This weekend we went on a Marriage Retreat In Germany. We rode a tourist bus up to the Edelweiss Resort in Garmisch, Germany. It took about 7 hours to get there and only about 5 to get back. The view and scenery was amazing! We passed probably a thousand or more fields of grape vines, thirty or more castles, waterfalls, beautiful mountains & lots of other amazing sights.
As we drove through Italy the mountainous country side was filled with vineyard after vineyard of grape vines. They would start in the valley and just go up the mountain for miles! I would NOT want to be the grape picker having to hike up those trails to pick the grapes!
Most of the castles we saw where in Italy too. They were positioned on the side or tops of the mountains and were just beautiful. It was hard to imagine the life back in the day when people actually lived in those castles and wore the fancy clothes and there were Kings and Queens of the lands with servants and knights in shining armor. Every now and again we could see a tall thin water fall flowing straight down the mountain or a thicker waterfall bouncing down rocks into the river that flowed through the valley.
The trip took us through Austria. The country side was greener and the mountains began to get higher and rockier than those in Italy. The nice thing is, when you travel to a different country within Europe you don’t have to go through boarder control or customs or anything. We went from Italy to Austria to Germany and it was no different than traveling from Virginia to NC and into SC. I’m not sure if it was because we were in a large tour bus or if that is just how it is for everyone.
While in Austria, we stopped at a rest area with a McDonalds. It was CROWDED! Seriously, there were 5 registers open and at least 6 people or families in each line. As I was waiting in line I noticed the view from the McD was beautiful. The rest area was on the side of a mountain overlooking a valley and then more mountains on the other side. Even though the entire seating area on one side was windows facing the valley, I didn’t get any pictures bc there were too many people sitting and standing for me to even get close to the windows with the camera.
It took, I’m guessing about 30 minutes in the line and then another 5 waiting on the sandwich! I think the problem was the language barrier. The main language in Austria is German (I think). I was listening to other people order who spoke things like Chinese or Korean or french (or trying to anyways, it was loud in there) and they were mostly just pointing to the menu. Unfortunately, since I only speak English and enough Italian to get me by, I was concerned that the cashier wouldn’t understand me. They had a much smaller menu than the US McD has. When I got to the counter I asked in English if they guy spoke English and he said YES! I communicated our order slow and as clearly as possible and only had one hang up trying to order Jonathan a Pistachio Milkshake. I said Pistachio and they guy didn’t understand so I looked at the German menu and pronounced it how it looked ‘pistaciara’ or something like that and he understood! (funny bc the words are only like 3 letters different and didn’t sound at all like the other milkshakes (choc, strawberry, vanilla) so you would have thought he would have gotten what I was saying in the beginning. Anyways- I got Jonathan a Bigmac, Amber nuggets, and I ordered a regular cheeseburger. Unfortunately, my cheeseburger was not ready and after 5 minutes of waiting for them to make a CHEESEBURGER. I said “Fine- Just Give me something ELSE!”. The guy grabbed a sandwich and called it a number 3. Well the number 3 was a cheeseburger with no Onions and no Pickles or mustard and WITH mayo, ketchup, tomato, and lettuce. Really? McD cook could make a DELUX cheese burger but he couldn’t make a regular cheeseburger in 5 minutes! Damn Austrians! The burger patties seemed to taste better than the ones in the US and my patty was hanging off the bun but Jonathan said his bigmac had smaller patties than in US.
The bathrooms was strange too. . well just the toilet. It was self seat cleaning. When you flushed the seat began to turn and this little blue box at the back of the seat started spraying water on the seat then it started drying the seat with warm air. I still didn't sit on the seat but it was kind of comforting knowing it had been cleaned. Besides that stop, we were only in that country for a little bit so I didn’t see much else.
As we got into Germany, we could tell right away where we were. The houses, businesses, and country side were just as you would see them in a post card or in a movie. It was almost surreal to see this in person. Germany was even greener and cleaner than Austria. Even the fields that looked abandoned were well groomed. There were no Trailer parks or Ghetto areas (that we saw anyways) and each house was adorned with flowers in its yard and on the window and patio areas.
I consider myself a geographically challenged individual because I don’t know squat about geography and I just recently learned where Austria and Croatia and Greece and all those other places are so I wasn’t surprised to find out that apparently, lower Germany is nothing but mountains! BIG POINTY GRAY and mostly treeless mountains. They are Gigantic and gorgeous and snow covered on the top. The weather was on one day, a high of about 72 but the normal temp there is about high 60’s this time of year. While we were there, it dipped to a low of maybe 30’s or lower at night. The weather was rainy in the evening but not really dreary until the last day. The morning we woke up on the last day, we looked outside and the mountains in the distance had a fresh dusting of snow on them! Just to remind you, this weekend was the dead middle of SUMMER, July 17!!
