Zugspitze!

On the first day with my parents we packed up and left Munich for Garmish in my parents rental car. I was super excited that they were bring their car because I thought I could knock off one of my Bucket list items -- to drive on the autobahn of course! But alas, those Europeans still like their manual transmissions. So it looks like before I can cross that one off, I'm going to have to get around to that other Bucket list item learning to drive a stick shift.

The Zugspitze!

Before we even stopped at the hotel our first tourist attraction was the Zugspitze. We navigated our way from the bahnhof to the train that would take us to a cable car, that would take us to the highest point in the German Alps. I wasn't too impressed with this brilliant idea my parents had....after all I live in Utah, mountains aren't exactly new. Boy, was I wrong! This was my favorite part of the trip, second only to our time in Rothenburg.

First of all, I just have to share this adorable picture of my parents. My mom decided that she needed to use her newly bought hiking poles....let me just tell you there was absolutely no hiking involved. haha But she did look like a super cute skier.

So I think the best way to explain the experience is to take you on a ride!

First you take a nice scenic train ride. 

Then you take a short walk...

 

 And board the cable car! 

Once you hit the top, a snowball is a must! 

The cross marks the highest point in the German Alps. 

So there were a few things against us on this trip. The melting snow made it so that we couldn't actually do the hike to the golden marker at the highest point. And the visibility was not so great either. The picture above was taken at just the right moment, because for most of our lunch we couldn't even see it!  But looking at the photographs of the men who built this museum, having amazing discussions with my parents over cake and coffee, and watching my dad throw snowballs over the ledge made it one of my favorite stops on our trip. (Not to mention I got a killer red wool beanie, which I proceeded to wear for the duration of my trip!)