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Leaving Munich, we picked up a rental car that we will be using for the next 10 days or so.  We visited Dachau and then drove south to Garmish-Partenkirchen.  This town, which is the combination of two formerly separate communities, is located in the south of Germany on the doorstep to the Alps.

Garmish-Partenkirchen is a ski town.  From the town you can see the highest peak in Germany, Zugspitze at 9,718 feet.  Also, the town was the site of the 1936 Winter Olympics, the first to feature Alpine skiing.  Still, if you want to impress your friends, just tell them that you will be wintering in Garmish.

The old part of Garmish is quintessentially Bavarian.  Our guidebook directed us to check out a restaurant in the old town called Gasthof Fraundorfer.  They are known to serve very good Bavarian food and they have live music, yodeling and the Bavarian style dance, known as Schuhplattler with hip and foot slapping.  We enjoyed the food and the entertainment.

A well known natural feature here is the Partnach gorge.  This is a deep gorge that has been cut by the Partnach River.  The gorge is about 1/2 mile long and as deep as 260 feet.  It is located a little south of the Olympic Stadium.  You must walk from the stadium to the downriver entrance to the gorge.  There is a trail that has been cut into the rock on one side of the gorge that runs about 20 feet above the riverbed.  There are a number of tunnels and curtains of streams of water falling all along the path.  There are dramatic views at every point.  In addition, if you’re willing to make the additional hike, there is a high iron footbridge the crosses the gorge affording a breathtaking view of a long section of the river.

Next stop:  Freiburg, Germany