As we approached the resort, about 25 miles out, the roads started to get curvy and the bus had trouble getting up them. The roads in Germany and Austria are wider than in Italy so that helped but the steepness didn’t. Finally as we arrived at Edelweiss, we had to show our Military IDs to get onto the resort property. The resort was very in theme with the surrounding look of the community and of Germany. We could see a Cable car track going up the mountain and later enquired to see how much the ride would be. For 9 minutes up, stay at the lookout as long as you want (don’t miss the last ride down for the night) then 9 minutes down it was $36 per person. (They took dollars at the Edelweiss even though Germany is on Euro money system). You got $3 back when you reached the bottom for returning your electric key card. We decided that we wouldn’t do it, even though it looked fun and the views would be crazy. A couple in our group did it and gave us mixed reviews. She didn’t think it was worth the money but he did think it was so IDK, I guess we will judge for ourselves next time if we try it.
Our hotel room liked like a typical American hotel except for missing a few American amenities. There were no American Outlets, No microwave, and no air conditioner. The room was centrally temperature controlled by floor so we had no thermostat but they did provide a portable fan which we used when we got warm. I guess since the temperature is so cool there most of the time they don’t need air conditioners. We didn’t have a microwave but there was a mini fridge which was nice but not very cold.
There were 3 restaurants at the lodge. 2 were by reservation and 1 was buffet style. We only ate at 2 of them. The Buffet was called Market Station. Breakfast, lunch and dinner was included in our retreat but the prices otherwise would have been $8.95 for breakfast + $2.95 for kids, 11.95 for Lunch, and 15.95 for Dinner. I think it was worth the price. The breakfast was hot with bacon, eggs, potatoes, biscuit, gravy, toast bagels, grits, oatmeal, English muffins then a cold area with yogurt, fruit, and some other stuff and also a guy making omelets by request. For lunch the buffet had a different main entrée each day like turkey with gravy, stroganoff, pasta, etc. They always offered a ham/cheeseburger and chicken sandwich station and salad bar, 2 soups, and desert bar. Dinner was really good too. One night we ate at the buffet and the other night at the reservation restaurant. The buffet for dinner had a different theme each night too. The night we were there they had a guy slicing prime rib on a carving table (Delish), and baked chicken, pasta, potatoes, green beans, etc & the salad & dessert bar of course. The next night (I walked by there to see what they had) it was the same type vegetables but a fish themed dinner. Some of it was broiled and some was fried but it all looked and smelled great. The reservation restaurant we went to was called Ziggys. It was the casual American style restaurant downstairs. The other place was called Pullman’s and it was a steak house type place. If you know me, you know I’m a steak girl but Jonathan wanted chicken wings and fried food which sounded good to me too so we chose Ziggys. They had a special that night for 3 liters of beer in a tall (3 feet tall) draft type dispenser that they brought to the table for $15. Since I don’t drink beer and Jonathan can’t drink 3 liters of beer in 2 hours, we decided not to get that. . . The prices for mixed drinks and beer in the bottle were reasonable though. $6.75 for a Mai Tai and I think $3.50 for a bud light. To eat, we ordered Jalapeno poppers, a dozen chicken wings, ½ lb fried shrimp, and onion rings. Our food was paid for by the retreat but it was only $26 (excluding the drinks) which I thought was reasonable especially for a resort restaurant.
The lodge offered internet for $4 for 30 minutes or something like $10.95 a day or $54 a week! I thought that was ridiculous! I found a little area outside the Market Station restaurant that said free Wi-Fi but we didn’t try it so IDK how it was for speed or anything. The retreat paid for our childcare as well so Amber got to go play with other kids while we went to the seminar which was nice. The Child Development Center (CDC) is off the Edelweiss property and across the street at the Military post. There was a shuttle (thank goodness bc it rained the last 2 days) but we could also walk there. It was maybe a 10 minute walk right out the back gate behind the resort. It’s actually quicker than riding the shuttle. The shuttle has to go out the front gate then into the front gate of the post & get inspected by the MP then the guy gets on the bus and checks everyone’s ID then drive to the CDC to get the kids then leave post & stop at the gate for Edelweiss to get an ID check and bus inspection. . .so it’s kind of a pain in the butt to ride the shuttle but it was nice in the rain to have it.
Edelweiss had a pool and hot tub area downstairs but we only saw it from a distance when we went to the lower level for snacks at the coffee shop (they serve StarBucks). Downstairs there is also a Gambling room for adults to play slot machines and a gaming room for the kids to play games. There is a walking path all the way around the campus of Edelweiss. It’s not long but it’s nice and gives a good view of the mountains of Germany. There is a small jungle gym playground on the side of the resort for the younger kids too.
I suggest if you want snacks, go across the street to the actual Military post and go to their PX, Commissary, or Shoppette. We went to the shoppette and got snacks which were reasonably priced and had a larger selection than the shop on Edelweiss.
