The Beginning and the End.

A little bit late, but here's my goodbye to Garmisch!

After coming back from Greece, my last week in GAP flew by. Last days of work, Aran coffee dates, one last Bollywood meal, lots of packing, and spending time with some of my favorite people!

It was hard to say goodbye, and I will definitely miss my little mountain town.... people watching and the BEST coffee @ Aran, hiking in the Alps, and being able to ride my bike anywhere I need to go.  I've enjoyed living in never-never land for the past year and feel blessed to have been able to visit so many new places.  

Here's a look back at a few of my favorite things in GAP! 

My room...though I won't miss the community bathrooms! 

My daily bike ride to work on the Kinder Path!

Endless hours at Aran! 

Zugtown! 

The Partnach Gorge

Postcard-esque Views

The Eibsee

Hikes to the Halfway House

And now it's off to a new adventure in Williamsburg! But I will never forget all the memories, places, and friends from my time in GAP.  Hopefully I'll be back some day.

The End!

Greece!

I just returned from my last trip... Greece! It was so nice to take what actually felt like a vacation, laying on the beach rather than sightseeing.  Haley, Morgan, and I headed to Athens last Monday.  We spent Monday in Athens, and one day there was plenty for us. We got to see the Acropolis, but the rest of Athens was extremely dirty and overly crowded.  So we were ready to head to Santorini.

 The Parthenon at the Acropolis

After a 6 hour ferry ride, we made it to the island and our hotel on Kamari Beach. The hotel was great and right on the beach!

We spent most of our time at the beach or pool finally getting TAN.  There was not a cloud in the sky for the entire trip, such a pleasant change from Garmisch.

We did take a day excursion out to the volcano which is located on a nearby island.  We chose to walk down the 530+ steps to the port rather than ride the smelly donkeys.

We climbed on lots of volcanic ash in our flipflops... maybe not the smartest idea.

We also spent some time in Fira and Oiya, 2 cliff side towns on Santorini.  Beautiful views of the white cliff side buildings, just like you see in all the pictures.

 And beautiful sunsets too!

We were so sad to leave and of course arrived back to Garmisch in the rain. Now time to enjoy a few last days in here before heading home!

Passion Play

This week, Maeg and I finally took our long awaited trip to Oberammergau to see the Passion Play. The Passion Play happens only every 10 years, and we were lucky enough to be here for it! As you can see from the picture above, there were lots and lots of tourists coming to the event.

Just a little history for you... the Passion Play began in 1633, during the time when the plague hit most of Europe.  The people of Oberammergau vowed to portray the passion of Christ every 10 years, and from that moment on, no one in the town was killed by the plague.

Since then, the Passion Play has been performed every 10 years, with over half of the town's residents participating in the play. 

They constructed a building specifically for the Passion Play. 

The play lasted 5 and a half hours, with a 2 hour intermission in the middle. Luckily, the guidebook had the entire script in English for us which helped tremendously. 

 View from inside. The seating area is covered but the stage is open-air. 

It was truly a once in a lifetime experience, and one I'll never forget!

Now gearing up for one last trip to Greece! Hoping that the volcano does not interrupt our plans! 

More Visitors...

Dad and Claudia left on Thursday... and Theresa and Greg arrived! Theresa is one of my best friends from St. Louis, so it was nice to have visitors from home! Unfortunately the rain continued, but we didn't let that stop us.  We hiked the Kramer in the rain.... and by the time we got to the top it was snowing!  We had very cold fingers and toes but it was so much fun! We stopped at the halfway house to warm up on the way down.  After warm showers, we headed into town for coffee at Aran... my favorite place! We had dinner with my girlfriends at La Baita, a local Italian restaurant (Theresa was not such a fan of German food).  Then we went to Jameson for open mic night and had a fun night out! 

Saturday, we opted for an easier hike... the Partnach gorge. Then lunch and a tour of base and Edelweiss. Theresa and Greg already flew back to the States yesterday after their quick European tour.

I think my tour guiding skills have definitely improved over the last 2 weeks! I am ready to relax for a little bit before it's time for my last adventure to Greece!

See ya'll in a month!

Dad and Claudia's Visit

Dad and Claudia are visiting! Unfortunately the first several days in Garmisch were, well, typical Garmisch weather... cloudy and rainy. But we still had fun venturing around town. We walked around Garmisch and Partenkirchen and toured Edelweiss.  We walked through the Partnach Gorge and had lunch with the girls at our favorite restaurant.

Then it was off to Vienna for a few days! After trying for a long long time, we finally got the GPS programmed and made our way through Austria.  Dad learned that it's quite a challenge to park in Europe, but we made it. We went to the ballet, Coppelia, at the famous StaatOpera House.  It was great! Then we headed to the Sacher Cafe for a taste of the famous Sacher torte-- an apricot and chocolate cake that originated in Salzburg.

