The bed-and-breakfast where we'd made reservations was just a five-minute walk from the train station, which proved to be extremely convenient during our stay. The place, called Alpenkranz, was (sorry to use clichés) cozy and quaint. The owner's daughter showed us to our room, which was a perfectly acceptable room, but then two minutes later came back to say that they had a better room for us. The new room was larger, with sofa and chairs, our own bathroom, and even a balcony with patio furniture. Upgrade!
We only stayed to take off our backpacks and we were off again to Partnach Gorge (it was only eleven-thirty, so we still had most of the day). It was about a forty-minute walk from our B&B, and it was sunny outside. The walk took us past the Olympic Skistadion: the Olympic ski jump. The Olympics were held here in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936, as well as the World Alpine Ski Championships in 1978.
The only gorge I've been to is the Columbia, so that's what I was imagining. This gorge was not like the Columbia at all. It was a narrow fissure in the rock (less than ten feet wide at points), very deep (200 feet in places, sometimes deeper), with a river rushing through the bottom. It was loud, too; the sound of rushing water through such a small space was deafening at times. A walkway had been created along the side, sometimes through the rock itself. You'd walk into a tunnel and it would be pitch black, with only your hand on the raw rock wall guiding you. There must have been streams above us as well, because even though there was blue sky, water was constantly streaming down from the rocks above.
Brittany even brought her umbrella--the streams from above were sometimes small waterfalls! I was glad my coat had a hood.
The walk through the gorge itself took twenty minutes, and then the path widened into a sunny, open area. It looked almost like a beach, with people sitting and eating by the river. We turned 180° and walked up a steep path that would take us back up over the gorge, parallel to where we'd hiked next to the river, but above the fissure. It felt exactly like Alaska, with pine trees around us and logs set into the path as steps. We came out into the open after ten minutes, and the view was amazing.
There was a large hotel and restaurant (Forsthaus Graseck) at the top of the hill, which seemed like an odd, inaccessible location for such. Patrons of the hotel don't have to hike there, as we did, but instead take a cable car up. Please note the remoteness of hotel on the very official Google Maps visual below:
Brittany and I sat in the sun and had lunch (well, mid-afternoon meal) at the restaurant. I had goulash, Brittany had salad with chicken, and we shared apple strudel for dessert. We took the cable car down. It was teeny.
Our stay at Alpenkranz, along with other B&Bs in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, comes with a Visitor's Card, which gives one all kinds of freebies and discounts in the city (mostly for the tourist attractions). With aforementioned Visitor's Card, we were able to take the city bus for free. After taking the cable car down and walking back to the skistadion, we took the bus directly back to the train station. We walked to the town center, and Brittany knew of an Indian restaurant that she and John had enjoyed on their trip to Garmisch. I felt guilty about eating Indian food while visiting Germany, but Brittany reminded me that I'd already had German food twice and did I remember how rich it is? I wasn't expected to eat the local cuisine at every meal. I felt better after hearing that... plus, I love Indian food.
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