"Reeeeeeeeee-co-la!"

Alpine meadow
Originally uploaded by spauldingtj

Wow. Back from Germany last week. We spent a week in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a pair of villages sitting under the shadow of the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in the German Alps. The sights and sounds of the Alps are hard to describe, even as I sit here having had a couple of weeks to think about it. Here goes anyway:

More than any other place we've visited, the Bavarian Alps seem to live up to its sterotypes. You imagine peaked roof houses with flower draped balconies. You are surrounded by them on every corner. You expect couples striding along a mountain path with alpine trekking poles in each hand. They pass you on the left and right. You picture beer halls tucked into mountain valleys accessible only by horse or foot (or ski or snowshoe, later in the year), and you can't throw a pretzel without hitting one.

Visiting bavaria made me realize just how silly (actually, more sad than silly) the places that try to imitate it are (yes Ober Gatlinburg, I'm looking in your direction). I guess calling Gatlinburg silly and/or sad isn't especially new, but that's what struck me after a few days in Garmisch.

Here's another thing I realized: olympic ski jumps are ridiculously large. This experience has convinced me to place my olympic ski-jumper dreams on indefinite hold.

Like everywhere we visited, we saw things we want to add to the collage of our lifestyle. Here they are in no particular order:

- Ride a bike: bavarians (like most europeans) consider bikes an honorable mode of transportation. Why not take the bike to the store? Or to your meeting?
- Drink beer out of doors: Drinking beer inside is depressing.
- Get a good southern, afternoon exposure: After several mountain beer halls, I realized that this is the key to drinking your beer out of doors.
- Pork is OK: man, Bavarians dig on swine, that's for sure. I tried all kinds of pork, and like most of it. I'll pass on the Schwinhoxe next time though.


All in all, the Bavarian lifestyle was refreshing: simple, honest, hardworking, frugal, fit, "outdoorsy," relaxed, and community oriented. It would be the kind of place you'd want to raise your kids. I feel traitorous as I type this, but I think in some ways, it might even be a better take on 'the good life' than in many parts of America. If we could find a way as Americans to refocus our singleminded obsession with MORE and BIGGER into a desire for BETTER, and temper our raging individuality with reminders that we can only prosper as individuals when our communities prosper, maybe we'd be better off. I don't know. I guess that's why I'm a little more left-leaning than most.

What I do know is that we have lots of pictures of Germany (and Austria) at:


GERMANY PICTURES


Enjoy!
Tim