A Tale of Golf and Cows

Saturday, September 19:

On Saturday afternoon Sybille (my fourth cousin twice removed) and her husband Wolfgang arrived in Munich after driving most of the day from their home in northern Germany.

It was nice to see them again. The last I had seen them was in April for Wolfgang's 60th birthday. We loaded my stuff in the car and then headed further south into the foothills of the Bavarian Alps. We stopped by a grocery store to pick up a few things and then drove on to the town of Wallgau.

Wallgau is a rather small town where nearly every house has a room or two vacant for use as vacation accommodations.

We found our accommodations: a large farmhouse on the edge of town near the Isar river (which later flows through Munich) surrounded by green grass. Right next door to the farmhouse was the golf course where Sybille & Wolfgang were looking forward to spending a lot of time.

It was a beautiful afternoon...

Three generations live under one roof here, a very nice Bavarian family. With their rich Bavarian accents they showed us our rooms. Sybille & Wolfgang had an apartment in the penthouse with a balcony. I had my own apartment on the ground level.

We quickly brought our stuff into our respective apartments and then enjoyed some pastries and coffee (Almdudler for me) while sitting outside in the sun.

Wolfgang couldn't wait to get his golf stuff out, here he is showing a couple of the farmboys how to swing...

Later that evening we took a stroll into town to have a look around. We found a nice restaurant on the main street and stepped in for some traditional Bavarian food.

Next door, a wedding party was in progress and it was fun to watch out our window as we ate our meal...

The bride...

A little bit too public restroom...

After wandering back to the farm house we enjoyed some sweets and fresh apricots from Sybille & Wolfgang's trees at home and watched TV in their kitchen. This came to be the evening ritual.


The next morning we woke up to a light mist hanging around the feet of the mountains and over the golf course...

I found a fresh glass bottle of milk and a bag of freshly-baked rolls on my doorstep as I left to go up to S&W's apartment for breakfast. We were staying on a small dairy farm and this was part of the service!

We had a relaxed breakfast...

And then we hopped in the car for a bit of a drive. We passed some beautiful scenery, including Walchen Lake...

We came to the town of Jachenau where "Onkel Rudi" (the first cousin of my great-great-grandmother :-) used to stay when he would come to Bavaria with Sybille & Wolfgang and Sybille's brothers' families.

Even the clouds were beckoning us to come in...

We parked and went for a bit of a walk. All the houses were arrayed in typical flowery Bavarian form...

It was Sunday and so some of the townsfolk were coming home from church in their traditional dresses...

We found the guesthouse where Onkel Rudi and family often stayed. An old woman there was happy to see Sybille & Wolfgang again and they had a bit of a chat in her flower-filled front yard.

We left the house and hiked into the hills. We passed a ton of cows. Here is one of the wagons that the farmers use to both transport the milk and as a portable water trough for the cows...

1%, 2%, Whole, and Skim...

It was a great day for a hike, and S&W at 60 had no problem keeping a brisk pace on the trail...

Eventually we came to a very nice waterfall where we ate some snacks, took some pictures, and had a bit of a rest...

We hiked a bit more for a few hours...

We would constantly hear cowbells in the distance, and when we came on a grazing herd it was always a pleasant din. (Though I'm sure the cows complain of constant ringing in the ear)...

As we walked by this cow Sybille said, "She's just waiting for someone to push her..."

We came back around to Jachenau...

...and then had more fine Bavarian cuisine at a restaurant in Jachenau. Afterwords we drove back to Wallgau and had a relaxing evening.


The next morning we woke up to heavy fog that quickly disappeared as the sun came out. It turned out to be a beautiful morning before long and after another good breakfast with fresh milk, rolls, cold cuts, and Nutella, we gathered our golf stuff and drove about 2 minutes to the club house of the golf course.

From there we played nine holes on a very nice course with phenomenal scenery...

I was able to get a few good drives, but most of my golf swings were pretty embarrassing as always. Wolfgang & Sybille were much better...

After nine holes we packed up the car and went for a drive in the Alps. We drove into Austria...

Austria was beootiful..

I still had my golf glove on...

Austrian cows think they are the best...

We came to a cool narrow valley called "Eng" (literally: "narrow") With the afternoon sun coming through the clouds over the mountains, it was quite picturesque...

We went to a restaurant and ordered Kaiserschmarrn. It was delicious, and we had a great view of the mountains as we ate...

Sybille & Wolfgang let me wander around a bit as they stayed back and enjoyed their coffee.

Close encownter...

There was a small traditional village in the valley that one can visit to see how things are done in the Austrian Alps...

Even cheese-making...

We left Eng and drove back towards Germany.

Back in Germany we did a bit of scenic driving around (and over) some lakes...

And then it was back to Wallgau for a relaxing evening at the farm house.

So far so good...

Here you can see on the map some of the places mentioned in Nate's blog today (the yellow markers)...

View Wallgau in a larger map

Stay tuned for more adventures with Sybille & Wolfgang in the Bavarian Alps!

...