Having spent most of yesterday in and around the Wombat, I was determined to go out and actually see Germany. I was at the train station in time for 6:30 train to Garmish-Partenkirchen and spent the morning riding through Bavaria towards the German Alps. The train was comfortable, although I did make the mistake of getting onto a 1st class car with a 2nd class ticket. After about 15 minutes, I got curious and walked to another car. Only then did I notice the big 1 behind me and the big 2 in the other car. No sooner did I sit down in the 2nd class car that the ticket agent came by to check my ticket. Whew!

The rest of the trip was uneventful, and it gave me time to think and relax. I arrived in Garmish early and was the first on the little train up the mountain. This train was much slower than the regional one I had just taken, but the scenery was beautiful. Mountains and picturesque valleys passed one by one like a postcard slideshow. One thing that struck me was the amount of firewood everyone had. Not only did each house have small mountains of it stacked up to the roof, but seperate structures of firewood were set up in the fields with little makeshift coverings to keep them dry. I arrived at the base of Zugspitze and took the tram up to the peak. Enroute, I met a family from Evansville, Indiana. The lady was stationed in Germany in the military, and she was touring Bavaria with her mother and son. The view was amazing until the last 100 feet when we entered a cloud. Unfortunately, this day turned out to be cloudy at the peak. Going out unto the summit platform, I walked into nothingness. The cloud and snow all melded into one, and I stood there at the highest point in all of Germany looking towards the German, Swiss, and Italian Alps. And I saw nothing.

Disappointed but not dissillusioned, I had breakfast there and chatted a bit with a few locals. I took the next train down the mountain and listened to the history of how it was built on the way down. Back in Garmish, I purchased a bus ticked to Fuessen and was quickly on my way. The bus ride was nice, and I went through small villages and by a few exits from the Autobahn. When switching busses, I temporarily misplaced my ticket and was forced to buy another one, only to find the original immediately after. By the time I reached Fuessen, it was early afternoon with some gloom settling in. It did not help when people told me that the previous day, the day I had originally planned on coming down, had excellent weather. However, upon spotting the castle Neuschwanstein in the misty hills, I was almost glad that I came when I did. The castle evokes images of fantasy and wonder, and the rain brought a little more sense or adventure to the scene.