We were Germans, if only for a day

*Nick in Vienna

As Jane mentioned in the post below this one, we went on a very nice hike while we were in Munich in the Alps. We pretty much just hiked to the summit of a mountain and back down. I think the mountain was called Wendenberg, which roughly means 'turning mountain,' but I can't quite remember.

Our friend Andreas brought a few other friends, two of whom had cars, so it meant that we could get right to the base of the hill. We would still have been able to go by train had we needed to, but it would have been less convenient and more expensive with six of us. We did the hike of Pfingsten (Pentecost), which is a holiday here so there were lots of people hiking. The parking lot was almost totally full when we arrived from people already on the hike. I felt a little out of place in the parking lot seeing all the equipment people had. Jane and I had one school-sized backpack that we traded off with water and apples, and we were both wearing sunscreen. The Germans in contrast all had a pair of hiking sticks, hiking boots, large backpacks filled with lots of food, maps, extra clothes, and cushions for sitting. The Germans take their hiking seriously, you see. At first Jane and I were kind of making fun of them to ourselves, but it turned out I really needed those hiking sticks. More on that later.


The views on the hike were stunning, as the pictures hopefully show. We actually stopped taking pictures at some point because there was just too much and a camera couldn't possibly capture it. Jane and I were both pretty upset at the pace as we were heading up the mountain. Maybe because we weren't carrying very much, or maybe because we are Americans that like to walk fast, but we really wanted to move much quicker than everybody else. Presumably our company was just saving their strength as we turned out to really need it. We stopped about half way up for some food and we took this picture of the peak we were headed to.

Once we finally reached the peak, after about 3 1/2 hours of hiking uphill, some of it quite steep, it was really breathtaking. What was also really great, though, is that there is a beer garden on the top! Ahh Bavarians and their beer gardens. It was really quite nice after a long hike to enjoy a cold beer and a hot schnitzel. There were a ton of people up there, pretty much all German. This particular peak is very popular and there is actually a train that goes to almost the top (the reason for the Beer Garden). There is also a cute little church which can be seen in the last picture.


After hanging around at the top for a couple hours enjoying drinks, conversation, and the few, we headed down the other side. It was the more northerly side so there was still a fair amount of snow, especially on one stretch of the trail. Someone kindly let me borrow their hiking sticks but I still fell on my butt three or four times into the snow. Then my knee really starting acting up (actually, it was my IT band, or I think that is what Jane said). Someone let me use their hiking sticks for the whole descent, which was very kind of them because that is when you really want them, especially if your knee is hurting.

We finally made it to the bottom and then we went out for huge pieces of cake. Like, seriously, you have never seen pieces of cake this big. Jane had sachertorte that was probably the size of four normal pieces. Germans often have their cake/dessert in the late afternoon rather than after dinner like Americans, so it was pretty crowded at the cafe, but we sat outside in a beautiful cafe surrounded by flowers. We figured we earned our huge cake, though, because on that day we were Germans.