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Published: February 8th 2010
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outside our room We had a week off of school, so my friend Deanna and I decided to take a mini European vacation. We traveled to Garmisch- Partenkirchen, Germany, Munich, Germany, Innsbruck, Austria, and Salzburg, Austria. First Garmisch:
After a very long day of travel we rolled into the cold sleepy town of Garmisch- Partenkirchen, Germany. Deanna’s boyfriend’s parents are retired and live in Garmisch. We spent the majority of the trip staying with them. It was very late when we arrived, but even in the dark I could tell this was a town straight out of a fairy tale. Everything had a fresh layer of snow covering it. Deanna told me to look out the window, and even though everything was dark, I could just see the outline of the Alps. Garmisch is a town that is nestled in the Alps.
The next day we woke up to clear blue skies, and outside of our bedroom window were the Alps. It was breathtaking to say the least. The family that we were staying with had the cutest apartment, in a quiet neighborhood. Quiet wasn’t something I was used to after living in Spain for a month, so it was a nice
change of pace. The couple we were staying with was so sweet. The mom had a very sing- songy voice. And they didn’t speak and English. Naturally my first reaction was to only speak to them in Spanish, because if you don’t speak English you must speak Spanish (way to go KT). But I’ve gotten very good and nodding and smiling. I only knew how to say yes, no, and thank you. Thankfully Deanna could speak a little bit of German. But this was the first time since I’ve been in Europe that I’ve felt rested when I woke up, and my body was finally happy. Transitioning from the US to Europe was quite a shock to the system.
Later that day they took Deanna and I to Partnachklamm, which was a gorge close to their house. It is a little bit of a walk from the ski resort where the 1936 Olympics were held. In the summer the gorge is all waterfalls, but in the winter everything that was a waterfall, is now a waterfall of ice. I had never seen anything like it, and it was a perfect day to see it. A little river from the
Alps runs through it, and I have never seen water so clear. You could see everything. Everything looked like it was straight out of a picture book. The air was also so clear, for the first time I could take a deep breath. Spain is pretty polluted, and everyone smokes, so this was also a nice change of pace.
Time:
I hate to say it, but I was happy to get out of Spain for a bit. If you’ve ever been to Spain you know how disorganized of a country it is. They don’t believe in clocks (you can’t even really find any). You also have to go on a scavenger hunt to find what you need, and street signs are nonexistent. Germany is the exact opposite. Everything runs by the clock, and is very organized. You could even see this in the airport in Madrid. In Spain they don’t start boarding the plane till about 10 minutes before you’re scheduled to take off. All of the Germans were in line and ready to go a half an hour before take off… There wasn’t even a gate agent there yet. Spain was starting to cause me quite a bit
of anxiety, so I was glad to have a change of pace.
Architecture:
The buildings, and houses in Garmisch looked like they were straight out of a fairy tale. The facades of the buildings and houses were all painted with biblical themes, and even fairy tales. Even the woodwork had amazing detailing. It is also a law that buildings aren’t allowed to be taller than the church. So if you look up you can always see church steeples.
During our week long journey, we would spend the nights in Garmisch, then travel from there to our next destination. We also stayed in hostels for two nights. But for the sake of organizing my thoughts I’m taking you city by city… One night they made us homemade potato salad. On top of it were neatly cut up pickles. I can eat pretty much anything, but I despise pickles. I hate the way they look, smell, and taste. So I didn’t say anything, and picked around it, and told Deanna to eat my pickle. This was a little bit of a mistake. And I had to try to explain via hand gestures and a mix of English and German,
that the potato salad is delicious (which it was!) and that I just can’t eat pickles. The dad asked what the English word for pickle was, and ironically the word pickle in German means pimples. He got a kick out of this. After that everything was good.
On our second to last day of the trip, Deanna and I went for a walk into town, and everything was just wet. It was snowing, but it melted as soon as it hit the ground. I only had one pair of shoes, so I just got used to having wet feet the whole time I was there. When we got back he insisted on drying our shoes. This also meant that he had to take out the soles of my shoes. Keep in mind that these were glued to the bottom of the shoes and not meant to come out. There wasn’t much I could do about this because of the language barrier. But I was touched by how nice there where. Really just the sweetest people you could meet. He then gave me insulate soles, and told me to put the real soles on top of the insulated ones. There
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walking to the gorge isn’t a lot of room in my shoes now, but my feet are insulated and dry!
They were really wonderful people, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to meet them. It also a humbling experience to not be able to communicate at all. I think it’s an experience that everyone should experience at least once in their lives. It really makes you think, and appreciate being able to communicate. But I’m really good at charades now!
Next on our Euro tour is Innsbruck, Austria…
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Mari
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KATIE! It sounds like you are having an amazing time! I love the updates! love you and miss you lots! Have tons of fun!