Uncharted Sam: Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Met my mom on the train (by accident, crazy, right?) to Garmisch from Munich just as it was leaving. We rode that for an hour and a half and got a cab from the station in Garmisch to the military base here.

She had her own apartment in the PLTCE (some military Arabic language course thing) housing so we dropped all the bags off there. Kelley was randomly walking the streets outside the window when we looked out, right before we were about to go looking for her since mom thought she had died in Paris or something. I don't know, they're both weird.

But, I've been staying on the army base here for a couple weeks, some of it in a cabin, some in the Edelweiss Lodge & Resort, and some on hard concrete floors. I've been exploring Garmisch a lot, and even though it's not that big, it's pretty rad. Very traditional Bavarian and huge ass mountains on every side.

My first week in Garmisch, I went sledding here:

on this:

It was an awesome four hour adventure of high speed sledding down a 14 kilometer ski run. I met another army brat named Patrick and we kept riding the gondola up to the top to get in as many runs as possible. We did stop by the restaurant at the top for a beer before the last two runs though. Yeah, German ski resorts have restaurants and bars all over the place. Fucking bomb.

Two days after that even I went back up to Munich to pick up Rob from the airport. I stayed at the Euro Youth Hostel again (still awesome) and hit up one of the Augustiner Breweries for a couple beers. I sat down with two old German guys who spoke a bit of English and had fun talking to them for a while. Apparently they've been coming to those same two seats every week for over 20 years! One recommended the Augustiner dunkel (dark beer) and so I got one of those and I have to say, it was like an even tastier Amber Bock. Hopefully I can bring home some of it.

The next morning I went and met Rob at the airport at 9am. We almost got arrested on the train from the airport to the central train station though. I thought you could buy tickets on the train, but apparently not, and it's a felony to ride without a ticket. The crazy looking old ticket woman made us get off and called the polizei. They showed up a few minutes later, took our passport info and told us that they would have to take us away if we didn't pay the 80 Euro fine. So we paid it and got back on towards Munich. Super dumb. It was kinda funny though because the two cops looked exactly like Seth Rogan and the lady cop from Super Troopers. Rob and I wanted to get a picture but didn't want to get in any more trouble. So instead, just pretend that these guys are slightly more European and standing on a train unloading platform.

But yeah, after that little incident, I took Rob to the Marienplatz and the Hofbrauhaus again

(cause I really dig it) and then we bought 39 cent beers from the underground shopping district

and as we were drinking them, we stopped nearby a statue to listen in on a tour that was passing by. The tour guide was telling her group about the statue of Juliet and how if you give her a flower she will give you good luck in love, relationships and sex and so Rob rushed over to the flower vendor a few feet away and paid a Euro for a small flower.

After that, we climbed the 400-something steps of Saint Peter's Church tower to see the views of Munich. Worth it.

After Rob bought a Cuban cigar, we left for Garmisch and went to a huge liquor. Apparently Garmisch's is actually pretty small but it's one of the biggest I've ever seen.