Amore a Prima Vista: Ciao (or i should say Guten tag ) from Garmisch-Partenkirchen!

My spring break has been absoulutly amazing so far. I am loving every minute of it. Right now I am in a little German town called Garmisch Partenkirchen. It is so beautiful!! This is what it looks

like:

Here are some fun facts:

-Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a mountain resort town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the Oberbayern region, and the district is on the border with Austria. Nearby is Germany's highest mountain,Zugspitze, at 2961 m (9714 ft.).

Garmisch (in the west) and Partenkirchen (in the east) were separate towns for many centuries, and still maintain quite separate identities.

-Partenkirchen originated as the Roman town of Partanum on the trade route from Venice toAugsburg and is first mentioned in the year A.D. 15. Its main street, Ludwigsstrasse, follows the original Roman road.

-Garmisch is first mentioned some 800 years later as Germaneskau ("German District"), suggesting that at some point a Teutonic tribe took up settlement in the western end of the valley.

-The valley came under the rule of the Bishop of Freising and was governed by a bishop's representative known as a Pfleger (caretaker or warden) from Werdenfels Castle on a cliff north of Garmisch.

-The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies^[2] is also located in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The Marshall Center is an internationally funded and mostly U.S.-staffed learning and conference center for governments from around the world, but primarily from the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. It was established in June 1993, replacing the U.S. Army Russian Institute. Near the Marshall Center is the American Armed Forces Recreation Centers (Edelweiss Lodge and Resort) in Garmisch that serves U.S. and NATOmilitary and their families. A number of U.S. troops and civilians are stationed in the town to provide logistical support to the Marshall Center and Edelweiss Recreation Center.

-The King's House on Schachen, a small castle built for Ludwig II of Bavaria, is also located in the mountains south of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Its grounds contain the Alpengarten auf dem Schachen, an alpine botanical garden

Pretty cool, huh?

Today we are going to take the tram up to Zuzgspirte, the highest mountain in Germany!

Yesterday we took a hour long train ride to Munich. We saw lots of beautiful churches, and a museum of modern art. We also went The Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in München, which is the oldest beer hall in Germnay.

Saw some of the beautiful churches:

The day before that, we toured around GP with Kristen and saw the military base, had a very nice lunch at Hotel Edelweis. There was watermelon and french toast and pancakes! It was amazing. Everybody spoke english, and they gave us our change back in dollars. A very nice taste of home!