January 19, 2009
Partnachklamm (Partnach Gorge)
My favorite parts of this trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen were my two trips to the Partnachklamm, or Partnach Gorge (in English).
My first trip was a guided night time tour of the gorge. Scott wasn’t interested so our friend Kay Burn said that he’d go along with me, hoping for some great photo opportunities, as the information about the tour promised there to be magnificent ice formations illuminated by the light of our torches. Kay and I bundled up in our warmest clothes and off we went for the tour. There were about 30 of us, and we started the tour at the Olympic Ski Stadium. The big ski jump was really something to see at night, it was all lit up and looked HUGE! We lit our torches outside of the Olympic Stadium and then set off on about a 25 minute walk to the start of the gorge.
I must admit I was a little disappointed in the night tour. We marched so fast through the gorge that it was really difficult to see anything at all. In addition to walking so fast, we were carrying the torches which made it easy to see the walking path, but hard to really truly appreciate the gorge itself. The ice formations were actually frozen waterfalls within the gorge.
Kay Burn and I decided that it would be great to come back during the day to walk the gorge at our own pace and really get to see the gorge.
Scott and MarieAnne and Emre decided that they’d like to join us on our day trip so the five of us took off and went back to the gorge the following day. I’m really glad that we decided to do this because what we saw was magnificent. The gorge with the frozen waterfalls is truly something to behold. In total from the Olympic Stadium, through the gorge and back is probably a total of 2 miles, not a bad walk and definitely more enjoyable in the daylight.
The gorge used to be used as a way to get logs down to the mills. I can’t remember the number, but many workers lost their lives in the gorge whether by being struck by falling logs, falling or being struck by lightning. I saw three memorials to individuals on my walk and there was one monument to all of the victims at the beginning of the walk.
Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy and if you are even in Garmisch-Partenkircken I highly suggest you not miss seeing this. I would love to go back in the summer or fall to really get a true appreciation of just how much water flows through the gorge, it’s impressive in the winter, but in the summer the water is probably REALLY flowing.
January 7, 2009
What to do?
I spent the day today surfing the internet trying to decide what to do on our vacation. Scott will ski…I don’t ski. I know that I am going to go to the yarn shop one day, but I have 4 other days to fill. One day will obviously be to the top of the Zugspitze, because it’s so amazing up there. One day Scott wants to do the cheese factory tour and then visit the Monks for some of their homemade beer. That still leaves two days. The resort has several tours offered each day but I don’t know if I’m interested in doing any of them. I don’t want to see the concentration camp. I really don’t need to be any more depressed. With that crossed off that leaves the Deutches Museum, Linderhoff Palace or the Innsbruckand Crystal World. I’m leaning maybe toward the Innsbruck tour because of the crystal factor, although the Linderhoff tour has a stop in Oberammergau for woodcarvings…any suggestions?
I’m so confused! LOL
December 29, 2008
Gearing up for Garmisch
Scott and I are going to Garmisch in a couple of weeks and I CANNOT WAIT! One week away from Baku…there is a God.
We are staying at Edelweiss again. We’d be crazy not to. It’s an awesome resort and everything you need is right there, or right across the street at the base.
Scott plans to do some skiing. I plan to take a few tours, do some geocaching if I’m able and of course hit the yarn store.
I’m hoping to have a new hat and mittens whipped up by then….we’ll see. The hat that I chose is the Unoriginal Hat designed by the Yarn Harlot and I’m still undecided on the mittens. Something with a cable because the hat has cables, and something quick and easy because I’ve never knit mittens. That shouldn’t be too hard to find…
Now I just need to stop all of my other little projects and focus on the hat and mittens. That shouldn’t be too hard…I hope. I really don’t want to take my bright red leather gloves to Garmisch, but hey, if I must they at least match my Maryland Terrapins hat…no, that doesn’t scream TOURIST at all.
November 1, 2008
4 Movies and a Castle
I’m back in Baku after a nice relaxing visit to Germany. The weather in Germany was typical, cold and rainy, but it was still refreshing just to breathe the clean air and to just chill.
I did a little bit of sightseeing while I was there. I stayed in Landstuhl and visited Burg Nanstein. What a great old castle. It is pretty much in ruins, but I was able to walk through most of it and took some pretty awesome pictures. Of course I’m not able to upload them today for whatever reason so that will have to wait for another day. I also made a trip in to Kaiserslautern or K-town as it is commonly referred to in the military community there. I had hopes of finding the fair that was in town, but instead got sidetracked in the shopping district…oh darn! LOL. I bought a new wool coat and a few winter sweaters. They even had a store that sold MAC so I was able to get a few items that I needed. I also managed to buy a few Christmas gifts. K-town was worth the trip.
Other than that most of my time in Germany was spent either shopping at the base or going to the movies. I love staying at the Hotel Rosenhof, because right next door is a movie theater that plays movies in English. I took advantage of the opportunity and saw four movies.
