Partnach Gorge

We arrived at a small town in Germany, name Garmisch-Partenkirchen at around 4 pm.

After checking in to Mercure Hotel, the captain said maybe we still have time to go for a quick tour. The way he said "maybe" is kind of interesting. How could I miss the place that "maybe" we couldn't go? So, I quickly packed some biscuits and water in the backpack and off we go.

Husband said the place we were going is actually a gorge. Ok, I like gorge, gorge is 80% of the time gorgeous.

The place is quite near to Mercure hotel. Within 15 minutes time, we had parked our car in front of a stadium (cause car is not allowed to go any further from there) and then, walked on a small road leading to the gorge. Husband estimated we need to walk for at least 25 minutes from here.

We heard the place would be closed at 5 pm. Looking at my watch that show 4.35 pm, we were kind of hesitated should we or should we not continue? Anyway, we didn't take a long time to make up our mind and continue to go. We came from a thousand miles away, and should we care about this?

Since the time was getting late, we all walked pretty fast, hoping to make it there before the "gate" was closed. Only when a man who was on his return way told us the closing time would be extended to 6 pm in summer time, then we felt relief a little bit.

Something unusual happened on the road somewhere near here. We saw a woman and her 2 girls stopped abruptly on return direction. They didn't make a fuss, but the girls seem pretty tense. We didn't pay much attention until we walked near and saw there was a small snake crossing the road at that time. Boy, I immediately jumped 3 steps backward. I couldn't even stand to watch it slided away, back to the bushes aside the road. Since then, I walked far from the bushes, and insisted everyone must do the same.

I don't remember much about my childhood, but this stack of woods had reminded me of some fractual memories about my grandmother's house. Weird.

I remember I used to looked at those chopped woods that was put in front of her house for a long time, for unknown reason. My grandmother died when I was 5 years old, followed by my grandfather several months later. Since then, the house was demolished and we didn't go there anymore.

Emerald blue river, definitely is coming from a nearby glacier.

As expected, the boys bugged us to take the horse-drawn carriage rides when they saw it. But the problem was, we were in a hurry, and it's faster to walk than horse carriage. Anyway, we promised them we would do it the next time we saw it.

There is another distinctive feature about the houses / guesthouses in Austria & Germany, is the drawing they made on the outer walls, like the house in a fairy tale. This one is considered a very simple drawing.

The river runs through the Wildenau Valley.

When the road become narrow, and so does the surrounding landscape, we know we were getting near to the gorge.

When we saw this, we get natural high again. I remember the 1st gorge we have visited is Taroko Gorge, Taiwan. We were so thrilled to see a gorge for the 1st time in our life. That feelings was well stored in our brain till today.

The Partnach gorge, or Partnachklamm, a short walk away from Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria. This is a spectacular and somewhat undersold tourist attraction, and well worth a visit. Some regard it as a "don't miss" attraction on any visit to the Bavarian alpine resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

There is a small admission fees. By the time we reached here, it's after 5 pm. No one was there, but the door was left opened. So, we just walked in free.

The gorge is open year-round except for a short time in the spring when melting snow makes the route impassable.

The door that was left opened. Looking at this point, the inside was quite dark. We won't know what we were going to see unless we walked through the door.

Once again, we were amazed to see the natural beauty of a gorge. Absolutely gorgeos.

A series of galleries and tunnels has been carved out of the rock along one side, allowing visitors to walk along the rushing river and duck behind waterfalls.

The Partnach Gorge, which acts as a natural conduit for the Partnach River, runs 700 meters or 2305 feet between limestone walls that reach 262 feet high.

It's a strange feeling to walk in a narrow gap between the steep cliffs, next to a fast running river.

It's quite cold inside there, I guess around 17-20 C.

I asked the boys if they wanted to go down the river and play water. They didn't say YES or NO immediately. They just looked at each other and waited for each other's reply. End up, no body said anything. So, we continued our walk in peace.

Waterfalls can be seen along the gorge.



By then, we have walked for 15 minutes inside the gorge....it's getting colder when we walked further inside.




Waterfalls again...



At certain parts, it's quite dark...feel like in a sealed enclosure.

A scary thought has flashed across my mind when I saw us walking through the tunnel : what if the rocks happen to fall down on us? Sure we will all die with no chance of survival. Don't even think our body can be retrieved from the debris...Gosh, that's terrible.

The end point is no way to be seen after walking like this for 30 minutes. Husband stopped a man who was on his returned way and asked him how far would it take to go to the end. The man said we need to walk for around 10-15 minutes.

I would like to continue, but captain think it's not very wise to do so cause the boys might get a cold. Well, he maybe right. I finally agreed to turn back. But, I'm still thinking of the end point until today. Wonder how it looks like?

That's it, we were on our way back to the exit.

Don't know why, walking-backwards is always faster than walking-towards?

That suspension bridge up there serve as a landmark to the exit point.

We were relaxed on the way back. I took some time to stop over this refreshment store and flip over the postcards sold here.

In winter time, bizarre ice sculptures will form and give this natural beauty a unique charm.

So long Partnach Gorge.

The house was simply abandoned like this. Kind of waste.

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I asked husband if he would buy this house if it is sold HKD 100K? As expected, he said NO, maybe he would buy it if it is sold HKD 1K. I see, no wonder the land lord rather abondoned it than sell it.

Almost went back to where we have parked the car, in front of a stadium.

Finally we walked back to the stadium. This stadium is not an ordinary stadium. It's 1936 Olympic Ski Stadium, well known for the New Year's Ski Jumping.

Inside the stadium.

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Dinner was settled in McDonald after many times requested by the boys. The restaurant was very quiet in its upper floor, most of the people choosed to sit outside, at the open air balcony area. So did we.

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Actually they were more interested in the toys provided with the children meal than the foods itself. The toys they were given is "Ice Age 3" icons this time. It had become one of William most-frequent-play toys until today.

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Husband got the most terrible sun burnt after the snow mountain trip. Only his eyes area which was covered by the sun glasses remained ok, the rest of the face all burnt. Very funny look indeed, like a thief who is wearing an eye mask.

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William too, in chocolate face.

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Looking down the small town from the balcony.

Also this beautiful mountain view. Husband pointed to a peak somewhere out there and said it is the highest peak in Germany, Zugspitze. We felt tempted to go, but after some discussion, we gave up.

Even after we have long finished up the foods, we sat there for quite a long time, did nothing, just relaxed. This place is so comfortable...Oh yes, want to show off the Swarovski ear rings that I've bought in that morning.

Around 8 pm, finally we left the place and drove back to our hotel. Husband said we need to wake up early in the next morning to depart to our next destination.