Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a ski resort town in the Bavaria region of Southern Germany. Its close to the Astrian border and home to the tallest mountain peak in the country, the Zugspitz.
The mountain has an elevation of 2962 meters above sea level and can be seen from varuous parts of town making for a really amazing backdrop to the city.
As it's hyphenated name suggests, the towns of Garmisch and Partkirchen were once separate cities. They were actually forced into amalgamation in 1935 by Adolf Hitler in preparation for the winter Olympics that the city would be hosting the following year.
The 1936 winter Olympics was the first to include Alpine skiing and a few other winter sports and remains of some of the events can still be viewed there to this day. Visitors can check out the original Bob Sled luge as well as three large ski jump ramps on one of the mountains just outside the city. We didn't visit the jumps but we caught a glimpse of them way off in the distance when we walked over to Partkirchen.
We stayed in town for two nights during our trip and did some hiking and exploration of the surrounding area.
There were a few things that I really liked about the town beside the mountains, one being that both Garmisch and Partenkirchen had their own sort of feel and identity about them.
We stayed in the Garmisch side of the city which had a slightly more modern feel to it. There were lots of shops and restaurants and a really beautiful garden park right at its center.
We also wandered over the the Partkirchen side on one of the nights, which seemed to be a bit smaller and a little more historic and traditional.
I can't really say which side I preferred as both were quite nice in their own way.
Both sides had beautiful buildings with some really neatly painted facades. Many of the buildings were wood chalet style as well, which reminded me a lot of Switzerland. I suppose thats not surprising though considering how close we were to the border.
I don't know if it's based on tradition or if the people in Bavaria are super religious but I noticed that many of the murals were painted with religious scenes and figures.
There were also themes of nature, and farming and agriculture as well as scenes depicting festivities and merriment.
I mentioned in my previous post that every restaurant, hotel and venue in Bavaria required FFP2 masks and that we didn't have one. Normally this wouldn't be an issue but apparently in Germany all of the pharmacies and many of the stores close down on weekends, even Saturdays. It was around 2pm on Saturday and we couldn't find a single open pharmacy or store to buy a mask. Luckily the restaurant we ate dinner at was giving them to tourists for free, which was super helpful.
This has nothing to do with Garmisch-Partenkirchen or with Germany, but I find the FFP2 masks to be rather annoying. Not only are they significantly more expensive then the regular medical masks but they are also very cheaply made. The string that connects the mask to your ear is just glued to the outside of the mask and it will break with even the slightest of pulls. My wife broke hers within the first few hours of receiving it and had to puncture the mask in order to tie it onto the fabric. I managed to make mine last a few days by handling it very delicately but it eventually it broke as well. I don't have a problem wearing a mask at all but I do have an issue planned obsolescence. I think that the concept of a single use mask for everyday purposes is just ridiculous given the scale of mask use today. Unless of course, the goal is to make as much money as possible for the manufacturers and to completely turn a blind eye to the environment. FFP2 masks are nothing more than a racket in my opinion. Okay moving on.
Trouble at the Hotel
Now that I'm ranting a bit I may as well mention that we had one minor issue with our hotel during our stay. It was nothing major, not enough for me to write a bad review, but enough to make things slightly awkward for us during our stay. It was the only negative we had during our trip to Germany.
It happened the first night when I walked into the lobby after dinner, several hours after we had checked in. We were stopped by a new woman at the counter who I assume was the owner. She basically started giving me a really hard time because we had our dog with us. Kindly and apologetically I explained that her website clearly states that dogs are allowed in the hotel for a fee so I didn't see why it was a problem. She responded with,
Owner: "Yes, but you needed to tell us that you were bringing your dog."
Me: "Oh I'm sorry I didn't realize that. I booked online on your website and there was no place to specify that we were traveling with our dog."
Owner: "Well you were supposed to tell us because some people have allergies and we need to do extra cleaning in the rooms. Now I have to clean the blankets and the pillows and everything!"
Me thinking in my head: "Don't you clean that stuff anyways???" Giving her the benefit of the doubt, "Maybe she means extra special cleaning above the normal washing?"
At this point I'm basically just apologizing for the misunderstanding and asking how we proceed. I don't like confrontation.
Then my wife chimed in: "When we checked in earlier the woman didn't say anything about the dog being a problem. She was petting him and telling us how cute he was and didn't say anything about there being an issue with having a dog." (That did actually happen by the way).
Owner: "Yeah, well she doesn't know the rule."
Me, again in my head: "What!?!? You're telling me your own employees don't know the rules and you're expecting your customers to realize this special requirement when there is nothing on the website stating that fact? That's absurd!" What I'm actually saying out loud though is basically, "Sorry for misunderstanding the situation."
Owner: "Well, I will need to charge you more now."
Me: "Okay, thats fine. I expected there to be a fee for the dog. How much is the fee."
Owner: "Well, I don't know right now. I have to clean everything." Again she goes into how much cleaning she needs to do. "Maybe 100 euros. We will see."
