Zugspitze

We are so glad that we changed our plans and decided to drive to the Bavarian alps instead of staying in Munich today. We had a nice leisurely drive south of Munich up into the foothills of the German Alps. Our destination was a gondola to take us up to the highest point in Germany. It is a mountain peak called Zugspitze. The gondola ride only takes about 10 minutes and goes from 2500 ft to 9900 ft. Wikipedia says:

“It currently holds the world record for the longest freespan in a cable car at 3,213 metres (10,541 ft) as well as the tallest lattice steel aerial tramway support tower in the world at 127 metres (417 ft).”  



Once at the top is was cloudy, but we enjoyed a beer and brat. The clouds never fully cleared, but we did have some amazing views of the ledges and peak in between gusts of wind and cloud movement. 





While at the top we were also able to visit a very remote part of Austria. The complex was built to span the border of Austria and Germany. So while we were there, we decided we must walk over to the Austrian side!






Kristi with one foot in Austria and one in Germany. 

We decided to take a different route down the mountain. We took another gondola that took us to an area that has a lot of downhill skiing in the winter.





We even did a little sledding …. It was a lot of fun and definitely one of the trip highlights so far. 



From there, we took a cogwheel train back to the bottom where our car was parked.







After the Zugspitze, we drove to a foothill town to ride an alpine coaster. This particular coaster is a mile and 1/2 long. We had to take a ski lift up the hill for about 20 minutes for the long ride down on the coaster. It was quite the experience.  All of that “need for speed” that our little car can’t give us was fulfilled as we zipped down the mountainside on the coaster.  Why don’t we have these at home?!?  



We then headed back to Munich not knowing what we might do for the evening. We felt pretty good (energetic and enthusiastic) when we got back to the hotel so we decided to give Munich another try. We walked about a mile down to the Hofbrauhaus and ended up sitting with another American couple from Pennsylvania. We had a pork knuckle and a huge beer. We had a fantastic time and then headed back to the hotel for the evening.












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