Spring Break Part 5: Our Adventure on Zugspitze!

One thing I was most looking forward to on this Garmisch-Partenkirchen trip is Zugspitze.  It's the highest mountain in Germany, and you can take a cable car up to the peak.  I was a little annoyed when we first got to Edelweiss that it was so foggy outside.  It didn't seem like it would clear up enough to go up the mountain since we couldn't even really see the mountains from the ground the first few days.  Luckily it cleared up though, and going up to the peak is one of my favorite things we have done in Europe so far.  Such cool views!  Sooo, I'm going to post a ton of pictures to remember it.  I was a little nervous being in a cable car... so high off the ground!  I kept imagining the car coming off of the cable.  Ugh.  Creepy ride up ended up being totally worth it though.  Amazing.

 

Just getting started.

I like these two :)

Getting higher...  thought it was cool that the lake was totally frozen.

She was liking the ride.

And higher...

still going up...

And higher!  Pretty much going straight up at this point.

It drops you off on top in a building, and you can look out all around the different sides of the peak through the glass. 

It was pretty much impossible not to have a glare in the pics we took inside the building.  So bright!  View out the back side of the building... you can take another cable car down to the glacier and ski.  They also have sled rentals down there.  We didn't bring snow gear, or that would have been fun! 

More views from the top!

Love all the clouds and mountain peaks in the distance.  They say on a clear day you can see over 400 mountain peaks in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy from up here. 

Taking a break and enjoying the view. 

We took another cable car ride down to the glacier to walk around a bit before catching the cogwheel train to go back down the mountian.  There was a nice lady taking photos with some high-tech-looking photo gear.  She took a few family pictures for us.  Always nice when someone who knows what they are doing is around to take a photo!   It was sOOOOooo bright outside.  We should have thought to bring sun glasses.  We all had to squint so hard to see up there with all the reflection off the snow.  The kids just wanted to go back in the building.

More pics from the glacier..

Big wind gusts kept blowing snow all over the place.

Crazy to me that they can get this kind of equipment to groom the ski runs up the mountain. 

 

If we come back one day, I'm skiing.

 

Rode the super slow cogwheel train through the mountain to get back down.

 

It drops you off at the little Eibsee station where you can hop back in your car. 

 

 

Fun memories! 

Spring Break Part 4: Salzburg, Austria

  Another little day trip we took from Edelweiss was Salzburg.  First stop was Hellbrunn Palace.  It was built in the early 1600s as a getaway house for the Prince/Archbishop of Salzburg.  He had a fun sense of humor because the gardens surrounding the house are full of water games/pranks.  Supposedly, the fountains and little prank things still run on the same system they did back then.  It was fun to see!  The kids even liked this place.  Not a waterpark by any means, but when you've seen a lot of castles/palaces/big old houses, this one stands out as something unique.
I wonder if the house was this bright back when it was first built.  Probably not.  I like it though :)

There is a big park surrounding the palace grounds, and they have moved the gazebo used in The Sound of Music here.  I guess it was in a different park when they filmed the movie.  I had fun being 16 going on 17 again.  :)

Cuties.  Yeah, Callie had a lot of layers going on... haha.  It was cold that day!  Started getting nice when we were here, though!

Gazebo was locked.  Would have been fun to go inside.

 

A guide takes you around the palace gardens.   He turns on the water features for the group as you approach them. 

Our guide asked for volunteers (one of us should have!) to sit at the table.  I want a table like this one day.  Would be kind of fun having people over for a BBQ and then have a little water blast them in their seats.. hehe.   Obviously the prince would sit at the head of the table so he wouldn't get wet. 

 

More water features...

 

 

Lots of fountains and statues around the place!

The kids got a kick out of that face at the bottom of the statue.  It would roll its' eyes back into its' head and stick his tongue out.  Kind of random!  Reminded me of the ugly face on the wall at the cabin that sticks his tongue out and squirts water.  Ha!

 

 

 After walking around Hellbrunn, we drove over to downtown Salzburg.  I was a big fan of it. Salzburg manages to seem clean and modern but has so many cool old buildings.  Some pics of downtown...

Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart. 

 

This fountain is in the Sound of Music :)

Shopping!  This place is so expensive.  Everything here was just hiked up so high.  Fun to browse though.

Lots of cute alleyways..

 

Loved the little church at the end of this street.

We bought hotdogs at a little shop where an old lady was making them all on her own.  The kids loved them and decided that "old ladies make the best hotdogs."  Super cutie listening to them discuss their dogs. 

I had never seen this kind before.  Two long skinny sausages.  They were actually really good.  And I'm not a hotdog person.

El had fun playing on the big chess set in one of the main courtyards. 

 

Some American college student was visiting the town and noticed us.  He asked if we wanted a family picture.  Why not!?  So, here is family picture Salzburg style.