100 euros for a dog for two nights is insane but at this point I'm just trying to keep the situation calm so I'm agreeing with everything.
My wife went back later and spoke to the woman again and got the price down to 20€ per night, which is still expensive compared to most places but is still reasonable. Strangely though, the woman actually only charged us 14€ per night, which is exactly what is listed on the website.
Everything was completely fine in the end but the whole situation made things super awkward for us. It was one of those situations where you feel like the other person is mad at you for doing something wrong but really you didn't actually do anything wrong. I felt like she thought we were trying to rip her off or something, like get away with not paying for the dog even though we were super up front the whole time about having him with us. It was just awkward after that.
We still really enjoyed our stay overall though - the rooms were nice and the breakfast was really good.
There are 3 drinking ages: 13 – minors are allowed to consume beer or wine with their parents or legal guardian. 16 – minors are allowed to consume beer or wine without their parents or legal guardian. 18 – adults are allowed to consume distilled alcohol.
It was bizarre when I lived there that all the shops close at 2 pm on Saturday and Sunday everything is closed. You are not even allowed to work on your car or yard. No work. Period. The polizei don't mind reminding you either and they will give you a ticket.
Despite that hardship :)), I loved it there and Garmisch is a favorite place of any American living there. It is a huge R&R destination. The story of the religious icon painted/sculpted and used down there is long and convoluted. It would take me forever to go through the whole thing, but, I found a link for it that is pretty good. https://lueftlmalerei.com/history-of-luftlmalerei-in-garmisch-partenkirchen/
A wonderful post! I loved it!
Wow thanks! That was interesting! Imagine being forced not to work!! Where do I sign in 😁
That's all very interesting thanks for all the information. I was really wondering about the building murals. They are all over Bavaria too not just GaPa. I think that they are a really unique and neat piece of culture.
Yeah the nothing being open and not being able to do yard work and stuff is very different then back home. I'm sure it's normal for people who grew up that way and you just adjust your life accordingly. But it's definitely a challenge for people from N. America. There are other expats in the company my wife works for that are in Germany right now and they are like "how the heck am I supposed to do groceries or any of my household errands? The stores close at 5pm, I work until 8am-7pm and nothing is open on weekends!?!" The ones with spouses at home are a bit better off than the ones there alone.
Their compensation for that is being open late one night. I think it is Thirsday. Lol
Okay I see. That makes sense. Stores must be packed on that day then haha. That's my nightmare, grocery shopping when the store is packed with people. That was me last weekend on Saturday.
After getting stuck behind someone in the aisle for the 5th time. "If one more person blocks my way, I'm going to throw an apple at their face!"
I say these things in my head but would never do it of course 🤣
Trust me, when I first got there it was so difficult to adapt to those little things because they impeded my life. Which come in the big scheme of things is ridiculous but working there is different than visiting I'm afraid your time is your own. I sometimes shop at midnight or 1 in the morning just to avoid all the hassle, but when they started closing the stores at night because of covid they foiled my plan. I'm always glad when they can't read what's in my mind. Oh my God that I say that out loud!
I'm sorry you had a bad experience in Germany. Unfortunately, such harping on and on about (perceived) principles is a very typical German trait. That, and being generally inflexible when it comes to deviations from the norm. In addition, the hospitality industry, like most service oriented businesses in general, suck. I have no other word; it's pretty bad.
We even have a saying: "Caution, customer threatens to give us their business!", alluding to how service people in stores tend to disappear, rather than approach a helpless customer. There is also the term "service desert" to describe the state of affairs in Germany. So, we know, we ourselves hate it, but as a people we don't seem to be able to do anything about it.
I avoid traveling in Germany as much as possible because such things get on my nerves in a big way. It's a beautiful country for the most part, it's just populated by way too many assholes that spoil the experience. That said, it seems to be a language thing, because I have experienced similar issues in Austria, the German portion of Switzerland and even Alsace in France.
Those sayings are actually really funny, hilarious. 🤣
The experience at the hotel really wasn't that bad overall. There was just a brief moment where things seemed a bit unnecessarily heated on the owners end. I was slightly worried that she would tell us to leave. Lol. It got sorted out though so it was only a minor hiccup in the trip overall.
I really love Germany though. We haven't had any other issues either time we've been there and I didn't notice any bad service or anything. Its always different when you're from a place though. You see more and can be more critical of your own culture.
You're just too nice. Canadian, eh?
My conspiracy theorist side went full on when you mentioned them denying all amalgamation with Adolf so I went to check online and I think it was a place he loved to chill and hang out so I am wondering if now, they're like "No, Adolf who? I don't know that guy" 😁
That's the most rebellious you've been so far hahaha. Go dude!!!
