Carlos and I, on Michael’s advice, planned to take the train from Munich to a place called Garmish-P to climb the Alpspitze via a “via ferrata” (a climbing route whch has been converted to a safer route by safety cables and climbing aids like steel ladders). We planned to take the 7:30 AM train, but discovered that unless we waited until 9:30, the prices would be more than double. So we waited. We found a comfortable bagel store (expensive, of course…I was still thinking in terms of China prices). The trip took about an hour and a half, running along lovely green pastures to the base of the mountains. We departed the train and prepared for the ostensible twenty minute hike through town to the cable car. Twenty minutes…it ended up taking over an hour. Already we were set up for a late return. We even had to wait at the cable care station for fifteen minutes (we thought it was one hour and fifteen minutes because the operator had set the “next departure” incorrectly).

(above) The Alpspitze, up close n’ personal.

At the top was the ubiquitous European comfortable lodge, aka “hut” or “refugio”. We readied our harnesses and helmets and headed up the Alpspitze, which was immediately above us. It turned out that we didn’t even need harnesses. It’s quite easy; we didn’t even clip once. The route is simple and took us, oh, I don’t know, around an hour and half.

(l-r) Me approaching the first via ferrata, Carlos on a ladder, Birds looking for handouts

We decided to add a little spice by descending down the back side – a long ridge leading to a headwall. We then dropped down the right side. Flashback to when we were on the summit…a wisp of cloud began forming below us, growing larger quickly. Other clouds appeared around us too. By the time we dropped down the right side, the valley was engulfed in clouds. The left side was still clear. We descended into the pea soup and followed the well-marked route. We traversed cliffs, downclimbed cliffs and ledges covered in scree, sometimes aided by a via ferrata. We dropped much farther than the initial ascent of the peak and popped through the cloud ceiling. We followed a moraine to green meadows where we picked up the rail leading into the valley. Overhead, above the Zugspitze, the clouds were almost black and we expected the cloudburst at any moment. It didn’t come…until we approached the gorge.

(l-r) Gotta drop into the clouds, homes. Carlos on a via ferrata cliffside traverse.

The gorge was the highlight of the trip and the heavy rain enhanced the atmosphere. My jacket felt cold and clammy as we approached the first of many tunnels. The discomfort was negated by the terrain – a very narrow gorge, maybe only 30-40 feet in places with a raging creek below. The rain had created some extra waterfalls, which we had to pass under. Carlos was a fan of the caves and he opted to take the underground route, whereas I preferred to stay outside passing along the cliffside trail above the churning creek. The gorge soon narrowed to a point where there was only space for a tunnel in places. I bashed my head twice before I put on my helmet again.

(above) Shots from the gorge. See the tunnels?

The gorge took us about thirty minutes to traverse. I remember it being longer than I expected. We arrived at a gate which required us to pay three Euro each to unlock the gate (it was tempting to just climb underneath the gate house). After that, we continued down in the rain and marched the remaining miles to the town of Hammersbach. The rain had then stopped and we were looking at another one-plus hours to hike back to the train station…we were set to arrive back in Munich around midnight now. A friendly couple in a car took pity on us and drove us back. A quick meal at the train station Burger King (no lie!) saw us human again and we boarded the 9:30 train for an arrival in Munich at 11pm.

(above) A view of the surroundings. The Zugspitze is the large peak in the distance. We descended the ridge trending from the foreground to the left and then dropped over the right side into the valley.

I headed off to Germany just after midnight on July 1st on Emirates Airlines connecting through Dubai. Never had flown over that part of the world before or connected anywhere near Dubai. I was curious to check it out. From the air, Dubai is a sprawling yellow/orange desert world of yellow/orange houses and buildings. It was quite hazy and it was hard to see any of the famous skyscrapers from above. I was hoping to see the Burj, the soon-to-be tallest building in the world. I reckon I was on the wrong side of the plane. Bah!

I thought this was pretty funny when I logged on to hotmail in the airport:

(above) You’ve just won a green card!

We skirted the southern and western borders of Iraq before turning east again towards Europe. I got a couple shots from the window of some neat places:

(above) flying over Al Ladhiqiyah, Syria (figured it out from Live Earth), the second shot is Istanbul.

Michael’s directions to get to his house were easy – a couple of trains got we within short walking distance. I was conspicuous, with one large backpack on my back, another smaller one on my front, and hauling a large flat cardboard box (a gift), so it was easy for Kris to spot me walking along Bruderstrasse.

I’m impressed with Munich; it’s a very comfortable city. It feels so small compared to Shenzhen. It’s nicely organized and dense city. It feel like you can bike from one edge of the main part of the city to the other in 15 or 20 minutes. One of the first things we did was head to the English Garden park right near their apartment. There’s a biergarten (beer garden) there which is basically a large open area with tons of picnic tables, several small food vendors, and a playground. Tons of people were out and enjoying the nice weather. At the biergarten, you’re welcome to bring your own food, you just shouldn’t bring your own beer.

(above) Beirgarten environs. The tower is known as the “Chinese Tower”. Check out the big pretzel; they are everywhere!

(above) More fun in the park. The river channels through the park with a really fast current and folks enjoy jumping in and letting the current carry them to the other end (gotta do this). (second photo) Also, did you know that you can surf in Munich?