March 21, 2009: Climbing up a Ski Hill

I awoke at 9am after a sub par night sleep, I would later figure out that I slept on the wrong side of the mattress. I had a shower and got ready for the day. We were planning on going to Partnach Gorge, a famously beautiful area near town. Brad was ready and soon were heading out in search of some breakfast.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a beautiful town filled with the true essence, in my mind, of what Bavaria should look like. Most of the buildings in town have ornate murals painted on the walls adjacent the street; these murals depict everything from religious scenes to fairy tales. There was snow on the ground and I could not be happier. We stopped for breakfast at a local bakery, I was surprised at how inexpensive everything was, and had some food. We were going to meet one of the girls from The Abrams at 12:30 so we had some time to waste until then. We went shopping. At 12:30 we realized that Brad's friend could not come and we departed. We took the bus to the stadium from the 1936 Winter Olympics. The Patnach Gorge starts directly behind the building. We asked a lady at the shop there where it was and figured out that it was in fact closed due to avalanche danger. Damn.

We adjusted the game plan and decided to hike up a ski hill instead. We headed to the base of the Eckbauer, the mountain with the massive ski jumps at its base. The sun was out and we enjoyed a 2 and a half hour sunny walk up the ski hill. We got to the top and sat down at the Bavarian style lodge at the summit. We grabbed some water and took a seat on the balcony. We had an amazing view over the Alps. After sitting for a while we went into the restaurant and enjoyed some spaghetti. We sat for a while longer until the place closed, at 16:00. We then began the trip down the hill.

I REALLY wished that I had skis or a sled at this point. Walking down a ski hill, how lame is that? We were passed by two parents and their kids on GT Racers. Oh well, the walk down was a lot easier then the trip up and we were at the base in no time. We caught a bus back into the Garmisch side of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and stopped for some chicken at the local chicken shop.

Brad had work the next day at 5:00 so he got to bed early. I watched some Looney Toons with one of his neighbors for a while then hi the hay too.