Back to Bavaria

 

, Garmish-Partenkirken (or GaPa for short) past the strangely enticing Wank Mountain.

It was quite a long walk from the station to the guest house but we received a very warm welcome when we arrived. A nice cold beer, our welcome card for free public transport and lots of good advice on what to do. Our room is comfy enough and has a glorious view of the mountains.

Angela (as I assume the owner is called) recommended we take the train and cable car to the top of Zugspitze (the highest peak in Germany... technically true, but only 50m from the border with Austria) one day but the price of €72 each seems a bit steep to say the least. We booked two return flights to Morocco today for the same amount. We'll see.

She also recommended the walk we spent the first afternoon here doing: A gentle (and of course free) walk through the stunning Bavarian countryside facing Zugspitze and its brother Alpspitze. The scenery is simply gorgeous with the charming sound of bells dangling from grazing goats and cows.

The only disappointment for me was that a restaurant at the far end of the circular walk (a beer in which had acted as a distinct carrot as I walked up some of the steeper slopes) was closed. Honestly, they had the beer garden from heaven. Maybe Friday?

Anyway coming back down was easier than going up and having returned to the valley, I couldn't resist popping into the stadium of 1FC Garmish-Partenkirken: Stunning backdrop, Shame about the running track.

They play in the South East Bavarian Landesliga which I think puts them at the 6th tier of German football. Think of clubs like Scunthorpe United, Chester and Hereford United. (I know you are!) The English pyramid is simply the strongest in the world. Clubs like these would love the scenery but they'd actually sneer at the stadium and the crowds GaPa get.

Anyway then we crossed the scarily fast flowing Loisach River to stroll through the cute town centre to choose somewhere to eat. Some of the Bavarian cottages here look like they've been painted. Every flower in the right spot. Hedges that look like they've been trimmed with nail clippers. This part of the world is a bit pricey for visitors from Australia though, especially ones on a long tour budget, so we satisfied ourselves with a burger (for me) and a salad (for me darlin')

So ended yet another fantastic day. It's forecast to be even warmer tomorrow but with more cloud cover. More walking. Wank comes to mind.

Zurück nach Österreich (Back to Austria)

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Zurück nach Österreich (Back to Austria)
Sunday, 15th - Wednesday 18th September 2026.

Summary: 

Back on the Bavarian trail, we headed straight from Munich airport to Innsbruck in Austria, my first overseas destination when I was just a twelve year old schoolboy.

Back to Munich and straight on to Innsbruck. (Sunday, 15th September)

At the airport we had the strange experience of being interrogated about "vy are you coming to Germany?" Never had that before.

Once through passport control we expertly took the S-Bahn back to the Hauptbanhof. On the train I learned about some serious flooding that had hit parts of Poland, Czech Republic and Austria. "Storm Boris" (bloody Russians again) was causing havoc and there were reports of heavy snow in the Tyrol... our next destination. I wrote to the hotel asking them if there was anything to worry about.

At the main station we bought another train ticket to Innsbruck. Untypically for the German stereotype, the train was twenty minutes late. But at least it gave time for the hotel to write back. Nothing to worry about.

Once the train arrived and we chambered on, it was a very smooth journey of an hour and a half with excellent WiFi.

We arrived in a quite cold Innsbruck and found our hotel right in the center. As Leb settled in I nipped out to get two teas and a kebab.

So ended a very long and quite tedious travelling day. Not the best, shall we say, but even this long tiring day of travel with five changes, was special because I got to spend another day with my most special partner.

I am so lucky.

Rainy day in Innsbruck. (Monday, 16th September)

Day 192 (50 to go)

Although storm Boris seems to have largely avoided Innsbruck we nevertheless had a cold and wet day here today.

After a good lie in we did a laundry run to Bubblepoint around the corner. Pretty easy to operate machines and not too pricy either.

We had Balkan-style bürek for brekkie as we waited for the wash and had a walk to the old town while it dried.

One guy was using the laundrette as a warm dry place to have a fag and listen to his music, much to the annoyance of a local lady who had no qualms about confronting him about his behaviour. He went outside to smoke until she finished but came back in again afterwards.

With a set of nice clean clothes we had a flask of tea while we waited for the rain to abate.

Eventually, we thought 'sod it' and headed out again into the cold wet afternoon. To be honest it wasn't raining heavily just "spitty spotty" as that smarmy guy on Sky News used to say.

We headed to the old town. Leb went into the Swarowski store to see the sparkly items on sale. Some ridiculously priced, others perhaps not. We then reached the Imperial Palace (Hofburg) but it was about to close. Next, we walked to the St Jakob Cathedral which was so beatifully ornate inside.

Next was the Goldenes Dachl (Golden roof) building, another imperial extravagance.

We went to see the dangerously fast flowing river Inn with its impressive alpine backdrop before it was time for a beer.

We went to the Goldener Adler, one of the oldest hotels in the city before making the short journey to the Weisses Rõssl for a lovely traditional Tyrolean meal. I had Tiroler Gröstl, Leb had soup of the day. For pudding we were going to have appelstrudel but the bubbly waitress said "No. You must have have Kaiserschmarrn" It was apparently the favourite of the kaiser.

