Tuesday, Oct 1:

Today we went to Oberstdorf. The overcast is so low, I didn't think it would be worth going higher into the Kleinwalsertal, so we just stayed in Oberstdorf. Oberstdorf is a quaint Alpine town. It naturally looks like Vail was built to look like.

Wednesday, Oct 2:

Today I took advantage of the pass and went down to Oberstaufen. Oberstaufen is a little bigger than Fischen, but not as big, I think, as Oberstdorf. There are a lot of time share condos in the town. It's very pretty, but touristy, with pedestrian streets lined with lots of shops and restaurants.

Thursday, Oct 3:

I woke up this morning to more of the same - still overcast. Figured no reason to go to the Kleinwalsertal today; maybe, I thought, we'll go to Lindau. Then, within an hour we began to see blue sky up above, although it was still overcast when we looked towards the mountains. Not much later the skies were completely clear. So we went to Kleinwalsertal afterall.



The bus from Oberstdorf up the Kleinwalsertal was quite crowded. It wasn't until later that we found out, today was a holiday, Tag von Deutsche Einheit, day of German Unity, the celebration of the reuniting of the two Germanys in 1990. After about an hour on the bus, we came to the small town, Baad, at the top of the valley. We had lunch, looked around at some of the shops, then returned to Oberstdorf and the train to Fischen.

Baad

Friday, Oct 4

Today was a housekeeping day. The apartment has a laudry room, and we did some laundry. We are half way through the trip, and we start the next half with clean clothes. Tomorrow we leave Fischen and go by bus to Hohenschwangau (Neuschwanstein castle), then to the town of Pfronten for the night.

Tonight we had dinner with a German couple from near Dotmund, who we met while sharing a table Sunday night.

Saturday, Oct 5

When I planned this trip, I planned to stop this day in Hohenschwangau to tour the castle, Neuschwanstein, at Hohenschwangau. It's a very touristy place, but I figured all the tourists would be in Munich for Oktoberfest.

Wrong!

Hohenschwangau was overwhelmed with tourists. We got out to the ticket kiosk a little after noon, and they were already booking the 4 o'clock English tours, and we were a long way from the head of the line.

No way!

I had thought of booking a tour online ahead of time, but the ticket pickup line was out the door and the line for the horse carriages, which we needed, was also down the street. That wouldn't have worked.

We'll be in Munich next weekend, when the Oktoberfest tourist crunch is over, and try it again.

We went on to our Gasthof in Pfronten and checked in early.

Pfronten is a beautiful little town.

View from Aggenstein	Gasthof Aggenstein

Sunday, October 6

Reluctantly, we left around 9:30 from Gasthof Aggenstein by bus to the Ried Bahnhof, from which we caught the train to Reutte, where we changed to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and from there to Mittenwald. In Mittenwald, we stolled around the tourist pedestrian street, then took time out to sampled Federweiß (new wine) with Zwiebelkuchen (onion quiche). We then caught the train back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, then the bus to Oberammergau, where we are spending the night in Gästehaus Richter.

Gästehaus Richter is a very lovely place. Our room has a balcony where we can sit and enjoy a glass of wine while we look at the mountains that are right outside of Oberammergau. Frau Richter is very gracious and tries hard to make our stay enjoyable.

Monday, October 7

I had intended to leave Oberammergau at 8:30 in order to go by bus to Kochelsee, a lake in upper Bavaria. But we decide that that was a little too early to leave. I got on the Bahn website and found that we could go back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and take a bus from there to Kochelsee. That route did not cost us much time and had the advantage of taking us through Walchensee, another lake that we would not have seen on the first route. The bus from Kochelsee to Bad Tölz lost a little time due to the driver having a prolonged negotiation about the Bayern-Ticket. As a result we were seven minutes late getting into the station in Bad Tölz, where we had 11 minutes to make the connection. The bus driver used his radio to inform the dispatcher that we were going to be late, and when we arrived, the bus driver left the bus and went out to the train platform to tell the train engineer to wait a few minutes to let his passenger get to the train.

We're now in a B&B in Osterhofen, at the foot of the Wendelstein. It's overcast today. If it still is in the morning, I don't think we'll bother to go up to the top, because it's the view from the top that makes going up worth while.

This is the end of week 2. To go to week 3, click here.