Mitten-what? Mittenwald

As originally planned, on Tuesday we rented a car to get out of Munich for a few days and head for the Bavarian Alps. I'll let Chad post at some point about the joys of driving our gutless Mercedes A-series on the speed-limitless autobahns and the windy mountain roads, and share with you instead a few pictures from our time in Mittenwald.

Mittenwald is just south of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which was the site of the 1936 Winter Olympic Games, apparently the first to feature alpine skiing (thank you, Wikipedia). Chad chose Mittenwald because it's known to be the most scenic place in the German Alps - at least Goethe said so as early as the 1700s.

That Goethe knew what he was talking about. Here's a few pictures from the town and from the hike we took in the hills above. If you want to do some easy-to-moderate hikes on perfectly-maintained trails among world-class scenery, this is the place to come.  There are many hillside/mountainside places to eat and sleep on the trails as well, so you could hike town to town without a pack.







This is Chad acting out the Sound of Music. I'm sure he'll be called when they do a remake:


Like every good Bavarian town, Mittenwald has a brewery. The beer from Mittenwald's brauerei is particularly notable because (a) it was the last beer that Chad had before he really came down with an awful cold that has forced him to take a break from beer (I know!) and (b) the beer was the best Dunkel he's ever had, and the best beer in Germany to date.



And then on to Berchtesgaden...