1980 Zugspitze (8/2/1980)

Saturday, August 2, 1980

Got our own compartment on the train and pulled out the seats to stretch out for the night. Terry and Kathy changed into long pants in anticipation of a cool trip up the Zugspitze. Awoke at 06:00, and arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen before 07:00. Found the first train to Zugspitze didn't leave until 08:00, so we went into town to find a grocery store.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Had a breakfast of bananas and chocolate milk. Our Eurailpasses gave us the same discount as given military personnel, still about $15 round-trip.

Zugspitze train ticket

Postcard of Zugspitze cog railway

The train left a little after 08:00 and worked its way around fields with little log cabin barns (?), and chalet homes with carved wooden balconies and flower boxes with geraniums. Passed a very interesting cemetery with carved wooden crosses and grave-markers. At Grainau we changed to the cogwheel train which took us up the Zugspitze, partway inside the mountain. We were left off at the Schneefernerhaus where we looked across the Zugspitzplatt to see a few hikers wandering, then took a cable car up to the summit of Zugspitze.

Zugspitzplatt

Gipfel aerial cable car

I got separated from Terry and Kathy who got on the first aerial car as expected. The crowds shoved me off the second car. I patiently waited for the third, and did as the conductor said by moving into the back of the waiting area. I was in the back alone; perhaps I was the only one who understood German (!). At the summit I thoroughly explored the restaurants, gift shops and observation terraces before finding Terry and Kathy. We could look down on a spectacular view of a nearby lake, and even walk over the border (past customs!) into Austria. There was a point of rock to almost literally mountain climb, and because of the snow I wouldn't try it with sneakers. 

Kathy on Zugspitze (TAT)

View from Zugspitze

View from Zugspitze

Golden cross on the top of Zugspitze (TAT)

View from Zugspitze

Took the larger aerial cable car which zoomed almost straight down to Eibsee. There we saw an artist at work painting mountain scenery.

Eibsee aerial cable car

We went to board the next train down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Weren't we surprised to find our train beginning to ascend! So we had to go all the way up again to Schneefernerhaus, only to immediately turn around to go to Eibsee. And continued down to Grainau where we changed to the regular train. Finally arrived in Garmisch about 13:00.

View from train of a barn

View from train of chalets

Mountain stream

Had our lunch of “corned beef” sandwiches and Japanese crackers with water and a lemonade mix. Then took a walk through town in an unsuccessful search for Hummel figurines. Went through a small department store, and stopped in a café to sample various pastries including the Schwarzwalderkirschtorte/Black Forest cherry cake, some strange cake (vanilla and chocolate with a jam layer, a creamy chocolate layer, and icing with a greenish tinge sprinkled with walnut chips), and a cream puff. Kathy had seen some carved wooden flasks she liked. Returned to the train station, and to use up the rest of our German change we bought a Coke, a box of cherry drops, and a couple postcards. As we wrote our postcards, a fat man in shorts and hiking boots asked in English where we were going. He told us our train would come in on the other track which we knew. He then asked what state we were from, then commented the "country" was better than he expected (which country?). After a long wait, we retrieved the bags we had checked in a locker, and crossed over the tracks to catch the 15:24 train to Innsbruck. In Innsbruck we found our choices were limited, but decided to go to Florence. Since we had a long wait, we put our bags in a locker after I changed our German bills to Austrian money. We walked to the old city passing an oompah band in a café. We lingered at store windows in order to enjoy the music. We first found the "golden roof,” a small roof over a balcony where supposedly the royalty used to sit to observe events in the square.

Goldenes Dachl/Golden roof

Bought some cherries. There were sidewalk artists making chalk drawings in the square; a couple were excellent, copied from known paintings (i.e., Dürer’s self-portrait).

Sidewalk artist doing Dürer's portrait

We went to see St. Jakob’s Cathedral and the Inn River.

St Jakob's Cathedral

Decided the Olympic sites were too far away, but did see the ski jump in the distance. In Garmisch-Partenkirchen we had passed the Olympic ice stadium and two ski jumps.

We went in search of a restaurant, but the menus were either too expensive, not so appetizing, or not understandable. Ended up at a Wienerwald again, and went to eat in their outdoor garden. Terry got a fish fry with potato salad, I got hunters veal in mushroom sauce with noodles, and Kathy got a "natural schnitzel'' with turkey and rice, and a mixed salad (beans, cole slaw, lettuce, cucumbers, and a couple tomato wedges).

Wienerwald restaurant patio (TAT)

Our ploy to save money in the pay restroom didn't work. After dinner we walked to the palace gardens via the old town to avoid a group of "halloers." We heard an Austrian approach a friend with "Hey, man!"; we heard some English-speakers ask each other how to speak French so they could "bon soir" us; and a couple weirdos walked by claiming to be Americans; while others proclaimed us as Americans. The park was beautiful and a bit buggy. We sat in a corner to eat the cherries, when we heard a band. We went to investigate, and found the band was coming into the park to play in the gazebo. We watched the sun set as we listened to the Tirolean concert.

Tirolean band

The Hofburg seen from the garden

Innsbruck Map

Map of Innsbruck

We hurried back to the train station and found all the snack bars were closed. We had to return to the Wienerwald to spend most of our Austrian change on a couple sodas. Our train to Italy had only a half car (2nd class) available to us, and it was packed. We had to sit in the corridor with chain smokers. A foretaste of Italian trains: it got off to a late start, and spent a half hour at the border. I heard a strange dialect, a mixture of German and Italian.
Next: Firenze/Florence.