I have to admit, the painted walls, the traditional houses, I would enjoy that, you almost expect traditional yodellers, yodelling down the mountain hahaha. I don't know what I am saying
That website is interesting as a historical archive. It's almost strange seeing all the pictures of him just acting normal, being happy, chilling out. That's a side that you never really see or hear about him, or any people really with that sort of historical significance. It's interesting and strange at the same time.
🤔 hmmm this FFP2 masks seriously displeased me.
I'm such a rebel!!!! 🤣
Yeah the place definitely has yodeling vibes about it.
What a gorgeous village or ski town, whatever they call it. Everything looks like contemporary meets historic.
Haha yeah. It's not the easiest name to pronounce. I think most people refer to it as just Garmisch and I've even seen it shortened to GaPa lol. Much easier to say.
GaPa is on the ToDo list.
I've heard from several people it's not uncommon to see children in the German pubs with their parents drinking beer, any truth to that?
Yes, the legal drinking age is 16, but when youngsters are with their parents it is the parents' responsibility to decide whether or not kids can have a sip of an alcoholic beverage. Typically, this is handled very responsibly, e.g. exceptions may be made during family festivities, when older children may have 1/2 a glass of beer or wine just to toast the occasion.
All that said, foreigners are often shocked when they see kids drinking beer in quantity. However, this "beer" is nothing but a sweet, foamy malt soda with zero alcohol and probably a lot healthier than Coca Cola.
I'm in my 60s now and have never seen a drunken child in Germany. I have seen children drugged to the gills in the U.S. during my time there. :-(
Yeah in N. America there are really heavy fines for serving alcohol and tobacco to minors, so restaurants and stores tend to be super cautious. There are signs posted in many stores saying that they will ask for ID for anyone who looks 30 years and younger. Sometimes you get asked after 30 lol.
That's interesting and makes sense.
In Canada recreational cannabis use became legal recently so it will be interesting to see how that changes things.
Try the "beer" soda next time you're here. The stuff actually tastes pretty good when it's nice and cold, albeit very sweet. Pregnant women love it :-) Give some to your pooch, too, dogs flip for it. Not too much - it's got a ton of sugar calories, more than real beer! The popular name of it is "Malzbier" (malt beer), on the bottles it says "Malztrunk" (malt drink) because it's not a beer legally.
Now that you mention the name Malzbier, I think I've actually heard of it. Never tried it though. I will definitely look out for it. It's not like "root beer" at all is it? I'm not sure if you know what root beer is or not. It's a soda.
Well, thanks for clearing that up...
They're obese here, too, uneducated, spoiled rotten ungrateful bratty little princes and queens with silver spoons in their ass and everything else you or anyone else points a finger at like "the west is the worst they're the worst, wa! I'm so0Oo much better like OMG look at them, ooooooh gross." 🇩🇪
I'm not pointing fingers, I stated a personal experience w/ regards to the drugged kids. I did a stint as a guest lecturer in some Florida schools and noticed a few things, to put it mildly. No need to get testy about it.
Did you think that was testy? Do you always think it's testy when you jump in the middle of a genuine question like it's not beer, the west sucks! And someone from the west you speak of gets defensive?
Testy? Get ahold of yourself.
That would be like me butting in the middle of your conversation and rather than relay genuine information I thought might better help you understand I said 'yeah well I've been to Meteora and saw what's left of the monasteries after WWII.'
See what I mean?
Hashtag TotallyUncalled4
Happy hump day, enjoy the rest of your week.
I didn't see that when we were there so I can't say one way or another and I'm not sure what the legal drinking age is in the country. It could also be one of those things that used to be common but has changed in the past few years? I think a lot of alcohol policies are slowly changing in Europe as more and more research comes out on the effects of alcohol on developing brains. But again I don't know for certain one way or another.
In Germany they serve these super massive beers though 1L (basically 2 pints) and one thing I saw the last time we were in the country was a little old lady in her 70s or so, sipping one of these massive beers. It looked too big for her to even pick up haha. But she managed and I was super impressed by that.
Germany is still 16. Greece just changed to 18 this year, they were 16 when we were there last, tripped me out! I would see young teenagers drinking beers and smoking cigarettes at pubs with who we assumed was their parents.
I had to do a search. To my surprise, the US is like the only country with 21 age limit, most everywhere else is 16 and 18. Not until then did I learn several countries don't even have a limit.
Have you been over to Czech? Before they kicked us back to the states last year we had those two on our next 6 stops. Hungary was another one, you been over there yet?
Yeah the US is the only country I know that is 21. Canada is 18 and 19 depending on the province.
I haven't been to Czech, Hungary or Greece, just France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxemburg and The Netherlands. We have pets so we are a bit limited to pretty much only going where we can drive to.
Pets are a lifestyle. I'm a dog lover, I get it.
Hey you wouldn't happen to be familiar with the crypto.com wallet or their DeFi wallet would you or know someone who is?
Thank you.
That cover image is so impressive.
The mountains in the back. The way the trail mimics the canal. I can almost hear the water from the window.
Thanks. Yeah that was a particularly nice spot
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