I was extremely ill Christmas eve morning which did not make for a good trip into Garmisch. I was a wreck and my head felt like mush, and with Nick still getting through the tail end of his cold we were a sorry pair. I hadn't slept most of the night but managed to zonk on the train which really helped perk me up a bit.
Once we arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a ski town in the south of Bavaria amongst the Alps, we decided to go directly to the hotel which is out of the town and at the base of the mountains. We boarded the little local Zugspitze cogwheel train and found ourselves in Hammersbach which was covered in snow! It was beautiful, all white and powdery. We checked in and found our room overlooked a little grass patio (complete with icy snow). We quicly left the room and explored our little slice of paradise.
Hammersbach is a tiny little village with our hotel, a few farm houses and a tiny church. We climbed the bank that rose at the back of the hotel and had our first of many snow ball fights and then followed a track up along the river for a little while, playing with massive chunks of ice and we spotted deer prints. Hammersbach is the base of a very popular gorge trek but it was closed at that time of year of course. We followed the road down through Hammersbach and walked across a large field, practically falling straigh through the softest powder I've ever seen. The scenery was breathtaking and then the fog rolled in, making the whole place strangely eerie. I was pretty tired by this point so I had a sit on a park bench while Nick went on further exploration - not quite realising the bench was covered in ice, making it an extremely cold place to sit!
Back at the hotel we had a little rest before heading out for some free Gluwein and the Bavarian Christmas "party" we had been promised... hmmm.... that was well.... interesting. Picture a room full of over 60s sitting at tables drinking tea listening to German Christmas stories and folk songs. Nick and I lasted about 15mins before we bailed. What a laugh. It didn't take us long to realise we were the only young people in the entire hotel and one of only a few who spoke English. This was going to be interesting. So after bailing from the party we headed for the hotel swimming pool which had huge massage fountains and crazy big water jets that made you feel like you were sitting in a whirlpool. Very strange. And there was gym equipment.. in the pool! So you could do aqua muscle toning or something. Germans are kinda weird.
Breakfast and dinners were included in our hotel package so we sat down for a large buffet style dinner with lots of local food to try. The staff were a bit iffy, some were friendly but some were quite grumpy, especially our waitress whose face would have fallen off if she'd cracked a smile I reckon.
After a quick call home to wish everyone a Merry Christmas I crashed for like 12 hours. First time I've ever been sick over Christmas before. There are some definite downsides to a White Christmas... luckily the snow made up for it!
I was extremely ill Christmas eve morning which did not make for a good trip into Garmisch. I was a wreck and my head felt like mush, and with Nick still getting through the tail end of his cold we were a sorry pair. I hadn't slept most of the night but managed to zonk on the train which really helped perk me up a bit. 
Once we arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a ski town in the south of Bavaria amongst the Alps, we decided to go directly to the hotel which is out of the town and at the base of the mountains. We boarded the little local Zugspitze cogwheel train and found ourselves in Hammersbach which was covered in snow! It was beautiful, all white and powdery. We checked in and found our room overlooked a little grass patio (complete with icy snow). We quicly left the room and explored our little slice of paradise.
Hammersbach is a tiny little village with our hotel, a few farm houses and a tiny church. We climbed the bank that rose at the back of the hotel and had our first of many snow ball fights and then followed a track up along the river for a little while, playing with massive chunks of ice and we spotted deer prints. Hammersbach is the base of a very popular gorge trek but it was closed at that time of year of course. We followed the road down through Hammersbach and walked across a large field, practically falling straigh through the softest powder I've ever seen. The scenery was breathtaking and then the fog rolled in, making the whole place strangely eerie. I was pretty tired by this point so I had a sit on a park bench while Nick went on further exploration - not quite realising the bench was covered in ice, making it an extremely cold place to sit!
Back at the hotel we had a little rest before heading out for some free Gluwein and the Bavarian Christmas "party" we had been promised... hmmm.... that was well.... interesting. Picture a room full of over 60s sitting at tables drinking tea listening to German Christmas stories and folk songs. Nick and I lasted about 15mins before we bailed. What a laugh. It didn't take us long to realise we were the only young people in the entire hotel and one of only a few who spoke English. This was going to be interesting. So after bailing from the party we headed for the hotel swimming pool which had huge massage fountains and crazy big water jets that made you feel like you were sitting in a whirlpool. Very strange. And there was gym equipment.. in the pool! So you could do aqua muscle toning or something. Germans are kinda weird. 
Breakfast and dinners were included in our hotel package so we sat down for a large buffet style dinner with lots of local food to try. The staff were a bit iffy, some were friendly but some were quite grumpy, especially our waitress whose face would have fallen off if she'd cracked a smile I reckon.
After a quick call home to wish everyone a Merry Christmas I crashed for like 12 hours. First time I've ever been sick over Christmas before. There are some definite downsides to a White Christmas... luckily the snow made up for it!
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