The first night I saw Nights in Rodanthe with Diane Lane and Richard Gere. If I’m not mistaken parts of this movie were filmed on Topsail Island when I lived in Sneads Ferry., or maybe Richard Gere just staying in a house there while filming down in Wilmington. I can remember there being a lot of talk about Richard Gere being on “the island”. The movie was just ok, nothing earth shattering. I’m sure the book by Nicholas Sparks was MUCH better.
The next movie that I saw was Burn After Reading and while I did laugh at loud several times (at the pure stupidity) the movie was probably just about the stupidest thing I’ve seen other than Borat. Brad Pitt and George Clooney were in this one and I’m just going to go out on a limb right now and say they won’t be winning any awards for their performances here. The roles they played were better suited for Will Farrell and Owen Wilson types.
Now I’ll admit that I was pretty lame for even thinking about seeing this third movie…High School Musical 3, but I saw it and since I admitted that I saw it I will also say that it was FAR better than either of the previous movies. I will also say that I when I purchased my ticket the girl said, “One for High School Musical?”….”yes, just one”….that was my first clue that I was lame….the next clue was that I was surrounded by 8-10 year old girls who were wearing glittery t’shirts that said things like “I love Zach” and “High School Musical”….yeah. Then the guy who announces that it’s time to go to the theater almost got trampled to death when he said, “High School Musical…..at that point I was the only person left in the concession line…um, yeah.
So, I purchased my popcorn, nachos and a diet pepsi and figured I may as well go all out. If I’m going to be lame I may as well let everyone know it. I walked in the theater and sat all by myself in the front row! LOL. The movie was great, I really enjoyed it and if that wasn’t sad enough I watched the credits all the way to the end. I was also the last person to leave the theater. Yep, definitely pathetic.
I thought that would be the end of my movie watching for the trip, but then my trip was extended for a few days. Hmm, I was in town for discount night….the only movie left that I hadn’t seen was Pineapple Express. What the hell, it’s on sale, I’ll bite. This movie was stupid, but it was very entertaining and I laughed so hard I was crying at one point. Stupid movie but WELL WORTH the sale price. I will say this, seeing Seth Rogen in tighty whities has definitely left an impression that will probably scar me for life.
September 22, 2008
Trip to Germany
Our trip to Germany was wonderful. My parents came and spent a week so it was really nice to see them and to visit my birthplace – Wiesbaden. The apartment building we lived in was still there. It was neat to walk around and see the area and to listen to my parents tell various stories about their life there.
Here’s a picture of Mom and Dad in front of the building.
I bet they didn’t realize that this building would become so popular. Apparently a celebrity lives here now -
There were so many things to see and do in Germany. We had a great time walking around and exploring. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our walks.
This picture was taken from a footbridge that we walked across to get from on side of the river to the other. I’m pretty sure this is the Rhine River.
In the city center of Konstablerwache on Saturday and Thursday is a neat little market where you can find wine, fresh fruit, veggies and brats! Other days of the week they sometimes have other fun things to see. One day we watch people bowling on a portable lane. Another day we saw an antique car display. Here is a picture of a tractor from 1952. The tractor still runs. In fact we met it on the street later on in the day.
The first day we arrived Scott and I went up to Wiesbaden to the military exchange. We were really hungry and decided to grab something in the food court. This is what we chose.
The Popeye’s is mine and the Taco Bell is Scott’s. I must say I was really disappointed. After really not having access to fast food for over a year and being thrilled to see a “food court”, the mashed potatoes were rubbery and the biscuit was just a big old grease ball. The soda on the other hand. I hate to admit it but I drank 3 of them. This was the real deal Diet Coke, not Coke Light like we have been drinking for the past year. REAL straight up honest to goodness Diet Coke. There really is a difference.
While we are on the topic of food let me just go right ahead and post this picture.
This is the remainder of the 30cm hamburger that the First Sergeant was unable to finish. 30 cm…that’s 11.8 inches folks. Yes, that’s one hell of a lot of burger. I wonder where they get those buns? The restaurant was the Waldgeistand yes, the do bring new meaning to the words Super Size It. I ordered the 1/4 Wiener Schnitzel and couldn’t even finish 1/4 of it. Just the size of the thing and seeing the size of everyone else’s food portions just made me want to vomit. What’s even worse is the waste. I just sat there thinking of all the people that were starving in the world and how much food must be thrown away at this place each and every day.
Another day we went to Heidelberg to see the castle. Heidelberg Castle is basically in ruins today following WW 2 following the Thirty Years War and surprisingly the castle sustained no damage from WW2. It is quite a, sight to behold. The area is absolutely breathtaking. Here are a few pics from that day.
The fam.
My favorite picture from the castle. The walls outer walls are 7 meters thick and this chunk “fell” off as a result of attacks on the castle.
This picture was taken from the castle patio and is a beautiful view of the river and village below.
There are lions all around the castle. This one is my favorite. A little mossy, but still my favorite.
One interesting site at the castle was the HUGE wine vat…it holds over 220,000 liters of wine. This is where you would have wanted to be in times of trouble. The wine cellar!
