Zugspitze--The Top of Germany

Saturday we had a family adventure to Zugspitze, the highest point of Germany and a mountain in the Bavarian Alps.  We took a train south to a city called Garmisch-Partenkirchen where we transferred to another train that took us into the mountains to another small town called Eibsee.  In Eibsee we boarded a cable car to go up the mountain.  The views were incredible.  There were a lot of clouds but it certainly didn't affect the beautiful scenery around us.

Train ride there.  So much beauty and all they wanted to do was read.

The cable car took us up and up until we plunged into the clouds.  The cables looked like they were taking us straight up.  It was a little disconcerting.  A couple of the kids were really bothered by the cable car but we made it.  The views from the top were almost non-existent.  The clouds were thick and murky while we were there.  It was also really cold.  There was snow and ice on the pavement at the observation tower.  After looking around a bit in building on the German part of the mountain, we walked over o the Austrian building.  It was kind of fun to think we could just walk across the border like that.

After that we took another cable car down beneath the clouds to an area with a restaurant, toilets, and sleds.  There was a toboggan run and sleds for people to use.  The kids had a blast doing that.  Hyrum even went down once.  The sledding made up for the cable car ride.  Ben took a nap while they did that and then ate lunch when he woke up.  The views were amazing and we were all in awe as we looked around.

I love that foliage.

The ride down the mountain was long.  We decided to take the train since the kids really didn't like the cable car on the way up.  We spent about 25 minutes cruising through a tunnel.  I dozed.  We caught our train back and eventually made it home around 6 that night.  It was a great day even with the bumps along the way.

Mountains and lake as seen from the cable car on our way up.

Toboggan Run

The star marks the top of the mountain.  We couldn't get there as the
path was closed for construction and also required better gear than our sneakers.

Amazing!!

The view from the top at one moment.  The clouds came and went all day.
They broke pretty good as we were headed home.
We didn't think the kids would let us drag them beck to the top for a really good picture though.

Welcome to Austria! We got a new country by walking down the walkway behind us!