Waltons

Edelweiss Lodge

Little too cloudy to have any fantastic views from the top. So off to the gorge instead.

Just the 4 of us

There was about a 30 minute walk from the ski jump area to the Partnach Gorge entrance. You could take a horse and carriage ride but we wanted to get in our 8.5 miles for the day :) We didn't mind the walk at all because of the beautiful area. It was simply gorgeous!

  

Walking in the gorge

It wasn't raining while we were hiking, but because of the rain fall that night and morning, there was so much water run-off that it felt like it was pouring down rain. Needless to say, we all got a little wet and all our pants were rolled up.

Again, so glad it was cloudy this day. Otherwise, we wouldn't have done this.

Made it to the top of the gorge. We then walked up to the top of the mountain.

This was at the top. A little beer garden. 

We just stopped to use the facilities.

Looking down from the bridge that crosses the gorge. You can't really see the height but it was amazing! It's about 300 ft of limestone walls. The Partnach Gorge was declared a national monument in 1912.

They had this tight rope across the gorge and we were lucky enough to be standing there when this lady clipped herself in and started walking across. I would have been scared to death to do this. She was walking backwards and putting her leg out and just pure talented! It was cool to watch!

Confirmation it was too cloudy to go up to the mountains

So we walked the streets of Garmisch. This was a cute little town. And of course, so picturesque.

This was another day of plan because of the weather. Again, we were glad for the rain. This was really cool to see. This palace was the smallest of the three built by King Ludwig II. The smallest? Really? I'd love to see the other ones. The Linderhof Palace is on 125 acres of beautiful land. The Palace itself was pretty ornate. Only 4 rooms in this palace have a real function. Basically it was only for the king though. This palace was pretty much for his privacy. He loved music and reading and had people perform just for him.

This building is the Moorish Kiosk

....like a cat....

The three siblings. Scott, Lisa, and Dan

A view from the top. Could you imagine living here? Actually he didn't "live" here. He spent 2 weeks a month here.

Like I mentioned, King Ludwig II loved music. Venus Grotto is completely artificial. It was cave like with lots of lighting and a heated pool. The King would sit in his swan boat and they would row him across his "lake". What a great way to spend money right?

The Drive......

After the Palace, we got in the cars and headed to Salzburg Austria. We couldn't help but stop every few hundred yards and take pictures. It was GORGEOUS!!!!!! You'd think this was a painting. 

Here is a model of what it used to look like. Not bad huh!

Inside the dance floor. Could you imagine having your wedding reception here?

They had a few rooms we were allowed in and allowed to take pictures. A lot of places wouldn't let inside photography.

This is the GINORMOUS wine barrel inside the castle. Water was pretty contaminated back then, so their main source of fluid intake was wine. I found that pretty amusing. You can see the scale of this barrel compared to the people standing by it. This barrel was built in 1751 and holds more than 58,000 gallons. 

After touring the castle, we walked to the Hauptstrasse (main street) of Heidelberg. We weren't in any major hurry since our plans had changed slightly and the only thing left was to drive to Garmisch and check into the hotel. So we strolled, grabbed some yummy lunch and a Schneeballen and then were on our way.

This is spargel.  The white asparagus. So yummy!

Chris and Lisa said these wouldn't be worth it, but we just HAD to try one. They were displayed in so many store windows. So on our way out of the main street, we decided to split one between the 4 of us. I'm glad we tried it. It wasn't the best dessert I'd had, but it was tasty. They are a pastry with different insides. Ours was a caramel filled one. Not really filled....more like flavored. They don't use a lot of sugar but it satisfied a sweet tooth craving.