This is also where we learned about Ice Wine. Ice Wine is a specialty wine…a sweet dessert type that is made in limited quantities each year. Apparently the grapes have to be harvested at a specific temperature when they are frozen and then the juice is pressed from them and processed in to this super yummy, super expensive, but worth it treat. YUMMO!
Ok. I have a ton of other pictures but I don’t want this post to be too picture heavy. I have all the pics in my web albums. If you are interested, leave a comment and I’ll - they are public albums so feel free to visit. I have only had time to put captions on a few of them…..
*edited to correct information about the castle as pointed out by a few readers
March 5, 2008
Almost Catch Up
Since I’m sick and supposed to be taking it easy for the next 3 days I decided to spend today catching up on my blogging post vacation.
Monday I started to get a little scratchy throat. Tuesday morning I woke up and my throat was on fire. By noon I could barely swallow. I went to the Embassy Health Unit and sure enough….Strep Throat. This is the reason I hate public transportation and airplanes! I spent almost the entire day in bed yesterday and only got up to do my warm salt water gargles, take medicine and to eat my soup. There is this horrible gargle solution here called ЙОКС (pronounced yokes) it is horrible tasting but really helps to keep everything clean inside. That plus the salt water rinses are probably over kill but I’d rather be safe than sorry.
Today I’m feeling better and swallowing isn’t quite so scary. Of course I am way over dramatizing the whole thing, but I did have an episode of near aspiration and that is when I decided to go to the health unit. I thought my throat was going to close up. I had visions of a feeding tube and everything. LOL. On a more serious note, at least I’d be able to feed myself because I’m certain Scott couldn’t handle it.
So, enough of that back to the good stuff…to finish up with my Germany trip. Scott was crazy about these cuckoo clocks and just had to have one. Here’s the one he picked!
This is what they call a 1 day with music cuckoo clock. It is a Black Forest original clock by Hones. Yes, it is extremely ugly (actually it isn’t, it just doesn’t match ANYTHING in our home). I had Scott hang it in the hallway between the den and the living room. It’s a great space for it. The three pine cone looking things hanging down are how the clock gets wound. Each pine cone has a chain and everyday we are supposed to pull the chain that goes along with the corresponding pine cone, that’s it! The clock cuckoos on the hour and 1/2 hour. On the hour we get one cuckoo for each hour of the day and we hear “Edelweiss”. Fitting since we purchased this at the Edelweiss resort in Garmisch. Also fitting since it’s a song in my favorite movie of all time Sound of Music. On the 1/2 hour we hear a pretty melody, I can’t remember the name and Scott has stashed the box so I can’t find it now. There are a couple of moving parts (beer drinker and water wheel) that are activated when the music starts.
The best part – the silencer switch. I love clocks but I think the cuckoo in addition to the car alarms, drunks in the park and packs of wild dogs may be a little much. We did see another really awesome clock in a clock shop (where we originally intended to purchase the cuckoo AND this other clock). It was a wooden faced clock with wooden workings and the workings were driven by weights. The weights were rocks. Actual rocks from the Zugspitze. This clock was really cool and rustic looking. When we found the clock that Scott wanted for nearly $100 cheaper at the resort it kind of put a botch in the plan to go back to the other store to purchase both clocks the next day. Oh well, something to keep an eye out for and who knows, maybe I’ll be surprised for a birthday or Christmas sometime.
I wanted Scott to sample the fresh pretzels from the bakery I went to on my first shopping day so we took the bus in to town. By now I’m a pro and was able to instruct him when to push the button (I love being bossy). Of course my real reason behind this trip was to pay one more visit to the yarn store which is 3 stores up from the pretzel shop. : )
Here is my second purchase from the yarn store
The 3 skeins of Lang Fantomas are to be socks for Scott (maybe by the fall), he even picked the yarn himself. Yes, that means he actually went in to the yarn shop with me and looked around. Yes, I know….SHOCKER!
2 skeins of Opal sock yarn, 2 more skeins tied together of that yummy Unikat and another skein of the Zitron Hand Art. I’m really disappointed because I just know that I had another skein of the Opal. I think I lost it in the taxi! Oh well! Some German is going to be very happy with that find! LOL.
Today was mail day and of course the day was filled with boxes. Mostly yarn related but some good stuff from the Netgrocer. Most thankful for item. Toilet paper (Scott tissue for him and Scott Extra Soft for her). Lynn in Sneads Ferry if you are reading this, the toilet paper in Belarus isn’t all that good. Let me know if you want a square for your collection! LOL
Most favorite item from mail day…Knitting Korner’s Sock II – How to KNit Two Socks at the SAME TIME on Two Circular Needles. This may just be the answer to my Second Sock Syndrome at last. Also in the DVD case were two sets of Knit Picks size 2 circulars from my mom! Thanks MOM! Now my dilemma. Do I finish the second February sock or do I cast on the March socks using the new method? Also, all the yarn for Emilie’s baby gifts arrived today! Shit.
Ok, I am signing off now. I didn’t get caught up completely, but tomorrow is another rest day and by then I’ll have my “what to knit now” dilemma all worked out.
