Garmisch & The Zugespitze--The top of Germany!

I promised myself that in order to keep from becoming overwhelmed with blogging about vacations from a long time ago, I'd only post about trips we have taken or things we have done it the last year.

We went to Garmisch, Germany for the first time over Memorial Day weekend of 2012, so I'm just getting this one in under the wire!

It was a trip that I was really looking forward to, but also one that I hadn't had the chance to do a lot of planning for. It was also our first trip OUT of Italy and so we were really looking forward to a change of scenery. I was AMAZED at how beautiful the German region of Bavaria was!  Even a year later, it's like nothing I've seen before.

We stayed at an amazing apartment in Garmisch, right across the street from Edelweiss, the American military resort in Europe. We were lucky because our apartment was actually between The Edelweiss and the Zugespitze. Since we were vacationing with some family friends, The Neumeyers, who also have four children, we needed a place that could fit twelve! This place was PERFECT and still remains one of my favorite places we've stayed in the year and a half that we've lived here. It's owned by Suzanne and her adorable little son, Josh--if you are ever in need of a place to stay in Garmisch, she has several apartments and chalets. I won't ever stay anywhere else in the Garmisch area! Please contact me and I'll be happy to give you her contact info! Here's the view from our apartment:

 All of the windows in the apartment--and there are plenty, have this view.  We woke up to this one morning.

We enjoyed watching the sky divers glide down from the top of the Zugespitze.

With my crazy fear of heights, there's not a chance I'll ever be trying this...

Even at the end of May, the Zugespitze was covered in a lot of snow.

View from Edelweiss--very similar, huh?

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, the top of the Zugespitze is the highest point in Germany.  The mountain itself is actually in two countries--Germany and Austria and at the top, you can actually walk between the two countries. They have an awesome webcam that shows a panoramic view of the peak HERE.

In order to get to the top, it was a short walk down to the train station where we could buy tickets and hop on the cogwheel train that would take us to the glacier (not actually the top).  Buying tickets at the station was super easy and much, much cheaper than buying them at the Edelweiss. 

 Pretty little wildflowers that were along the way to the train station

Our families walking to the train station

Picture of the cogwheel train that I got off the Zugespitze website

 The cable car that takes you from the glacier to the top of the mountain.  I was terrified!

The ride from the train station to the glacier was a slow one but the scenery was breathtaking!  We could feel it getting colder and colder on the ride up there but I had no idea there would be so much SNOW when we got to the top!! Everything was still covered with tons of snow and the amazing thing was that people were sledding!  We were quick to jump right in!  I NEVER thought I would be able to say that I went sledding on the top of a mountain in natural snow over Memorial Day weekend!

Panoramic view of the glacier

Chapel on the glacier

                   

Trey at the top of the glacier

We all had an awesome time sledding down the hill!

Especially Jackson!

And ME!

 Jeanne photo bombing!

It was crazy bright up there! And somebody forgot her sunglasses...

 On the cable car on the way up to the top.  This is looking down on the glacier where we sledded, from the top of the mountain.

 The tiny black dot is a climber!

 Looking down on Lake Eibsee from the very top

The very highest point

Being at the top was awesome and the view was breathtaking but I can't say that I didn't feel a little bit better when we were back on lower ground.  Apparently, we were very lucky to have this amazing view because we have been up to the top on a couple more times and never have we been able to see the lake! We took the cable car all the way down to Lake Eibsee and the dads and kids took the paddle boats out on the lake while Jeanne and I drank beer and ate ice cream.  It was a wonderful day and we were lucky to have such a clear day at the top of Germany!

Tory took all these pictures on the lake!

Jeanne and I took these while we were eating our ice cream and drinking our beer.  

People ate these fish right off the stick!! GROSS!! 

Still one of my all-time favorite European signs! If you haven't read that post, click HERE.

Then Delilah wanted to eat some ice cream too, while she chattered away...to herself...

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