Ilona Cole, Story 123

A Beautiful Ski Resort in the Alpine Mountains “Garmish Partenkirchen”

It was to be a cold winter this year and my Hal and I had made plans to be in Germany at the same time as our good friends who went on skiing trips almost every winter to Germany, Switzerland or Austria. We made plans to meet them in the beautiful village of Garmish right in the Alpine Mountains. My Hal and I are not skiers, but meeting our friends there, enjoying the superb Restaurants, going shopping in this great village and sight seeing sounded good to us and we wanted to explore this opportunity.

We flew into the Airport close to Munich and contacted our friends after we arrived at our Hotel. We set a time to meet with them in the restaurant in our hotel to have lunch together and make plans for the three days my Hal and I were there. When they arrived at our table and after the big hugs we got ready to order lunch. We found out from our waiter that we still could have breakfast and that their chef makes French toast from Brioche/raisin bread and serves it with heated honey, a slice of Jambo (French ham) accompanied with a mélange of berries. A wonderful fragrance arose from the coffee pot as the waiter was pouring it into our cups. The breakfast was to behold, it was tasty, and our plans were put on hold. Our attention was given entirely to the food in front of us.

We also were discussing dinner for tonight. Richard suggested we have dinner in the Chalet way on top of the mountain and described the beautiful dining room in the chalet. But if we want to get a glimpse of the awesome surroundings, this should be for lunch and not dinner I thought. It is getting dark by five o’clock. Everyone agreed and we made reservation for the next day for lunch. And dinner reservation for tonight at this fabulous hotel. Richard told about the awesome dining room and the breathtaking view and there are gondolas taking the non-skiers up to the chalet. Richard and Marilyn left to take in a few more runs skiing and we went to our suit to unpack our suitcase to get out some warm clothing and our boots. Dressed nice and warm we thought to walk leisurely through town, look into some shops or just “people watch.”

My Hal was wearing charcoal gray slacks with a gorgeous Missoni sweater, his gray shearling coat and his boots. I wore my cream color cashmere slacks with a plum color cashmere sweater and my cream color cashmere coat and boots. We were dressed nice and warm, just not in ski fashion.

Garmish has a lot of American Army personnel and their families living there. They had built a large Hotel with PX and a commissary outside of town for the American families to shop. Our friends stayed in a Motel with the ski group from Boeing. Our hotel was right in town, had a beautiful appointed lobby and was two stories high. We had a suit on the second floor with a separate bedroom and in the bathroom a huge bath tub. Breakfast or a late snack were offered as room service. A very nice and spoiling touch.

We had a lovely dinner that night with our friends. My Hal ordered a bottle of an aged red Burgundy, a symphony on ones tongue and tastebuds. Our two gentlemen ordered filet of venison with an awesome sauce, spaetzle (pasta)and white asparagus on the side. Marilyn and I ordered Chateau Briand for two, very delicious! For dessert we four ordered the same crème bruleé and a delicious espresso. Our friends invited us to join them to a club for music and dancing. But we declined, since we had our long flight from Seattle behind us we preferred to go upstairs to our suit and relax.

Today is Saturday and it is very cold, but sunny and no fresh snow. It seems that today again our agenda is “eating.” Lunch at the Chalet. Looks like that is all we do. The gondola ride up the mountain was spectacular and the scenery breathtaking. As we came out of the gondola one felt uninhibited and free. In ones lifetime to see this surround is a tremendous gift. Never to be forgotten. The scenery inside the chalet, especially the dining room was also awe inspiring. Beautifully furnished, beautiful vessels with flowers on every table and soft, pleasant music throughout. We were seated by a big round table right by a window. The white linen on the table was bright with the sun coming through the window and the white fresh snow was glistening in the sunshine and everything looked so pristine. One could order from a menu or partake from the plentiful buffet. Marilyn and I ordered from the menu, like our breakfast yesterday and our two gentlemen went to the buffet. We had a wonderful assortment of food, good aromatic coffee and a lively conversation and the time passed along fast. The few hours left of the Saturday were used to purchase some beautiful cards with photos of this town and this beautiful surrounding area. We will treasure them along with photos my Hal took of Garmish and our friends and places.

Tomorrow, Sunday we will make the rounds to art galleries and the art museum. We found some lovely pencil sketches in one of the art shops. Something for the soul and emotion. They too need to be fed. Monday morning my Hal and I will take the Bullet Train to Darmstadt to spend the rest of our vacation with my sister Friedl and her husband Georg. We will take home some beautiful purchases and awesome memories.