Today was a leisurely wake up – and I actually slept last night with no help! That’s often the case with the first day after flying over night, then the next few nights are adjusting, but for today, it’s great. We took time for meditation – so many wonderful places here to sit quietly, listen to the river and the birds. Then breakfast and off on e-bikes.
Wow, Bavaria is incredibly beautiful. We were glad to be riding bikes and exploring. The paths and dirt roads were great and I do love having that little motor so that you can up the strength when you hit an uphill. Even with the motor, I was still quite tired by the time we made it back to the hotel. We took the whole day, I think we were out by 9 and back by 3 or 4. Riding by lakes and valleys, in and out of forest and next to farms. All so beautiful, it was hard to believe people live here and think it was normal. And it was hot! I guess most of Europe is under a heat dome. Luckily, we’re in the mountains so that it cools down at night and we can open the doors wide on both sides of the room so it cools down.
There are so many sweet fountains, probably safe for drinking, though we never took the chance.
I actually forgot to take a lot of photos of the lakes we were riding around, all beautiful. Here’s a bit of one.
Really sweet little chapels, we didn’t/couldn’t go in any, but could see a few benches, not sure when/how they’re used.
The town of Mittenwald was the one small town on the route and by the time we got there, I was ready to have something to drink. We walked around this Bavarian town, with houses and buildings decorated in paintings. So cute.
It was the first time Rick had been in Bavaria. I realized that that incredible town Tricia and I saw last year was actually typical, who knew? I just want to walk the streets with my head up looking at all the art.
The town is famous for its violin making, from the 1600’s to today. The original violin maker was M Klotz, 1653-1743. Long life!
We then decided to go find the cable car that goes up the mountain at the end of Mittenwald to see what that was about. We rode bikes through the town finding our way to where we could see the cables. Wow, incredible what people can do and it gives amazing access to views and climbing that wouldn’t happen otherwise. We did see 2 people climbing all the way up, but man, bleak in the sun once they were past tree line. But worth it once you got to the top.
At S/E/W/N corner was a different placard showing the mountain range with names and heights. Incredible how surrounded this spot is.
And there were so many different tiny mountain flowers poking up out of the rocks.
We climbed up and around the tops of the mountains near the welcome cafe, but then I started wearing out. No English anywhere in Bavaria. A policy? I don’t know, but literally not a word printed. We went in the cafe and people were eating pretty decent food, but I was hitting the wall and couldn’t even manage the translation app. So we went back down and found a cafe below and got soup and water and that was perfect. Revived, I could get back on the bike and off we went again on our way back to the Schloss.
We immediately got showers, so hot and sticky and then had quiet before dinner. A perfect day!
Reb's Walks! 