Garmisch! This was an amazing trip I took back in July of 2010 to visit a friend who was living and working in Garmisch. I spent 10 days with her - we explored her new hometown, as well as took a day trip to Munich, and a road trip for a weekend to a beach town in Italy called Rimini. Garmsich was the first time I was exposed to the Alps, and wow. I mean wow, they are Beautiful with a capital B. This town is only an hour or so train ride on the local from Munich, so pretty easy to get to. The first day I arrived I remember going to a freshwater "pool", laying in the grass, soaking up the sun, playing board games and cards all afternoon, staring at the Alps all around with their snowcapped peaks. We spent a lot of time that trip at local pools (which are huge- some with waterslides and wave pools, and plenty of space to lay out), and also did a slide down one of the retired Olympic luges (the Olympics took place there in 1936), which was super fun and random! Other days we did a few hikes in the Alps, and biked a ton through the town and through the open fields. My friend was working at a hotel, and was living in a dorm-like set up for hotel employees in an old former Nazi hospital. Haunted? For sure.

Garmisch itself had plenty of restaurants and pubs to check out- I had one of the best italian meals of my life there! Lots of beer gardens scattered throughout the town, and the small downtown area was super cute with shops and cafes.

Our daytrip to Munich was great, checking out the shopping district and main tourist areas. Then, we set off on our epic journey to Rimini. The drive probably took us a good 6-7 hours, and it started out with some amazing scenery as we drove through southern Germany, into Austria, and into Northern Italy. The last few just became highways. We camped overnight 2 nights at Camping Maxima campground- which was pretty nice. Good facilities, right by the beach. Rimini itself felt a little like the Jersey shore once we hit the beach- pretty crowded, lots of boardwalk cafes, the ocean was a little dirty. But we had some amazing food and soaked up more sun so that was fun. The drive back to Garmisch unfortunately was not as pleasant, we hit crazy thunderstorms, and as night fell we both were happy to make it back in one piece.

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Reasons to go to Garmsich:

- easy side trip from Munich, a chance to get out of the city and see Germany's countryside

- if you are going in the winter- skiing here is top notch

- other extreme sports- paragliding is big here

- So many pools!

- Biking and hiking for days

- Very close to Austria and Northern Italy for side trips

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I would love to get back here and experience Garmisch all over again!

Photos below:

Garmisch: 1-9

Munich: 10-11

Rimini: 12-15

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