a day in the Alps

The beautiful thing to do here in southern Bavaria is to spend a day or more in the alps. Last time I was visiting, we went to the quite well known Tegernsee area. This time my cousin had a wonderful destination in mind, I had no idea where. Luckily they have a VW bus and all seven of us fit very comfortably. We drove into the mountains, passed a nice lake and then the streets started to get narrower and narrower and steeper and I would lie if I’d say I was peaceful and confident. I don’t like heights and I had to force myself to always look for higher ground.


Once we made it to the top, it was so worth it though. We went to an area called Sudelfeld, across from the mountain Wendelstein. Up there is a place called Speck-Alm at 1408 meters above sea level. Alm is a word for summer pastures in the Alps. We got to walk around a little and the top had a spectecular view to three sides. This is still considered the foothills of the Alps.



It was kind of like a trail that went right through the pasture with the cows and two horses roaming around. The horses were very friendly and the cows were not exactly shy either. I think that was really neat for the children, most animals are experienced through a fence and to stand in such proximity with 2 big horses is very special. The air was so clean and the mountains so far, it was wonderful. I saw a woman lounging in the grass reading and reading, that seemed like a perfect day to me. Maybe she hiked up, lies in the grass with a good book for most of the day and then hikes down.


In the winter this is a ski area and there are several lifts. It would actually be so lovely to stay there in the winter, the inn can serve 180 people and sleep 60. The whole place is done so cozy and interesting and very unique, even Sophie came out and exclaimed “those are the coolest bathrooms I have ever seen”. It must be so much fun, their website prepares people that the whole place is a loud party until 2 am in the morning - I can imagine it quite well. Too bad I don’t ski.


We had coffee and cake and I had a piece of exquisite red currant cake - so good we are going to recreate it tomorrow. The girls went for the really big flashy looking cake, of course.


Since my back and knee are still causing some troubles, we had to find another place where we could go for a longer walk without having to go up and down much and so we drove to the Spitzingsee, a lake with an elevation of 1048 meters above sea level.


We walked around the whole lake, since it is only about 3 km.


Johanna had a great time pushing Leander’s stroller, she seems to take a huge liking to taking care of him and his sister.


And how else does one end a day in the Alps? With more food of course, so we enjoyed some typical Bavarian food in the historical inn ‘Würzhütte’, which has been at that place since 1720. What a beautiful day and I feel priviledged to have had it.