Vacation Recap Days 4-5: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany!

After our time in Ireland ended, we boarded a flight from Dublin to Memmingen (Munich West.)  We flew RyanAir and let me tell you, it was an experience!  The seats were not assigned, so it was kind of like a mad scramble trying to get seats together.  The flight attendants walked up and down the aisles for the entire flight selling random stuff, like sandwiches, magazines, lottery tickets...you name it, they probably had it.

We landed in Germany, picked up our rental car, and headed for Garmisch-Partenkirchen!  The drive was beautiful as we got close to the Alps, weaving in and out of Austria on the way.

We got to our hotel and were SO pleasantly surprised by it!  It was the cutest place ever, seriously stay at Reindl's Partenkirchner Hof if you ever are in that area!

Once we were all checked in and settled, we went for a walk around the town and had a lovely German dinner.  It was SO nice there and it was awesome to be able to sit outside and the enjoy our meal.  We then bought a bottle of wine and went back to our hotel to enjoy it on our balcony!

The next day was SO much fun!  We drove to Neuschwanstein Castle and took our time driving the scenic route through Oberammergau.

Neuschwanstein Castle was sooo cool!  First of all, it is set above one of the most gorgeous lakes I've ever seen, and over looks another amazing castle!

Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed inside the castle, which is too bad because it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen!  Each room was so ornate and over the top.  I can't even fathom how someone designed and built it!

We drove to the Zugspitz after seeing the castle, which is the tallest mountain in Germany.  Unfortunately, the lift to go to the top was being repaired and we couldn't go up, but the scenery was amazing nevertheless!

Once back in Garmisch, we went out for probably the best meal of our trip!  We were both SO stuffed afterward, but it was totally worth it!  Mark and a beef and potato hash with a fried egg and bacon, and I had spaetzle! It was amazing!  We were able to sit outside on a cute patio in the middle of town, it was so lovely!

That night we relaxed at the hotel and planned out our next day!  Since we didn't make it up the Zugspitz, we found another gondola to ride up in our town and planned that for the next morning.  Come back tomorrow to read about that ride and our trip to a monastery that brews abbey ale!