Beautiful Bavaria

ice cream in downtown Garmisch 
chillin after walking through the gorge
Neuschwanstein castle
cool farm house
ski lift riding up to the alpine sled

standing on the marys bridge looking down at Hohenschwanstein Castle located near Neuschwanstein.
gorge
Eibsee lake at the foot of the zugspitze mtn.
zug. mtn

ski jump that is being re-built for the alpine ski 2011 in Garmisch. 

I think we found one of the most beautiful places on earth this past week as we traveled into the Bavarian country side of southern Germany. We were greeted with turquoise blue rivers, charming architecture with flower boxes galore, and mountains to make any desert rat like myself just stand in awe. The weather couldn't have been better, mid 80's with plenty of sunshine.
We arrived to our little hotel on Thursday afternoon in a little town outside Garmisch Germany. Garmisch also is where the military resort Eidelweiss is located. Although it is a beautiful resort, it's busy and hard to get a reservation during the travel season. We fell in love with our little hotel. The owners came and talked with us during breakfast making sure we knew what our plans were for the day and suggested events or places that also might be fun. Many people flock to Garmisch during the winter as it is a huge ski area. There are many lakes, mountains to climb, and things to do to keep anyone busy for days. We visited the old olympic stadium from 1936 where the winter olympics were held. We walked to the Partnach Gorge where we witnessed Mother Nature at it's finest. There was a path that led us through the gorge as we watched the rapids crashing below. There were beautiful waterfalls that sprayed us with ice cold water. It was absolutely gorgeous watching the water and walking through the canyon.
We went alpine sledding in a cute village about 45 minutes from where we stayed called Leutasch. It's actually in Austria.  There was a play park with fun rides. The favorite was the bumper cars. Lauryn had a sore neck the next morning...wonder why?? We visited the "cinderella castle" also called the Neuschwanstein Castle which was Mad King Ludwig's home for about 165 days until he died. The castle was beautifully decorated, I wish we could've taken pictures of the inside.
We visited the largest mountain peak in Germany called the Zugspitze . We wanted to go to the top, but couldn't stomach the cost. Next trip! We had a spontaneous moment of visiting the lake at the bottom of the mountain. We weren't prepared to get in the water but just couldn't resist. A paddle boat and anxious kids led to lots of laughter and swimming in the middle of the lake. We had the best time that afternoon!
We did not want to leave Monday afternoon as we had hardly made a dent at the list of things to do and see in the beautiful bavarian countryside.
One funny thing, we were driving through main street when traffic stopped for a farmer herding her cows through the village. It was fun to see the cows walking with the bells on their neck.
On the way home, we drove through Munich to find a dress shop to get the girls the traditional German dress called dirndls. We found some cute ones!
We also had to walk around the BMW headquarters in Munich. It was fun but I still prefer a Volvo XC90 over the BMW X5. Throw rocks at me now but that's just how I roll these days! :-)
We will surely go back to Garmisch in the next few months, I can only imagine what it would look like decorated up for Christmas. I included video of the cows, play park and the beautiful Lauryn who aparently got a hold of the camera while we were driving home. I'll explain what she was saying in the video, we call Lola the dog Merkle because when she lays down her face hair lays out straight making her look all dishovled and funny. The name Merkle just appeared one day and has since been her name. That particular video is one that only a mother could love. :-)
I've only uploaded a few pictures, if you really want to see more...email me and I'll give you the address of our picture download at flickr.com