May 29, 2017 – Bavaria & Tyrol
Today was primarily a transit day. We would be making our way from Venice to Grainau – a small town just outside of Garmish-Partenkirchen. We will be spending 3 days in the heart of Bavaria, but first we must get there. The first challenge is to get from our apartment near St. Marks to the parking garages at Tronchetto. To do this we must catch the water taxi. Our objective is to arrive in Grainau by 4:30 in the afternoon. It will be about a 5 hour drive depending on traffic going over the German Alps through the Brenner Pass. We want to have enough time to stop in Innsbruck, Austria for lunch. Our target is to leave our apartment in Venice by no later than 9:00 am. We are actually early. Our plan was to catch the Vaporetto (water bus) at Arsenale and catch the number 2 line that goes to the Tronchetto. We purchased our tickets the night before so that we would be have minimal delay in the morning. It is a good thing that Trent got up early again because he want for his 6:00 am walk and determined that the number 2 line does not pick-up at Arsenale. We will need to walk a little farther to the St. Marks – Zachariah stop. We are at the stop by 9:00 am and are able to walk directly onto a bus. So far, great timing. We arrive at Tronchetto by 9:45 and now we need to find our car in the massive garage and pay for the parking before we head to our car. Once again great fortune, we come across the payment machine right off the bat, pay for our parking and then head up to our car. We find it and we are on the road by about 10:15AM. We are exhibiting military like precision with our timing.
The traffic out of Venice is a little heavy. We will be taking the A4 back to Verona where we will take the A12 north toward Trento and Bolzano. Traffic moves fairly well. As we begin to head up the mountains toward Brenner Pass, we stop for a bio-break and some diesel fuel. We would like to hit Innsbruck by 1:00pm. Our first snag arises. They are working on the roads leading up to the Brenner pass and traffic is very slow. It take us an extra hour to get to Innsbruck. We stop near the Altstadt (or Old City), where we are determined to eat in a Rathskeller – or beer hall. We have selected Stiftskeller based on some of the reviews we’ve read. I come away a little disappointed. We are arriving a bit late for lunch. Our waitress, whom we immediately nickname Helga reminds us a lot of the immigration people we met in Rome. Meaning she has zero personality. She actually seems a bit put out that we have arrived and want to order some food. I promptly ask for a table for 4 in my finest Italian – I have forgotten that I’m not in Italy anymore. I’m not sure why, since Helga is wearing leather britches and traditional Tyrollean apparel. Helga answers me back in perfect English and points us to a table and tosses menus down to us. She comes back and takes our drink orders and is waiting to take our food orders. She seem a bit put out that we actually want to look at the menus she has given us. She goes to get our drinks. While she is gone we look at the menu and are thankful that there is a section in English. Trent orders the “traditional Tyrollean party sampler”, a tray of cold meats and cheeses that we will share. He orders a couple of different wursts (sausages, one beef and the other pork) which are accompanied with a large pretzel. Carolyn and I order the Schnitzel and Elisa orders the pork cutlets with boiled potatoes. As we order, I’m doing my best to dust my German speaking skills so I can try to get a smile out of Helga, but everything keeps coming out in Italian. That is what happens after 16 days in Italy. it wouldn’t have mattered, Frau Helga is determined to be Miss Grumpy Pants. At one point I ask for some oil and vinegar for the salad and her look at me was like daggers. From that point forward the ladies were official scared of Frau Helga. Undeterred, I ask her for some Salt and Pepper and she grudgingly complies. I’m sure, if I could speak German and if I could have asked her why she is so unhappy, I’m certain that she would have told me that this is what she is like when she is very happy. It just goes to show you that we are culturally different from the folks in Austria. We had been joking about how non-existent the concept of “customer service” was in Italy. After Austria, we all agree that maybe it’s not so bad in Italy. We finish our meal and pay our bill. I make one more attempt to get a smile out of Helga, I hand her a reasonable tip – she does say, “Danke” but no smile. Oh well.
After lunch we have just enough time for a quick walk around the old town square. Elisa and Carolyn do a little shopping and we take pictures and we are all in awe at how clean this town is and how well preserved the buildings are. But alas, we must say farewell to Innsbruck and head on to Garmisch. It should only take an hour, but again the traffic is problematic.
