VEHICLES OF THE ZUGSPITZE

In the week before the bloggiversary my Lady and I were celebrating our own Silver Weddiversary in the Bavarian Alps. The highlight of this trip was without doubt the 'ascent' of Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze at 2,962 metres (9,718 ft). The 'ascent' consisted of a 75 minute train journey from Garmisch through stunningly beautiful alpine countryside to about 4/5'ths of the way up to the Zugspitzplatt or plateau. On this plateau I was amazed to find a chapel, a bar, a restaurant, Germany's highest Post Office and various other facilities not to mention a whole flock of tame Alpine Choughs! Not only that, there was an entire fleet of sehr gross SWORD-esque vehicles up there too! I couldn't resist photohgraphing them for th blog so here they are! The ascent continued for the final stretch on a very large cable 'car' - more like a coach really, the Gletscherbahn, with easilly a hundred intrepid folk packed in there! At the very top things were far more serious - you know this is the top of a very high mountain. The air is thinner and its very cold despite the sunshine. Nevertheless, there are still restuarants, snack bars, beer balconies and both Germany's highest Bratwurst ( yummm!) and internet portal, which I emailed the blog from! The peak is also the border with Austria, which you can just walk through and view the Austrian Tirol on the other side. On a good day you can see Italy and France too. There was more going on at the top of the Zugspitze than goes off in my village back home in a year! Yodelehehoeheho!