Sunday 28 December

Up at 530am to catch the tram into the main station, Hauptbahnhof. From there we caught the Garmisch ski express (or 'she express' as the driver called it) to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Two towns which Hitler ordered be amalgamated before the 1936 Winter Olympics. This town is at the base of the Zugspitze, the highest mountain (at 2962m above sea lever, Mt Cook is 3754m!) in Germany. The train was full of skiers, many of whom were young and rowdy adolescent males eating burgers and drinking beer, getting out for a cigarette at each stop. More young people seem to smoke here than in New Zealand.

We changed trains, mostly by instinct, and split up at Eibsee. I took the cable car to the summit. A very steep ride right to the top of the mountain (you can't do that at Mt Cook). The border with Austria runs through the summit. In fact shortly after WW II the US military ran the hotel at the summit for the exclusive use of US military and civilian employees. Room rates, including meals, were US$1/day. Ski lessons were available, taught by Austrians and Germans, at a cost of US 25 cents per hour. It was a perfectly clear day and I could see right to the Dolomites in Italy. It was one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. After spending quite a bit of time ont he viewing platforms at -13 celcius, I had a coffee and cake in one of the restaurants. Another cable car down to Sonn-Alpin. From here I could walk amongst and watch the skiers fall over. It is also the site of the highest church in Germany, consecrated by Cardinal Ratzinger, yes the Pope was Archbishop of Munich before getting 'called up'.

I bought a souvenir cup at 14.50 euro (NZ$36) and caught the cog-wheel train down the mountain, this is mostly through a tunnel, 4.5km long! Compared with the cable car, the view was significantly inferior. I had a wander around in Garmisch. Most of the old houses are painted with scenes and figures, why don't we do more of that in NZ? Found a good local restaurant and had roast pork with a dark beer gravy, dumplings and sauerkraut. Most of the Bavarian dishes seem to involve pork, it could get boring. My father will be pleased though, I am really enjoying the beer. Although the 0.5 l glasses do require some forethought as to where the next public toilet might be.

In the church over the road a local choir was rehearsing for a concert that afternoon. It was the first few parts of the Christmas Oratorio, great to hear a local choir singing this fantastic music. I caught the train back to Munich and I'm waiting for Damian to get home. He wanted to fit in as much skiing as possible. Tomorrow we are off to Schloss Neuschwanstein, another uniquely peculiar German experience.

From Damian - As you can see from Mark's fantastic photos the weather was brilliant for skiing. The slopes were bathed in sun all day and the snow was crisp and not a bit icy. Although getting to the slopes seemed to take a long time the experience was worth it. Zugspitze skiing takes place on a glacial ski field. There is a large baisin formed by the rugged peaks of the mountain and this is covered with snow and has many ski runs from easy to moderate difficulty. I fared much better in my 2nd day of skiing helped by the fact that I looked at some Youtube videos for some pointers last night. By the end of the day I think I was even "carving" which basically means going straight down the slope with very small movements to the left and right using the edge of your skis to shed speed. I'm nowhere near as good as the locals who were probably skiing before they could walk - none of them ever fall over!!!! It has given me something to look forward to in Toronto which would be the ideal place to get in some practice and perhaps some lessons. One of Marks' Neurology bosses at Auckland says that one of the best things about his fellowship in Canada was that he learnt to ski.

We are beginning to feel the pressure of time running out. Mark has a packed itinerary for the rest of the week. Hard to believe that in a week and a half we will be home. It does seem like we've been on holiday forever when you look back on all our blog posts.