This is how ChatGPT describes it: It’s a light, fluffy, shredded pancake made from a sweet batter that includes flour, eggs, sugar, and milk. After being fried, it's torn into pieces, dusted with powdered sugar, and typically served with plum compote.

It was indeed absolutely divine!

The forecast for the next day was brighter so we planned to explore more.

Sunny day in the Tyrolean Alps. (Tuesday, 17th September)

Day 193 (49 to go) ~

The forecast today was overcast but with no rain so the plan was to take a trip up into the mountains.

My first visit abroad was here to Innsbruck 52 years ago (actually to the nearby village of Rinn) and I had hoped to retrace those steps as well as see the mountains via a cable car.

Ashfield Comprehensive School organised a skiing holiday for its pupils back in 1972 and I was one of the lucky ones to go. I have fond memories of learning very basic skiing techniques on the baby slopes ("snow plough!"). I loved the very cozy aprés ski where we were even allowed a slightly alcoholic cider on the last night. I met my first pen pal from Surrey on that trip.

Eardrum splitting noise at Luton airport. Mr Scholey seems happy enough.

Innsbruck in 1971

Rinn

Our accomodation for the week

Me, trying to do a "snow plough"

No broken leg for me!

My favourite teacher, Mr Scholey and another influential one, Mr Tomlinson, were both there too, as were a few "star" older boys like Paul Chamberlain, Nigel Purdy and Dumicz (don't remember his first name). Two of our small group of Kirkby explorers broke legs in the first few days. It was a memorable trip and I wanted to see if I could retrace a few steps but looking on Google maps I couldn't see anything even vaguely familiar so we decided not to bother and try to go up the fancy cable car instead.

The hotel very kindly gave us a welcome to Innsbruck card. Because we were staying more than two days we got the "plus" version which entitled us to free public transport, admission to some museums and some other discounts. Leb checked on line and this seemed to include a great trip to "the top of Innsbruck" via a train and cable car, value €50. Bargain. So that was what we set off for.

First brekkie though, and instead of overdoing it again with bready Balkan Bürek, this time I just had two boiled eggs, a coffee and a shared poppy seed pastry.

We then strolled back down to the old town to catch the train to the mountain. Unfortunately our Innsbruck Welcome Plus Card was not accepted after all and the staff denied that it was supposed to give free access. To be fair, €50 off did seem too good to be true. So we came back to our room to do a bit more research and hatch out a plan for the rest of the day.

We decided to have some "me" time. I wanted to visit the Tivola Stadium, home of Wacker Innsbruck. Leb wanted to visit the Imperial Palace. So I went one way, she the other, to meet again at 2pm.

I walked past the train station and over a bridge towards the stadium. I must say it was much more modern than I had anticipated. It's a lovely compact ground that holds about 16,000 spectators, with such a magnificent backdrop.

I caught the M bus back to the city center and met Leb at the designated meeting place.

We then went to the city tower. For just €3 we were allowed to clamber up the very impressive double helix of a staircase. One flight going up whilst the other, simultaneously, goes down. The view from the top was even more spectacular than we'd hoped.

After that we walked through the Hofgarten and stopped for some bratwurst and beer before crossing a footbridge over the river Inn and back down the other side.

We decided to go for another free cable car offer and so set off to a village called Mutters the village it was supposed to leave from. The No 404 bus took us from Innsbruck to the village of Götzens where we immediately caught another bus, the 405, to Mutters.

When we got off we set about finding the chair lift. This turned out to be more difficult than we thought and after climbing a steep hill and having asked the second person for help we were told it actually closed at 4pm. Too late.

Oh well. So much for that idea. We strolled back down and around the beautiful village of Mutters which was very much like I remember Rinn and we had a beer at the Santa Lucia Cafe before taking the tram through the windy track through breathtaking scenery back down to Innsbruck.

The last stop of the day was the fine old restaurant, Stiftskeller. We had a wheat beer with the magnificent pork, sauerkraut and käsespätzle (macaroni cheese) with apple strudel for afters. Sehr Lecker! Wie meine mutter gemacht hat.

So after a frustrating start to the day which looked like it would be disappointing, it all ended a sparkling success again, although Leb's feet were still aching!

Wunderbar. Wunderbar. Wunderbar!

From one alpine picture postcard to another. (Wednesday, 18th September)

Day 194 (48 to go) ~ From one alpine picture postcard to another.

Three nights in Innsbruck weren't enough of course but that's been true of pretty much everywhere. Still, during the planning phase, when I asked ChatGTP to suggest a route from Innsbruck to Lindau on the edge of Bodensee, it did not disappoint: via Garmish-Partenkirken then Füssen.

We had got the moving routine "off pat" by this point. We were like two members of the SAS. So efficient. Get up pretty early. Pack bags within twenty minutes. Check out of hotel. Ten minute walk to the Hauptbanhof. Find a ticket machine. Pay the €35 fare for both of us. Buy a cob for lunch. Find platform 21. Get on the train. Relax.

The train ride was one of the best ever. So smooth. Such endless beautiful views. The carriage looked brand new and even though the windows were clean already, a staff member came through the carriage cleaning them again before we left, just in case.

Within an hour and a half we were approaching our next destination...

Financial Summary

London is expensive and

Mood Summary

As always, 

Holiday Summary

No new countrie