Mittenwald, Germany

This was the Alpine visit we planned originally, before we saw the pictures of Königssee. We kept it in the schedule because there were definitely things we wanted to do here. We chose Mittenwald originally because we wanted to see the Alps, and it was a smaller, cheaper town/ village than Garmisch. It's also less frequented, especially over night, by non-Germans, so that would make things interesting.

It was an uneventful morning. We woke up, left our hotel, got some money from an ATM because the place we would be staying was cash only, as many things are here in Germany. The neighborhood was a little sketch, but better than downtown Philly. Still, it doesn't hurt to be vigilant. After securing our colorful Euros, we got breakfast at one of the few places that was open that early-- a bagel place. Yes, I went all the way to Germany to eat lox and bagels.

Quick breakfast in the room, pack up, hit the streets. It's Sunday, everything is closed. This is also the norm in most of Germany, stores closed on Sunday, except in and around train stations and such in bigger towns and cities. This is changing apparently, in places like Berlin and Hamburg (no surprise- eyeroll), and museums and restaurants are open, but stores, big no.

Train is on time, which is good. There had been an horrific accident earlier in the year between north of Garmisch resulting in several deaths, injuries, and very bad damage to the tracks, so DB is running busses from Murnau to Mittenwald. The service was flawless. We got off the train, onto nice busses, and off we went.

After a stop in Garmisch, which looked okay, a bit overcrowded, we were back on the road to Mittenwald. The bus left us off at the front of the train station. So far, so good.

The town is beautiful. As an American imagining a town in the Alps, it doesn't get much better. There's Lüftlmalerei everywhere, and not just in the pedestrian zone or on the public buildings and hotels. It's on people's homes, stores, and it's all very beautiful. There are flowers in all the window boxes, in planters along the streets. Through the main street of he pedestrian zone is a little run of water.

This place is a dream. We passed a lot of places to eat, ice cream shops (of course), the violin museum and giant violin (Mittenwald is famous for its violin making, and has been for centuries). We kind of got off course, found our pension, but no one was there, as we kind of expected. Check in is at four, and they stick to their schedules.

Besides that, though, we're off to a good start. But what to do? Go back down to eat, maybe have our first döner.Weiterlesen