Thanksgiving in the Bavarian Alps

Post date: Nov 26, 2016 8:36:46 PM

For my first Thanksgiving in Germany, rather than work through this momentous occasion, I took a few days off and went to visit some family friends in Garmisch! I used to babysit their two oldest boys while I was in high school. Those two “babies” are now in college… and I’m old.

Started early in the day on the train, as usual.

Oh, did I mention that Garmisch is in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps? First view of the mountains, just south of Munich.

Skiing on Thanksgiving, it’s the German way.

Not only was the mountain stunning, but the gondola ride down was… yeah there are no words. Look at the photos.

The good news? The Welsh’s are going to be living here for 3 years! And they don’t mind me coming down to hang out!

Not pictured: awesome Thanksgiving dinner. It was great, and felt a lot like home. Also, there is a commissary here, which is a military grocery store. Like a little piece of American food here in Germany. The Welshs bought me, mayonnaise (German’s do it wrong), ranch dressing, peanut butter and tortillas. And cheetohs. Lot's of cheetohs. None of these things are things I can get in Germany.

On Black Friday we celebrated by going hiking. The above view was one of many spectacular views. So is the one below. I kept walking around like an idiot just saying “Wow!” Over and over again.

Welshs in the Gorge.

On the other side of the gorge, we were greeted by this view. Yes, it’s gorgeous. Yes, that’s the mountain we skied on yesterday in the background. Not a bad place to live.

On the side of the river there were a ton of these little stone piles. I’m not sure why. But this picture doesn’t even begin to capture the number of them.

Apparently Garmisch was also the site of the Winter Olympics in 1936, so Hitler built a stadium around the ski jump. Overall it added to the ridiculous beauty of this awesome bit of Germany.

All in all it was exactly what I wanted from the weekend. I had a real American Thanksgiving, surrounded by friends that made me feel like family. Also, the Bavarian Alps are awesome.

Finally, it should be noted that the Welshs will be in Germany for a few more years as well, and this is likely not the last time I'll get to write about adventures with them!