We make our way down the mountains into Garmisch. The little town of Grainau, where we will be staying is a little past Garmisch by a couple of miles. Siri is leading us to our destination via my iPhone, but she lets us down. She tells us we have arrived, but our accommodations are nowhere to be found. After studying the street numbers on the buildings we determine we need to proceed further down the street by about a mile and we finally fine our apartment. We have booked this location via VRBO and after our less than ideal experience in Venice, we aren’t sure what to expect. We find the building, it is a traditional Tyrollean chalet style home. It is very large and has been converted to have 3 or 4 large apartments. There are also 3 smaller separate cabins on the property. We called our host earlier in the day to let her know we were coming and hoped to arrive by 4:30pm. Our host Carolin speaks very good English and she tells us not to worry, she will leave the key in the door in case we want to arrive a bit late.
When we pull in at about 5:45PM, we find the apartment with the key in the door and we are promptly amazed at what a beautiful apartment it is. The main part of the apartment is on the ground floor and it includes a spacious bedroom with king-size bed, a large kitchen, bathroom and living room. The windows on the ground floor include a French Door and all that glass looks out upon the majestic Zugspitze mountain. It is sitting right there looking every bit like a painting. The French door leads out to a nice patio and lawn. There is also a lower level that sits in a basement that still has some light from casement windows. the bedroom is again large and has its own bathroom. In addition to the spaciousness of the apartment and the wonderful view, it is appointed very beautifully and it is extremely well equipped. The host has gone out of her way to make this feel every bit like a vacation home of our own. Right down the the bottle of Proseco, water, coffee, tea and nicely equipped kitchen with spices and condiments. This place is the best we’ve been in so far and it may actually exceed our lodging in Positano.
By the time we are done cleaning up and getting settled and making phone calls to loved ones back in the states, it is now going on 7:45. We decide we had better go to the grocery store and get some groceries since we have an early start tomorrow. We get to the Aldi supermarket at 8:00PM and are surprised that they are closed. We try a couple of other grocery stores and all of them close at 8:00. So we stop at a gas station to at least pick up some water and a few other things. We then start to get a little worried about dinner and wonder if they all close early. Once again, a cultural difference between Italy and Germany. The Italians don’t think twice about having dinner late in the evening. We find a restaurant here in Grainau and fortunately at 8:30 they are still open and serving dinner. The restaurant is called Spatzenhaus and it offers typical German cuisine with emphasis on traditional Bavarian fare. We struggle with the menu that is entirely in German and our host speaks only a little English. By the time we order, we think we know what we are getting. Elisa has ordered a traditional Bavarian meal of roast turkey with a brown gravy. It would usually be served with dumplings but since she is gluten intolerant, the host suggest potatoes. Elisa opts for the boiled potatoes. Carolyn and I opt for steaks. I the steak with green pepper corns and Carolyn a steak with herb butter. Trent decides to try the Jager Schnitzel (Hunter’s schnitzel). It is cooked with mushrooms. Trent and I accompany our meals with local German beer and Carolyn a house red wine. When our meals come we are not disappointed. Elisa has 1/3 of a turkey – it includes much of the breast, the drumstick and a thigh. It is covered in a savory brown gray that is delicious. The turkey is a bit different than what we are accustomed to in the States. All the meat is dark, including the breast. Perhaps it due to the way they prepared it. In any case it is delicious and moist and the gravy that goes with it is also very good – though a tad salty. Carolyn are also impressed with our steaks. They filets are very large and well cooked. The fried potatoes are also good. Their German’s sure do French fries well. Trent’s schnitzel is also very good. He is surprised that it is not breaded and fried. Instead it has been sautéed in a wonderful sauce of mushrooms. As is often the case, in Europe, our meals are somewhat bereft of cooked vegetables and we only have green salads to go with our meals.
Our host was very friendly, unlike “Helga” in Innsbruck, the service was very good by comparison.
Thus, ended our day. Tomorrow we have a tour of castles and Oberammergau. We must get up and leave early to meet up with our guide. It will be about a 45 minute drive to nearby Fussen. It is probably only 15 miles away, but to get there we must drive around a mountain.
Aufwiedersehn – for now.
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