IF YOU HATE THE ALPS STOP READING NOW!
It was a sunny October day and that could only mean one thing:
The Alps!I took the train south to the town of Mittenwald. This little town is nestled between two massive sections of the German Alps and is the last stop before the Austrian border a few kilometers away.
You can see all these clouds and the rain made for a miserable experience...
I arrived in Mittenwald and found it a charming Bavarian city. The high Alpine peaks were always visible above the rooftops.
They have a nice Baroque church and a quiet pedestrian plaza with old buildings lining both sides.
Villages in Bavaria are famous for their "Luftmalerei," or frescoes painted on the façades of the buildings. They usually depict scenes from the Bible, nature, or folk scenes. Some of them are very ornate...
You can see here how each window has a different saint named above it. If you're into saints and stuff, I think it would be cool....
Some of are a bit more sparsely decorated but still with characteristic scenes. Here is the Post Hotel featuring scenes of 19th century letter carriers, and also an angelic scene around the top window. One can only hope that the other side of that window is not a bathroom...
Some of the frescoes looked very old...
Others looked much newer but featured scenes of Bavarian olden times. Here you can see the Mittenwald church through the window, the child holding a shamrock, the man is playing a traditional Bavarian instrument called a "zither," a mug of beer is at his side, and on the wall is a picture of his mother-in-law, perhaps...
Here is one I found quite nice with Jesus helping a lost lamb; though I it was a little tacky to include Jabba's palace in the background...
Here's one that could almost fit in downtown Salt Lake City...
I had a typical Bavarian lunch of roast pork and dumpling in gravy and then I headed up into the mountains.
I soon found myself overlooking Mittenwald with the Karwendel Massiff behind...
Great rocky peaks could be seen in almost all directions as I hiked up to a nearby lake...
Along the path I found this interesting piece of woodwork: a chair carved right from the stump of the tree...
A little while later I found a pleasant little chapel...
With a pictoresque view from behind...
I arrived at the lake finding another beautiful view of the Karwendel Massiff, this time reflected with the autumn leaves in the lake...
There was a peaceful guesthouse and restaurant there on the lakeside and so I just had to stop in for a bite of cake...
The setting could hardly have been more ideal as I sat at the lakeside on this warm autumn day, eating a mandarine cream cake, hearing the sound of distant cowbells, and enjoying the magnificent view...
I took a walk around the lake...
They even had a little sign telling about the different animals that live in and around the lake. It reminded me a lot of Silver Lake in Utah...
I found this cross-section of a log that made a timeline from its rings. The tree was born in 1709 and was cut down in the early 1970's...
I wound my way back down to Mittenwald and found myself amidst these pretty little houses, all with their flowers and gardens immaculately maintained...
One house was abandoned and boarded up, with broken windows and faded walls. On the door was posted an advertisement for a concert of Johann Michael Haydn (the younger brother of the more famous Franz Joseph Haydn.) Abandoned house and forgotten composer...
KaCHING?
One of the things Mittenwald is most famous for is the making of violins and cellos. There were several violin-maker shops in town, though I thought this one was the most interesting to look at with a golden violin hanging above the door...
In the middle of the street in front of the violin-maker's is this wooden fountain, ever spouting fresh and clear mountain water...
The sun began to set and I enjoyed a hot chocolate at a streetside cafe before going back to the train station to catch my train home...
As I headed toward the train station I noticed the maypole. These traditional banners are common throughout Germany, but in Bavaria they are always blue and white. They also feature the symbols and shields of different workers guilds...
Of course, for Mittenwald, the violin-makers' guild and the foresters' guild are both featured on the maypole...
The setting sun was casting an ideal light on the Karwendel Massiff as I waited for my train...
The train arrived, having come from Innsbruck, Austria; and I was off... back to Munich.
The scene was idyllic as the train left the mountains behind and shadows crept slowly across the land...
What a great day!
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