View from our hotel window

StaatOpera

We also walked around the town center, visited Saint Stephen's Cathedral, finally found the Mozart Statue, and toured the Hofburg Palace. 

Mozart

One day we took the ferry over to Bratislava, Slovakia. It is a lot smaller than Vienna, but still lots of tourists! It is a cute town, and we got to see their famous statues placed around the city... and several street performers mimicking them.

One of the many statues

Then we headed back to Garmisch with a quick lunch stop in Salzburg. We saw the Mirabell Gardens... much prettier with all the flowers compared to last time I was there.

Fruhlingsfest (Spring Festival) came to Garmisch, so Dad and Claudia did get to experience a mini Octoberfest.  Finally we had a nice day in Garmisch so we took the train to the top of the Zugspitze and visited the Eibsee lake.

Top of the Zuggy....still very cold!!

One more day trip to Verona, Italy. Morgan joined us too! We saw their famous Roman Amphitheater, the 3rd oldest in the world.  Also walked under the bridge with a whale's rib suspended from it. According to the legend, if you have never told a lie, the rib will fall on you when you walk under it....so far it had never fallen!

View from the top of the Ampitheater

The famouse whale's rib

One of the many tiny car filling the streets of Italy

On their last day in Garmisch, we hiked to the Halfway house in the rain, and then spent some time in town. We had to go back to Zumwildshutz for more potato soup.... Dad's favorite part of the whole trip! Then it was back to the US for them... and I'll be there shortly too!

Zugtown Camping Trip

This past weekend, the Zuggy's crew took a camping trip to Lake Bled in Slovenia.  Despite the oh so cold temperature, we had a blast!

Unfortunately it was not soo sunny. 

We hiked through the Vintar gorge, and a few of us decided to get in.....

In the evening, we built a campfire and Gabe cooked us some delicious curry chicken... the most gormet campfire meal I've ever had.  We did hear some rustlings in the woods and all got a little bit scared. We still don't know what it was, so that made for a little excitement!

The next day we woke up and made eggs for breakfast.... which took quite a long time to cook on the fire! Then we visited the castle in town and bottled our own wine with the help of a monk! We were hoping to canoe out to the island in the center of the lake but it was so cold and windy that we decided coffee and the campfire would have to do.  

The monk helping Brad bottle wine

Then it was time to pile back into our big blue van and head back to Garmisch in time for work!
Looking forward to the next Zuggy's trip to Cinque Terre!

Our First Taste of Summer

Haley and I just got back from a short weekend trip to Belek, Turkey!  We booked an all-inclusive package with a travel agent in Garmisch. Even though we were staying at a 5 star resort on the beach, we were a little nervous because Eastern European "5 star" standards are a little different than ours. But our hotel, Crystal Resort and Spa, was gorgeous! Everything turned out perfect, and it was so nice to stay at a nice hotel with our own space instead of our usual hostel experience.

Yay we made it and the hotel is nice!

View from the balcony of our hotel room

We spent the first day laying by the pool and at the beach, relaxing. It was warm, but not hot hot, so we didn't think we needed sunscreen... maybe not the best choice as we are both a little red now! We also got massages. We were a bit surprised to walk in and find 2 men in sarongs...??? Turns out part one was actually a Turkish bath.  They use a special scrub and lots and lots of bubbles. Quite an experience, which was followed by a more traditional aroma therapy message.

Our spot by the pool

Day 2 we decided to take a tour and see a little bit of Turkey.  The tour was all in German since we booked our trip through a German travel agent, which made things a bit interesting.

 We thought we would be surrounded by retired Germans, but we weren't the youngest ones on our tour... this is Sofia--precious but very whiny! 

We visited the town of Manavgat. First we stopped at a waterfall and then a "market" which was more like a knock off junk store.

Then we took a little boat cruise and spent some time on the beach.  After we visited a Mosque where we were required to take off our shoes and cover our heads as is the custom in the Islamic religion.  We also heard the Islamic prayer, the Salaat broadcast from the Mosques, which happens 5 times a day.

 The Mosque... notice the 4 towers, or Minarets--each one has a speaker to broadcast the Salaat. 

We finished a tour by visiting a "bazaar," or street market.  We stopped in a bakery to get a little taste of one of our favorite Turkish treats... baklava.  The worker did not know any English, so we ended up with a whole box of baklava which we had no problem finishing!

Our favorite Turkish treat, baclava

 We ended the tour just in time to catch the end of the sunset back at the resort

Then it was already time to go back to the airport. We had a bit of a scary flight home with lots of turbulence. We felt like we were on a roller coaster for most of the ride, but we made it safely to Munich after what felt like an eternity.  Caught the train back to Garmisch just in time for me to head directly to work for a busy night in Zuggy's! 

I think it is finally spring here in Garmisch, and I can ride my bike to work again! We are already planning some fun warm weather activities here, and hopefully soon it will be as warm here as it was in Turkey!