Garmish Trip

12-14 Aug - Yes, we spent our anniversary in the German Alps in Garmish. It was very nice. Unfortunately, I had a conferance to attend during the day but Jamie and Kim went and we had a great time. We arrived on Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning after breakfast, we travelled about 20 miles to Mittenwald - a very pretty little town east of Garmish. We walked around the town, did some shopping and had a traditional Bavarian late breakfast - Weisswurst, honigsenf and Bier (white sausage, honey mustard and beer) - Kim did not eat... We enjoyed it. Weisswurst is a traditional Bavarian sausage made from very finely minced veal and fresh pork bacon. It is usually flavoured with parsley, lemon, onions, ginger and cardamom, though there are some variations. The mixture is then stuffed into fresh, clean pork casings and separated into individual sausages about ten to twelve centimeters in length and about two centimeters in thickness. As it is very perishable, Weisswurst is traditionally manufactured early in the morning and prepared and eaten as a snack between breakfast and lunch—there is a saying that the sausages should not be allowed to hear the church bells' noon chime. Mittenwald downtown Jamie and James enjoying a good Bavarian Weisswurst The conference started at 3pm and adjurned about 6pm. We went out to dinner with some friends and their kids to a nice resturant. The potato soup was excellent, the garlic toast with cheese left alot to be desired and the meal was outstanding. The next morning James had physical training with the conference attendees and had a nice 3.5 mile run up and down some of the Bavarian hills, thru the fields and back. Temperature was great but the altitude really hurt. The conference was very good. Kim took part in a 1 hr session about Family Readiness Groups then she and Jamie did some shopping, swimming and goofing off. There was a local fest in town so we decided to go. It was in a large fest tent. It was similiar to Octoberfest but ALOT smaller. Girls of all ages were wearing drindels and the guys were wearing lederhosen and other traditional clothing. There was music, food, liter beer call "Mass", dancing and of course Bretzen (pretzels). They had guys with whips get up on tables and snap the whips to the music of an accordian - really entertaining watching this and the girls carrying 12 liters of beer under the whips!! Kim and Jamie shared a half-chicken and I has the schweinhoxen or Pigs calf with potato salad. It was very good. Fest with the "whipping music" on the tables. Jamie in "Beer Wench" training :) Friday, Jamie accompanied James to physical training. Jamie ran with James and had a good time. She was the only kid to attend at 6am. She was allowed to lead the cool down stretches after PT and did a great job. Kim and Jamie did shopping until the conference was over. then we went to Schloss Linderhof that we visited in December. This time, the gardens were open, the fountain working and sunshine!! It was beautiful. From here we took the back roads thru Austria back to the highway and home. It was a very nice trip.

Kim and Jamie outside Schloss Linderhof - the fountain goes off every hour.