A German & Austrian Trip in 2001 - 7
Garmisch

Monday 17th September 2001

It was a bit brighter today, although still with intermittent showers. The church had a touching memorial wall of plain brick for the victims of last Tuesday's raid. We walked round to Richard Strauss' house, the directions given in the hotel being quite wrong but I was able to check in the guidebook (it's 42 Zoeppritzstrasse). The house is still in family occupation & is quite nice.

Garmisch Church	The Sept 11th Memorial	Richard Strauss' house	The more modest Luthern Church

We walked back & had coffee in the Hotel Thron, where, because Avis had expressed an interest in Füssen in buying more clothes, which I vetoed, I suggested we go there now, as we had plenty of time & not much to do. So, I set off past the Linderhof & back to Füssen. Avis found just what she was looking for, a trachtish skirt & wooly. I drove back the other side (North) of the mountain via Steingaden & a bit of Alpenstrasse we had not used. I branched off to see the famous Wieskirche, a virtual cathedral with a properly integrated interior stuck in the middle of a field (wiese).

Wieskirche	Wieskirche ceiling	Wieskirche organ

We stopped for tea & cake in Oberammergau, a place Avis would otherwise have avoided because of associations but is pleasant enough in itself. B the time we passed Ettal again, it was raining, so we did not get a chance to look at the big monastery there, soddit. As we had last night, we chatted to more Americans in the hotel before going out to the Gasthof zur Schranne, where Avis had pig medallions & I, a Bauernschmaus (mixed pork things with sauerkraut). The surly old waitress cheered up a lot with a 10% tip on DM49.40 (£16.50).

Tuesday 18th September 2001

We walked through the town to the Richard Strauss Institute, which was not a museum as such, although there was a special exhibition to mark Lisa Della Casa's 80th birthday, 2 years ago (Arabellissima). It was more, a library & reseach centre. We found the Lutheran church on the walk back, simple & neat, as if it meant something, unlike yesterday's confection of a Wieskirche. Lunch was dinner at the Hotel Thron, chicken at last (Avis has been craving), after which we retrieved the car, loaded it & said our farewells & drove to Munich Airport. I chose a roundabout route,, heading out on the Mittenwald road & turning off towards the Walchensee. It was now, at last, a nice day like one of last year's, damnit. We had a fine view over the Kochelsee & headed slowly up towards nice Wolfratshausen via Penzing & back lanes. Then, to horrible Starnberg & gradually up to Fürstenfeldbruck, from which I could head North-East through Dachau to avoid Munich altogether. At the airport, we had good sandwiches & apfelstrüdel & a flight delay from 2155 to 2315.

A commercial postcard of Garmisch	Garmisch pedestrianised area should be bigger	The Walchensee on the way home