Andar como burro sin mecate.: castles

Forgive the cheesy title, but I’m in the Alps! Or I was. I guess this post is an afterthought now, but I was high on a mountaintop a couple days ago. I kept singing “Ricolaaaaaaaa” in my head the whole time, and I had to keep reminding myself that I’m in the German Alps, not the Swiss Alps. Eh, who cares. It’s the Alps either way.

Wanda and I stayed in Garmisch, with Carina and Toni (Gert had to work. Boo). It was incredible. We were smack in the middle of this huge mountain chain, surrounded on all sides. Carina’s home is lovely, with an amazing view of the mountains through the trees. As my mom would say, it doesn’t suck.

Well, since I was in the Alps, that obviously meant I had to climb up them. Ok, we cheated. Carina, Wanda, and I took the gondola. That was my first gondola ride, and coming down felt like a roller coaster! Now it was fun but the best part was at the top. We were at the base of the Alpspitze peak, which is next to the Zugspitze, the tallest mountain in Germany. There is this platform, called the AlpspiX, which sticks out 42 feet over the cliffs. Actually, it’s two platforms that form an X, with one arm higher than the other. All that separates you from the ground 3000 feet below is a metal grate. Can you say vertigo? You step out from the cliff and you just feel your stomach drop. It’s really funny to watch people walk out for the first time. You hear a lot of expletives, followed by apologies, and shrieking, and then the people start creeping forward slowly, clinging to the railing. There was a big, black guy that looked like he was going to be sick. And you never get used to it. I went on the upper one first and then went to the lower one. I stepped out the second time, got dizzy, closed my eyes, and ran all the way to the end. Once you realize how ridiculous you look, you can’t help but laugh the rest of the time.

Zugspitze

The view from up there is just breathtaking. You can see the whole town of Garmisch, and several other towns, plus into more of the Alps. You gotta love the mountains.

Garmisch

On our way back, we stopped at the ski jumps from the 1936 Winter Olympics, which were held in Garmisch. I don’t know how some people can jump off those. That must take a lot of guts.

I ate a traditional German meal of pork roast and dumplings, aka schweinsbraten. So yummy. I think I definitely like German food more than Spanish food. It’s rich without being super heavy, so I don’t feel ten pounds heavier after every meal.

The next morning we went up to King Ludwig’s (king of Bavaria) castle Linderhof, which is more like a mini palace. It’s pretty small, in comparison with other castles, but Ludwig actually lived here, as opposed to some of his other castles that he built just for show. That doesn’t mean that this mini palace wasn’t showy. It was. But it was tastefully done. Well, except for the grotto. That place was really cool but crazy. He had this huge cave built for him (none of the rocks are real) where he listened to Wagner and paddled around on a boat for hours at a time. He even had electricity for the grotto to power his colored lights, but not for his palace. Yeah, he was a little loopy.

Illegal picture inside the castle!!

The grotto.

We were super lucky with the weather. It was beautiful and sunny all morning and then rained just as we got in the car to leave. This was no problem because we just wanted to drive through Oberammergau, the site of the Passion Plays. Every ten years or so, the whole town participates in a production of the Passion of Christ and people come from all over the world to see this show. They just had one in 2010, so around 2020, be there.

Passion playhouse

We also stopped at the Ettal Abbey, founded in 1330. It’s now a boarding school, as well as a monastery, and they brew their own beer to raise money. Carina also swears the cake from a little shop across the street is the best in the valley. Since she lives there, I’ll take her word. Plus, I’ve tried it and it’s pretty darn good.

Mountains, castles, and cake. That’s what you have to look forward to in the Garmisch area. You couldn’t ask for much better.

Sorry I am such a slacker, but I am too busy loving Germany! It’s so green and full of quaint, little towns. I’m told it’s like this everywhere in Germany, so hands down it’s the prettiest country. All the towns remind me of ski villages, which means I’m basically in heaven. And I’m with family now. Yup, heaven.

Gert and Wanda’s home is beautiful. They’ve been so welcoming. I couldn’t thank them enough for letting me stay with them and showing me around. They live in a little place called Neuötting (pronounced “new-urting”, roughly), which is right next to Altötting (alt-urting). Together they have about 25,000 people. Just right. These two towns are located in the German state of Bavaria, about twenty minutes from the Austrian border (which means I’ll spend a little time in Austria too!).

Neuötting was an important trade city, especially for salt, and trading would take place right in the middle of the square. They were also allowed to mint coins here, which only the really important cities had the right to do.

Coining house.

While Neuötting is the trading city, Altötting is the religious capital of Bavaria. There are like five churches or chapels around the town square. This town is famous for the black Madonna, which resides in a small chapel in the square. Tradition says that this small statue has miraculous healing powers and thousands of people pilgrim (is that even a verb??) here to pray for healing. Whenever someone is supposedly healed by the Madonna, they make a little plaque and hang it in the chapel. The walls are COVERED in these plaques. It’s really cool.

After showing me around the two towns, Wanda took me over to the Burghausen Castle, the longest castle complex in Europe (over 1000 meters, or 0.64 miles, long). It’s made up of the main house and six courtyards, where people still live today. Those people can actually say they live in a castle. Lucky ducks! Wanda and I renamed the castle: Wanda and Emily’s Castle. I know, real creative. It just came to us, I guess. So feel free to come visit us in our castle. There’s obviously plenty of room!