Originally 2 villages, Garmisch and Partenkirchen were forced together so that Germany had a large enough venue for the 1936 Winter Olympics. Those who remember the German government of that time may realise why I used the word 'forced'. They are still distinctively different. Garmisch is louder and more international, Partenkirchen is quieter and has a rural feel. The combined town has about 25,000 inhabitants and sits in a bowl. All around the town are mountains. Big mountains instead of those pimples called Snowdon or Ben Nevis. GAP, as skiers call the place, is very much winter sports heaven. The original plan was to drive from Chelmsford, through the Channel Tunnel to an overnight stop near Cologne. Then hammer down some unlimited autobahn and see how quick my car really is! Unfortunately, almost all tyres sold in this country are summer tyres. In Germany, getting stuck is a criminal offence unless you can prove that you have taken appropriate measures. These include all-weather or winter compound tyres at about £120 per tyre and a set of snow chains from £40 upwards. Not wanting to spend £500 before spending another £220 or more on petrol, Easyjet it was.  

On the 23rd, we checked in at Stansted where snow lay. We landed at Munich where there was disturbingly little snow. The train to the Hauptbahnhof was a bit crowded.

For those who haven't been to Munich, the Hauptbahnhof railway station is a nightmare. It has 36 overground train platforms, the suburban rail (S-bahn) platforms and about 7 underground (U-bahn) lines. You go up 2 levels, look for a platform and then realise you have a quarter-mile dash to another escalator before finding the platform you want. We made the train to GAP with about 15 seconds to spare. We could have waited an hour for the next one but we just wanted to get there.

The train took 75 minutes from Munich. As we headed south, the scenary got steadily more beautiful. The Starnberg See looked lovely. Then the mountains began. Still, there was an alarming lack of snow.

We got to GAP in mid-afternoon, and hit the station buffet. I had a roast pork burger and realised our phrase book wasn't particularly good...

A short cab ride and we arrived at the Atlas-Grand Hotel in Partenkirchen. We hadn't really wanted to stay here as it was a bit on the expensive side. They asked if we wanted dinner on Christmas Eve. At €85 each, we thought not.

Having unpacked, we walked into Garmisch. I wanted to buy or hire a toboggan for the week. We also wanted food. The Alpenhof restaurant supplied the latter. This was the most disappointing meal of the week.

We stopped at the Christmas market for a gluhwein and Denise bought a decoration for our house next Christmas. It is a log you put a tea-light inside and that lights up the coloured glass panels. This is a really nice effect.

As we were up at 4am, an early night was needed. We crashed out about 9pm.