During our free time outside the seminar time, we walked about 25 minutes into the town near Edelweiss. It was a beautiful walk. The weather was high 60’s or 70 maybe and the breeze was cool. There was NO humidity and it was relatively flat so the walk was easy. It was like walking in a post card or on a movie set because it looks exactly like it is portrayed. The houses were usually two-story and primarily beige or white. Most of them had brown or green shutters and dark brown roofs. The houses and businesses sometimes had huge murals painted on the sides of them. The mural was usually something that looked biblical like Jesus preaching to a group or the Virgin Mary or Jesus on the cross sometimes. Some murals were just of random things too but the people in the murals were usually dressed as they would have been in BC, early AD times. The windows and doorways also had painting of a decorative flower or vine design or random designs above them. Of course we didn’t travel off the beaten path but just the scenery from the bus ride and the walking around in the town, it seemed like Germany’s people took very good care of their Country. It seemed safe there too and the people came across as friendlier than in Italy or America.
When we arrived in the center of town, there was a festival going on. There was a stage with brass instruments and a tent set up for the people to eat and view the band. The band, which seemed to be made up of locals, was eating lunch with the crowd of people when we arrived. Most of the people, especially the men, had on their traditional German clothing. It was a very strange get up, let me try to describe it. . . They wore knitted calf covers, tight cloth shorts about to the top of the knee, large belt with what looked like a hand warmer hanging from it. The top was a button up, long sleeve, white shirt, tucked in. Over the shirt were the suspenders and there was a strange decorative piece connecting the suspenders in the front about the middle of the chest. Some were wearing a vest over the shirt and suspenders. The head wear was a full brim hat with a feather or crazy feathers sticking out of it on the top. Some of the younger guys didn’t have the feather so maybe it was some type of adult or sign of maturity thing but IDK. I didn’t get a good look at the shoes but I think they were just basic black or brown below the ankle boots.
Even though everyone eating I still wanted a picture of the crazy get up so I walked right up to a random guy and asked to take his picture. He laughed and agreed, then grabbed me and pulled me to his side and gestured to another guy to take OUR picture. His sweaty & hairy arm pit was on my shoulder which was pretty gross and I may be traumatized but I really wanted to show you all the crazy outfits so I just endured the repulsiveness of it. The guys didn’t speak much English but were a little drunk and got a little loud which drew a crowd around us of other sweaty funny dressed guys. I had to show the volunteered photographer how to operate our camera but a LONG 2 minutes later, the picture was taken and I was free of the sweaty pit! Where is my husband during all this you ask? . . . oh he was standing about 50 yards away watching my shoulder get pit molested by the sweaty German guy and getting a good kick out of it. I tried to wipe my sweaty shoulder on Jonathan’s arm when I got back to where he was standing but he had already read my mind a shielded himself from the attack. . .
After calling my therapist, we made our way to a little park just off the main road. It too was very well maintained and consisted of mostly statues, a water wheel in the creek, flowers, trees, benches, and other park stuff. At the front, we saw a strange blue statue called the mystical demon of something or another. He was a skinny, naked and about 6 foot tall completely blue ‘man’ but he was leaning over to the side with one leg in the air so he seemed a little shorter. I was impressed that his ‘JUNK’ was just dangling out there for the world to see so I figured he deserved a kiss for being so bold! I tried to get Jonathan to do it but he thought that him kissing a naked, ‘junk’ exposed, demon ‘man’ is not seen as COOL in today’s society so he passed. We walked back towards Edelweiss and stopped in a little gift shop to buy souvenirs. They were priced reasonable, as most souvenir shops are, but they were cheaper than the gift shop at Edelweiss. It was a Sunday so most of the other shops like clothing stores were closed. Restaurants & cafes were open and I don’t think they close for reposo (the 3 hr Lunch/nap time when everything closes) like here in Italy. There is a decent sized and beautiful creek running between Edelweiss and the Military post so we stopped there and took pictures of it. The water was a light greenish blue (aqua) color and clear as could be. Looking from the bridge at the river was breath taking with the water color, perfectly green trees, and rocky, snow sprinkled mountainous backdrop. Even though it was next to the main street it was still peaceful.
On one occasion we were outside the front of the Lodge and watched the clouds move in over the mountains from the right and could see the gentle rain moving in over one wing of the hotel very slowly. It was moving so slow that at one point for a few minutes actually, it was raining on one side of the walkway and NOT raining on the other side. I walked out from under the awning and stood in the rain. I put my hands out in front of me and moved a little to the left and seriously it was raining in one hand and not in the other. Finally the rain started moving through faster and it was raining everywhere for just a few minutes then it stopped. Jonathan got a great picture of a double rainbow that formed to the left of us as the rain stopped. Even though this trip was only a small taste of Germany, it was enough to convince me that I’d like to come back and see more.
