I just sat there watching as the music switched heavily from swing into rockabilly. Finally, as the crowd thinned even more, I took the plunge and asked someone to dance after putting my empty glass on the bar. We got two good dances in, and then I ran outta there and back to the hotel.

Such a long day! I was exhausted! Time for bed, and more stories to come!

Auf wiedersehen!

-Lizzy-wa